Cradlepoint, now part of Ericsson, builds enterprise cellular routers managed through NetCloud. For Starlink, its default behavior is to load balance and steer traffic across links and fail over between them, with packet-level bonding handled through an overlay.
Speedify bonds Starlink with 4G/5G cellular, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet at the packet level by default, in software, on devices a business already owns. This post compares the two for a Starlink-first business.
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Quick answer
Should you get a backup connection for Starlink?
Yes. Starlink goes down every day — an always-on dish averages about 34 minutes of downtime daily from routine satellite handoffs. A second connection keeps you online when Starlink drops.
What’s the best backup connection for Starlink?
A 4G/5G cellular hotspot or SIM is the most practical backup for most Starlink users — it works anywhere Starlink works, requires no installation, and uses a different network so outages rarely overlap. Cable or DSL broadband is a strong option if you have it at a fixed location. A second Starlink dish is also possible if you need maximum throughput.
How do you use two internet connections at once with Starlink?
Speedify combines Starlink with any other connection — cellular, cable, Wi-Fi, or a second dish — into one bonded connection. Speedify runs on your phone, laptop, or router. When Starlink drops, Speedify moves your traffic to the backup instantly, so calls don’t cut out and downloads don’t stall. Speedify is free to try.
71% of Speedify’s Starlink users already run a second connection. The data below shows why.
Try Speedify free →Speedify Starlink Index — real-world performance from 6,209 Starlink users: 2.4% downtime, about 34 minutes a day for always-on connections
Starlink goes down every day.
Here’s what that actually looks like.
Speedify passively monitors every connection it bonds. These figures come from 6,209 Starlink users over 14 days — compared in real time against the other connections on the same devices. No speed tests, no lab conditions.
Daily downtime
~34 min
2.4% of connected time unreachable
Median latency
60 ms
p90 spikes to 257 ms
Avg packet loss
0.17%
vs 0.08% on T-Mobile
71% ran at least one other connection simultaneously — 4,381 of 6,209 users. Cellular is the most common backup.
How Speedify Bonds Starlink in Software
Speedify connects to their global server network and splits traffic at the packet level across every available connection at once – Starlink, Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, wired Ethernet, other satellite. A single download, upload, call, or stream uses the combined capacity of all bonded links, up to 95% of theoretical aggregate throughput.
That is a different outcome from load balancing, where each session still rides one link at a time. Cradlepoint’s strength is application-aware steering and failover across WAN sources, with true aggregation added through NetCloud services rather than delivered as the default. Speedify aggregates at the packet level out of the box, with failover to the remaining connections in under a second.
Cradlepoint’s bonding also lives in router hardware plus a cloud subscription. Speedify runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and supported OpenWrt routers, so a business bonds Starlink on the devices it already operates, with no enterprise router to source per site.
Speedify adds Starlink tooling Cradlepoint does not. Speedify’s Starlink Control Center reads obstruction maps, throughput, ping, uptime, and dish alerts from each dish, with alignment tools for multi-dish aiming. Speedify’s cellular sharing feature pools 4G/5G cellular across devices on the same network.
Speedify vs. Cradlepoint for Starlink Bonding
| Capability | Cradlepoint (Ericsson) | Speedify |
|---|---|---|
| Bonding method | Load balancing and steering, bonding via overlay | Packet-level bonding by default, up to 95% of aggregate throughput |
| Packet-level aggregation by default | Through NetCloud services | Yes, out of the box |
| Hardware required | Yes, router plus NetCloud | None, install an app |
| Runs on phones, laptops, and servers | No, enterprise routers | Yes, Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Bonds Starlink with cellular, Wi-Fi, Ethernet | Yes | Yes |
| Starlink dish telemetry and alignment | No | Yes, Starlink Control Center |
| Cellular sharing across devices | No | Yes |
| Central fleet management | NetCloud Manager | Speedify Teams |
| Time to first bonded site | Procure and configure hardware | Install an app |
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Which Speedify Deployment Suits a Cradlepoint Evaluation
A business looking at Cradlepoint usually wants resilient connectivity across cellular and Starlink at distributed or in-vehicle sites. The Speedify deployment that maps to it is the software app on site devices, or a Powered by Speedify router for a whole-network bonded gateway, with Speedify Teams for central management running on those same devices.
Businesses that need a controlled egress can add Speedify Dedicated Servers or Speedify Self-Hosted Servers to any plan. See Speedify server infrastructure.
Speedify Is Used on Millions of Devices Worldwide
Speedify has powered stronger Internet for millions of consumers since 2014
15M
Millions of Speedify downloads worldwide, and growing every day5⭐️
More than 75,000 5-star reviews for Speedify in the iOS and Android app stores82
Points of Speedify presence in datacenters around the globe500TB
Hundreds of terabytes of fast, secure data streamed every week via SpeedifySpeedify Partners
Speedify partners with these amazing organizations to deliver better internet and next-generation networking technology to their customers and employees.
Related Speedify Starlink Bonding Comparisons
See how Speedify compares to other Starlink bonding options for business, or read the full overview of the channel bonding market.
- How Speedify bonds Starlink for business: the full competitor comparison
- Speedify vs. Peplink
- Speedify vs. Bondix
- Speedify vs. Mushroom Networks
- Speedify vs. Viprinet
- Speedify vs. Dejero
- Speedify vs. LiveU
- Speedify vs. TVU Networks
- Speedify vs. OpenMPTCProuter
The Bottom Line on Speedify vs. Cradlepoint
For a Starlink-first business that wants real packet-level bonding without enterprise router hardware and a cloud subscription, Speedify aggregates by default, runs on devices the business already owns, and adds Starlink dish tooling and cellular sharing. Speedify makes your internet faster, more reliable, and more secure.
Learn more about Speedify channel bonding or read how Speedify bonds multiple Starlink connections for business.
Speedify Business Solutions
Speedify Teams
Speedify for Routers
Speedify Embedded Solutions and Integrations
Embed Speedify software into your app or hardware products and leverage the core channel bonding technology of Speedify in new and interesting ways.