Internet Connection Bonding Or Channel Bonding Solutions

Combining multiple internet connections or internet connection bonding is a popular technique to enhance internet speed and receive better performance. This is especially helpful for those who are constantly suffering from lag, buffering issues, and carrier outages.

Apart from getting fast download and upload speed, combining multiple internet connections also allows you to view videos and work without interruptions and delays that may be caused by carrier network slowdowns and outages.

Most businesses rely on the internet for access to cloud-based voice and data applications so having reliable internet access is no longer just a business desire but is rather a critical requirement.

Easy Ways for Internet Connection Bonding

Following are some of the most effective ways of combining multiple internet connections:

SD-WAN (Small, Medium and Large Business Locations and Data Centers)

SD-WAN is one of the most robust and cutting-edge solutions that caters to small, medium, and large business locations as well as to Data Center sites. It enables a business to internet connection bonding of different internet options like fiber optics, DSL, cable coax, fixed wireless, and LTE 4G/5G and will balance the traffic between them.

SD-WAN forms encrypted tunnels that are meshed across multiple locations. SD-WAN enables two or more internet access circuits to operate at the same time while traditional WAN services are not active-active but rely on a failover scenario that switches traffic when the primary circuit is down. It is not uncommon for the backup circuit to malfunction since it might not be regularly used or tested to ensure functionality.

With SD-WAN, two, three, or even four internet technologies can be used depending upon the level of uptime needed for a particular site and whether or not there are any budgetary constraints. These internet connections can be DSL (aka High-Speed Internet-HSI), fiber Ethernet, satellite, fixed wireless, etc.

All such connections from multiple ISPs can be merged into a single seamless connection to provide added speed and guaranteed uptime. CarrierBid specializes in finding the right SD-WAN and underlying internet providers for your business. Please fill out the form at the bottom of this page and we will get to work on your behalf.

Dual Internet Connections with Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)

Establishing a dual or a redundant link with BGP is another way of achieving positive results from internet connection bonding. The process it uses is called ‘multihoming’. Multihoming refers to a connection of your location to two different ISPs. As you multihome your internet network with two ISPs, the BGP continues on your internet routers thereby providing network optimization and redundancy by selecting the best path for a resource from the dual ISP connections.

BGP makes the path selection based on the AS or the Autonomous System path. The routing domains here are identified by the as numbers or ASNs ensuring that the traffic is routed in case one of the dual connections is down or unavailable.

Bonding Using Speedify (for very small offices or individual users)

Channel Bonding On a PC

• For wired connections, begin by connecting a cable to your PC from an ethernet port. This will open a LAN (Local Area Network) port on your router or modem. In the case of wi-fi connections, just click on the wi-fi icon and select the wi-fi network. The next step is to enter the wireless passkey.
• If you want to bond wired and wireless connections, then all you are required to do is to connect the wi-fi network followed by connecting to the PC with the help of an ethernet port on the system.
• If you are bonding 2 wireless connections or 2 wired connections, or your PC is missing an Ethernet port then you will need an ethernet adapter for connecting the cable. If the bonding is wireless, you will require a wireless USB adapter for connecting the 2nd wi-fi connection.

Channel Bonding On Mobile Devices

• Once you have downloaded the Speedify app onto your mobile device, you just have to open the app and register on it.
• The app will require you to allow access to certain features. Once you have given permission and agreed to terms and conditions, you can go ahead and decide if you want to apply data caps or no
• It is important to apply a data cap if your monthly data plan is not unlimited.
• The last step is to initiate toggling that will switch on bonding for your mobile data connection and wi-fi.

Load Balancing Router (Small, medium, and large locations)

A load-balancing router is designed to combine different internet connections into a single large broadcast. A dual connection load-balancing device can be a good investment.

• Begin by connecting modems to your router. This is done by attaching one end of the cable to an available internet port on your modem and the other on the router.
• You will require a PC to configure the load balancing router where you can enter the IP address of your network.
• Load balancing routers come with similar-looking pages. So, you can begin by clicking on the ‘Advanced’ tab on the router’s page to open the ‘Load Balancing’ tab.
• Here you are required to uncheck the following:
  • ‘Enable Application Optimized Routing’
  • ‘Enable Bandwidth Based Balance Routing’
• Your load balancing router can now combine and distribute the wi-fi networks that are connected to it. Remember to save your settings.

Bonding Using Third-Party Software (for very small offices or individual users)

Third-party software programs like Connectify, not just allow users to convert their computers (wi-fi enabled) into an internet hotspot but they also combine internet connections that are available on your PC. The latter is performed specifically by Connectify Dispatch. Such programs are easily downloadable and can be run from most computers that are Windows 8 or above.

Bonding Using Bridge Connection Feature – Easy Channel Bonding

The bridge connection method is specifically meant for combining and establishing a LAN and WAN connection. Windows computers come with inbuilt bridging connection features allowing users to enable internet connection bonding fairly easily.

• To utilize this feature, you must have a minimum of two active WAN/LAN connections on your system.
• Click on the ‘Network and Sharing Center’ tab in your Control Panel. This is where all your available networks are listed.
• Simultaneously select all active connections.
• You can then right-click on any of the selected connections to select the ‘Bridge Connections’ option that opens up.
• By clicking on the ‘Bridge Connections’ option, you have successfully created a network bridge and combine the selected internet connections on your PC

Wrapping Up With Impacts of Channel Bonding

If your business opts for more robust solutions such as SD-WAN and the installation of two fiber optic connections with BGP, you will double your bandwidth and dramatically increase your reliability and redundancy.

For very small branch offices, internet connection bonding in some cases may not literally ‘double’ your network speed but it will certainly increase the bandwidth that you enjoy which leads to employee productivity and efficiency gains that will positively impact the bottom line.