This post compares the two side by side so you can pick the right fit for your 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 Without Dedicated Encoders
Speedify uses their global server infrastructure 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 transfer, call, or stream uses the combined capacity of all bonded links, up to 95% of theoretical aggregate throughput, with failover to the remaining connections in under a second.
LiveU’s bonding is built into field encoders such as the LU300, LU600, and LU800, and is aimed at one job, getting live video back to a studio. Speedify runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and supported OpenWrt routers and bonds all of a site’s traffic, not just a video feed, with no encoder hardware to buy or carry.
Speedify also adds Starlink tooling and cross-device cellular pooling. 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 a crew’s own devices into one bonded connection.
Speedify vs. LiveU at a Glance for Starlink Bonding
| Capability | LiveU | Speedify |
|---|---|---|
| Bonding method | IP bonding for live video (LRT) | Packet-level bonding in software, up to 95% of aggregate throughput |
| Hardware required | Yes, field encoders | None, install an app |
| Runs on phones, laptops, and servers | No, encoders | Yes, Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Bonds all business traffic, not just video | Built for live video contribution | Yes, all traffic on the device or network |
| Bonds Starlink with cellular, Wi-Fi, Ethernet | For the video uplink | Yes, for the whole connection |
| Starlink dish telemetry and alignment | No | Yes, Starlink Control Center |
| Cellular sharing across devices | No | Yes |
| Broadcast-grade video contribution | Yes, purpose-built | Strong for streaming, not a broadcast encoder |
| Cost of entry for a business | Premium hardware plus service | Subscription, no hardware |
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Which Speedify Deployment Suits a LiveU Evaluation
If a team is considering LiveU mainly to keep field connectivity alive, the Speedify deployment that fits is the software app on the laptops and phones already in the field, with Speedify’s cellular sharing for crews working where a single connection is marginal.
Speedify Teams manages it centrally and runs on those same devices. For a vehicle or pop-up site that wants one bonded gateway, a Powered by Speedify router serves the whole network. See Speedify channel bonding for business.
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. TVU Networks
- Speedify vs. Cradlepoint
- Speedify vs. OpenMPTCProuter
The Bottom Line on Speedify vs. LiveU
For a business that wants reliable Starlink connectivity across all of its traffic, not a single bonded video feed, Speedify delivers packet-level bonding in software, on any device, with Starlink dish tooling and cellular sharing. Speedify makes your business 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
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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.