Quora users ask how fast Speedify really is
A while ago, there was some discussion on Quora about Speedify that CEO, Alex Gizis jumped in and started moderating. Users were asking for the nitty-gritty on what kind of speed improvements they might expect using the Speedify service. Alex decided to drop everything and actually run some tests to show users just the kind of impact Speedify can have. His response on Quora was terrific, and we thought it might be valuable to all of our users, so we’re sharing the post here on our blog. Take it away, Alex…
Should you have a backup 4G, 5G, Starlink, or cable internet connection?
Yes — every internet connection goes down, including Starlink, which drops for ~34 minutes a day on average. A backup connection from a different provider means one outage never takes you fully offline. The most common options are a 4G/5G cellular hotspot, a cable or DSL line, or a second satellite dish.
4G/5G cellular
Works anywhere. Just a SIM or hotspot — no installation needed.
Learn more →Cable / DSL
Best for fixed locations. Different network, so outages rarely overlap.
Learn more →Second Starlink
Adds redundancy and throughput for remote sites or heavy usage.
Learn more →Speedify bonds any two connections into one — automatic failover, more speed, no dropped calls.
Try free →
96% Bonding Efficiency for Speedify
At the highest level, Speedify does two big things to help speed up your Internet:
- It lets you combine the bandwidth of multiple Internet connections
- It detects and re-sends lost packets
- It does all this with a VPN twist, encrypting your online traffic to protect your privacy and sensitive data
So, I set up two identical 3 Mbps Internet links, with 50 ms round trip time as latency, and then slowly dialed up the loss.
I tested with 3 software setups:
- 1 Connection, No Speedify – Just TCP on the Internet.
- 1 Connection with Speedify – Speedify running on a single Internet link
- 2 Connections with Speedify – Speedify running, allowed to use both Internet links.
The results were as follows:
A couple observations:
- Speedify added about 3% overhead to the single link, making it .1Mbps slower when there was no loss.
- But as the loss increases, the “No Speedify” throughput collapses. At 5% loss the throughput is down to about 25% of full speed. (And this can be a real scenario with WiFi, by the way)
- Speedify offers great protection from this loss. At 5% loss, it’s 234% the speed of TCP without Speedify
- Bonding Works! Even with no loss, the Speedify 2 Connection speed is 193% the speed of just TCP on one link (96%) bonding efficiency. This is especially critical in bandwidth intensive applications like Twitch gaming, video streaming, etc.
Your mileage may vary, in particular:
- Speedify does adjust to non-identical Internet links to allow them to be bonded. But as the latencies and speeds get further apart, the bonding efficiency does come down.
- How badly TCP is affected by loss is affected by latency. At higher latencies, Speedify can end out doubling your performance at just 1% loss.
- We were then focused on combined speeds of up to 50 Mbps, this was not (yet) a service for Google Fiber users.
- I didn’t talk about Redundant Mode at all… usually lower throughput but delivers very consistent, non-jittery performance (lower average ping times).
Try Speedify for yourself!
Does this answer your question? If so, you’re probably looking forward to trying it out. Get started with Speedify today for FREE – no strings attached, no email sign-up necessary and most certainly no logging of data!
Speedify
Get started with Speedify today.
Combine Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink, and more into one faster, steadier connection. Free to try — no credit card required.
🚀 Speed
Faster uploads and downloads by bonding all your connections at once.
📶 Stability
Automatic failover in under a second when any connection drops.
🔒 Security
AES-256 encryption on every connection, on every network you join.
15M+ downloads worldwide. 75K+ five-star reviews on iOS and Android.
Alex and the Speedify team are always exploring the latest in networking and security technology—like 5G, 6G, WiFi 7, laser and satellite internet—and sharing it in new discussion content across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn every week.
Got a tech question? Let's go deeper! Pop into Speedify Office Hours live every Wednesday at 10 AM Eastern. Speedify CEO Alex Gizis and our network engineers are standing by to break down your questions about networks, tech updates, and Speedify features.
