Cellular Bonding for Broadcast Explained – Reasons to Use It
Bonded cellular gear became standard in broadcast for a good reason: one mobile network cannot be trusted alone with a live feed, because coverage dips and crowded towers arrive unannounced. The usual answer is a dedicated hardware unit to buy, ship and maintain.
Speedify does that job in software: it carries your upload over two or more internet connections at the same time, including 4G/5G cellular, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Starlink, on the laptops and routers already on site. With a single connection, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping.
Speedify bonds every link you have into one broadcast feed, with no hardware
The comparison sheet below sets Speedify against the hardware cellular bonding systems on the market, so your organization can weigh cost and setup effort before getting in touch with Speedify.
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How Speedify combines internet connections on any hardware
Get started with Speedify for your business
Speedify offers three commercial paths. They work together, and most enterprise customers use two or more.
01
Speedify Teams
Speedify on every supported OS for every team member
Centralized dashboard for billing, user provisioning, and usage analytics
CSV import/export and a RESTful management API
02
Speedify for Routers
License for supported OpenWrt routers
Powered by Speedify hardware lineup ready to deploy out of the box
Miri, GL.iNet and other partner models
Covers every device on the network, with no per-device install
03
Embed Speedify into your product
A · DIY
Build it yourself with the Speedify SDK.
Integrate Speedify into your iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux or QNX product. Full developer documentation, sample code and supported integration paths. Your team owns the build, and the Speedify SDK handles combining the internet connections.
B · CUSTOM ENGINEERING
Have the Speedify team build it for you.
Comparison Sheet: Hardware and Software Solutions That Combine Cellular Connections for Live Streaming
The sheet covers the most popular bonded cellular solutions for live streaming video online, compared on equipment, maximum bitrate supported and cost.
| Dejero | LiveU | Mushroom Networks | Peplink | Speedify | Streambox | Teradek | TVU Networks | |
| Typical equipment | Dedicated hardware bonding device | Dedicated hardware bonding device + streaming service subscription | Dedicated hardware bonding device | Dedicated hardware bonding device | Software subscription to run directly on supported hardware devices | Dedicated hardware bonding device + streaming service subscription | Dedicated hardware streaming / bonding device + streaming / bonding service subscription | Dedicated hardware bonding device |
| Portability | No | Some solutions only, e.g. LiveU Solo | Some solutions only, e.g. Streamer, Streamer Pro | Some solutions only, e.g. SpeedFusion Engine Series | Yes, depending on the device it’s running on: laptop, mobile device | Some solutions only, e.g. AVENIR Mini 5 | Some solutions only, e.g. Teradek Bond, Teradek LinkPro | Some solutions only, e.g. TVU One / Nano |
| Supported connection types | Ethernet (Gateway 211 only), Wi-Fi, cellular | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular |
| Maximum bonding speed | 1 Gbps | 20 Mbps for streaming / 60 Mbps for file transfer (LU600 HEVC) | Streamer Pro: 30 Mbps max. throughput Streamer: 1 Gbps (standalone), 30 Mbps (RTMP) max. throughput |
200 Mbps with SpeedFusion Cloud | Up to 300 Mbps on Speedify public servers; up to 1 Gbps with a dedicated server; Self-hosted servers also available, max. speed depending on provider |
1 Gbps | According to streaming settings, limited by ingest servers | 1 Gbps for the 5G TVU One Router (portable) |
| Technology | Smart Blending Technology | LiveU Reliable Transport (LRT) | Broadband bonding | SpeedFusion and other business-oriented ones | Combining internet connections, Speedify protocol | Network bonding | Sharelink, Core | IS+ cellular bonding |
| Cost | Approx. $4000 for the Gateway 211 | Starting at $995 for the LiveU solo + $450 / year for the LRT service | Starting at $10,000 | Starting at $499 for the Peplink UBR LTE + SpeedFusion Cloud subscription starting at $20 / 6 months / 500 GB | From $89.99 / year; optional additional cost for the dedicated and self-hosted server(s) | Starting at $495 for the Streambox Cloud Event Package + the cost of the Avenir Mini 5 | Starting at $4,990 for the Teradek LinkPro Backpack + $25 / month for the Sharelink service + additional cost per GB over 50 GB | Upon request; likely at least a few hundred dollars for the TVU Router Nano |
All solutions work very well for use cases such as:
- IRL live streaming
- remote learning
- online and hybrid events, including wedding videography and concerts
- reporting from the field
- entertainment
- houses of worship
Benefits of Combining Cellular Connections in Software for Live Streaming
You may be wondering what you should use as a cellular bonding solution for your live broadcasts. When it comes to bonded Internet, there are three main things you should take into account before choosing / switching to one of the above:
- Type of cellular bonding device: dedicated hardware vs. software. Most bonded cellular solutions involve dedicated hardware. Speedify’s software-only solution prioritizes live streaming while running on any computer, mobile device, supported router or other device powered by Speedify. As a software service, Speedify runs on equipment you already have, with no extra space, power source or box to set up for live streaming or file transfers.
- Costs: all hardware-based internet bonding solutions (Dejero, LiveU, Mushroom Networks, Peplink, Streambox, Teradek and TVU Networks) have an initial investment of at least $495 plus a subscription to a cloud service. With Speedify, you only pay for the monthly or yearly subscription and get cellular bonding for live streaming on your own devices.
- Flexibility: instead of being committed to dedicated cellular bonding hardware, Speedify lets you do cellular bonding for live streaming on any supported device. If you want, you can even create your own bonded Internet router and use it in a similar way to a hardware device.
If you’re hesitant in choosing software over hardware, here’s a real world use case: Doug Piper successfully live streams beer tasting using Speedify after he had considered a LiveU based setup.
How Speedify Keeps an Organization’s Live Stream Up over Combined Cellular Connections
Speedify provides mission critical solutions for consumers and businesses of all sizes. Speedify spreads individual packets across all of your available internet connections, so even large single-socket transfers such as streaming video, uploading or downloading files can use the combined speed; Speedify says that reaches up to 95% of the combined upload and download speed.
Alongside the app itself, available for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and OpenWrt routers, Speedify can also be embedded into other software apps via the Speedify SDK, or into networking, IoT and hardware products via the Powered by Speedify program.
For a cellular bonding router, a recent example of a Powered by Speedify hardware implementation is the Miri Technologies X510 network router. The Miri X510 can use up to 7 connections through its ports and another 20 phones through Speedify’s cellular sharing feature.
Speedify Business Solutions
Speedify Teams
Speedify for Routers
Speedify Embedded Solutions and Integrations
Add Speedify to your own app or hardware with the Speedify SDK. Your product then combines internet connections, fails over automatically when one drops, and encrypts the traffic, using the same technology as the Speedify app.