Wi-Fi Offloading Explained: How Speedify Combines Cellular and Wi-Fi for Carriers

WiFi Offloading made easy (and secure)

A carrier or MVNO watching data demand climb faster than spectrum has two expensive options: buy more capacity, or move traffic off the cellular network. Offloading to Wi-Fi is the cheaper answer, but handing a subscriber between cellular and Wi-Fi normally breaks whatever they were doing.

Speedify is software that combines cellular and Wi-Fi rather than switching between them, so traffic can move onto Wi-Fi without the subscriber noticing a handover. Because Speedify keeps both connections in use, a failing hotspot does not drop the session; on a single connection Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping.

With Speedify, your internet stays on when one connection fails.

PRIMARY BACKUP WI‑FI CONNECTED 4G / 5G STANDING BY DROPPED LOST CONNECTION CELLULAR TAKING OVER SPEEDIFY SWITCHES YOU STAY ONLINE NO DROPPED CALLS, NOTHING TO RECONNECT
EventLink drops
SpeedifyReroutes
CallsStay up
DownloadsKeep going

Read on to see what Wi-Fi offloading is, and how combining connections makes it work without dropping sessions.

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How Speedify combines internet connections on any hardware

A walkthrough of the protocol, the per-packet distribution model, the failover logic and the encryption layer in one detailed explainer, plus the architecture and engineering tradeoffs that make Speedify different from a load balancer or a regular VPN.

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

Faster, more reliable internet for everyone in your business, managed from one dashboard.

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

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02

Speedify for Routers

Run Speedify on hardware you already own, or buy a Powered by Speedify router with it preinstalled.

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

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03

Embed Speedify into your product

Add Speedify's ability to combine internet connections to your own product. For OEMs, software vendors and hardware manufacturers that ship connectivity as a feature of their own product line.

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.

Developer Docs →

B · CUSTOM ENGINEERING

Have the Speedify team build it for you.

The Speedify engineering team delivers custom integration work, deployment architecture and protocol-level customization, built to your spec and your timeline by the people who built Speedify.
Contact Us →

What is WiFi Offloading?

Wi-Fi offloading is the idea that data should travel over cheaper Wi-Fi instead of cellular networks whenever practical. Offloading the data onto Wi-Fi networks frees up mobile bandwidth and allows carriers to take better advantage of existing wired telecom infrastructure.

Some of the primary obstacles are:

  • iOS and Android devices are unable to tell when a hotspot is “dead” or not functioning properly
  • Manually switching between networks is time consuming and cumbersome
  • Consumers end up with interrupted internet access during network changeovers
  • Consumer concern about hotspot security

Speedify addresses all of these with its technology for combining internet connections.

What Speedify Changes for Carriers and MVNOs

For MVNOs, the benefits of Speedify are twofold: moving more traffic off of LTE and onto Wi-Fi results in bigger savings as well as a better internet experience for customers. There is more in the Wi-Fi offload guide for carriers and MVNOs.

The Speedify technology handles combining internet connections and Wi-Fi offloading on mobile devices. It can be built into existing iOS, Android, Windows and macOS software and runs in the background monitoring and improving network performance for all the apps on the device. Speedify is cost aware and uses policy based routing that can be configured for increased speed or reduced cellular usage. Optional VPN encryption means that Speedify can also keep users secure across public Wi-Fi networks.

Currently, when a consumer connects to a dead hotspot, the device does not automatically fall back to using LTE. Instead, the consumer is stranded without any internet connection. This creates a poor user experience and discourages future use of hotspots. Speedify eliminates this problem.

Speedify Is Used on Millions of Devices Worldwide

Speedify has made internet connections faster and more reliable for businesses and individuals since 2014.

15M+

Speedify downloads worldwide

75K+

5-star reviews for Speedify on iOS and Android

82

Speedify server points of presence in 50+ cities on 6 continents

500TB+

Of internet traffic carried by Speedify every week

Speedify Partners

Speedify works with these companies to bring faster, more reliable internet and networking technology to their customers and employees.

Xfinity
Cox
CujoAI
Comcast
OmniAccess
MVD
Magewell
Miri

Learn How Speedify can solve Wi-Fi Offloading for your Business

Contact the Speedify team today to schedule a demo or learn more about Speedify enterprise offerings.

The Long Broken Promise of Wi-Fi Offloading

For many years, the idea of a software solution to Wi-Fi offloading was tantalizing, but illusory. Customers would have to manually switch between a cell signal connection to a Wi-Fi connection. Because, offloading required the customer to self-manage the process, the amount of offloading fell far short of what the carriers wanted.

In order to avoid overwhelming the network, carriers had to incentivize customers to effectively manage their offloading with data caps and high overage charges. This solution worked for a while, but at the cost of customer satisfaction.

How Speedify Helps Customers and Carriers with Wi-Fi Offloading

The Speedify protocol works to provide aggregate gapless coverage. It works by allowing a mobile device to be connected to a Wi-Fi network and a cell signal at the same time. Speedify will prioritize sending data over an available Wi-Fi network whenever possible. It makes offloading easy and automatic.

Because Speedify has two simultaneous connections, when something happens to the Wi-Fi, it automatically reroutes data through the cell connection, keeping the customer connected and improving their experience. Once a Wi-Fi network is available again Speedify automatically begins using it again. The user doesn’t have to do anything, or to even know what is happening.

Speedify solves the offloading problem in software: it combines different connections, efficiently manages data routing, and monitors and manages internet connections.

Speedify ensures that mobile devices are using Wi-Fi as much as possible. This saves carrier money and reduces the strain on the cellular network. But, the real reason Speedify works is because it improves the customer experience without asking the customer to do anything. Customers get a fast gapless Internet connection.

The Speedify protocol can easily be licensed and used in a carrier branded app. This allows the carrier to achieve its Wi-Fi offloading goals while looking like a hero to its customers for delivering an “always on” Internet connection.

Carriers need a robust offloading solution that is easy and inexpensive to implement. That need hasn’t changed in years, and Speedify is built to meet it in software.

Learn how Speedify can solve Wi-Fi offloading for your business.
Contact the Speedify team today to schedule a demo or learn more about Speedify enterprise offerings.

Speedify Business Solutions

Speedify Teams

Get faster uploads and downloads and a more reliable internet connection for all the people and devices in your business.

Speedify for Routers

Run Speedify on your OpenWrt, GL.iNet or Miri router to combine Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite internet connections for every device on your network.

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.