Satellite radio, cable and WiMAX bonding - alternatives to DSL & Co.
Viprinet bonds satellite radio, cable connections and WiMAX links and many other WAN media via Ethernet to the world's most versatile connection.
Your benefits from bonding satellite radio, cable and WiMAX:
- There's no such thing as "no can do": Viprinet also provides connectivity for sites with extremely poorly linkage conditions.
- Vehicles with satellite radio can be powered with Internet anywhere in the world - even if cellular radio is not available.
- The bandwidth of cable connections can be combined to an extremely fast and also reliable connection, e.g. by bonding with DSL links.
- WiMAX infrastructures available e.g. in some European countries and especially in the U.S. can be used with Viprinet and bonded with other media.
- 3G / 4G networks and DSL connections can be coupled with satellite radio, cable links or WiMAX.
- Via the Viprinet VPN tunnel, the respective connection becomes accessible by a static IP address.
Special connections by bonding satellite radio, cable and WiMAX over Ethernet
DSL is widespread, as is UMTS / 3G. LTE / 4G is just beginning its rapid spread. Nevertheless, they do exist: white spots on the map indicating where Internet connection is impossible with these WAN media. Here, media like satellite radio, cable or the wireless technology WiMAX provide relief.
Satellite radio as a knight in shining armor
Satellite links to the Internet make sense for bonding only if latencies (signal propagation times) of at least 700-800 ms play no or just a minor role. Another restriction is the bandwidth, which lies at 1-4 Mbps upstream and at a slightly higher 4-10 Mbps downstream. The combination of latency behavior and the partly limited bandwidth restricts the usage of satellite connections. One big advantage of satellite connections, however, is their availability. If a terminal is in the footprint, i.e. within range of a satellite, reception is possible. Satellite footprints sometimes cover large parts of a continent.
As failover for other bonded media, satellite radio is perfect; as "everyday" medium, however, it is only suitable for special tasks, such as for streaming video signals from places where DSL is unavailable and wireless connections are too slow due to many users logged onto the respective radio cell.
Cable connections are a serious alternative to ADSL
Cable connections more and more become a serious wireline alternative to asymmetric DSL offers. Just as with ADSL, the upstream is considerably lower than the downstream - usually the ratio is 1:10. Generally, cable connections are available rather in urban areas and are - in contrast to DSL connections - a "shared medium". One cluster handling several hundred mbps serves users of whole streets of houses. The promised bandwidth thus resembles an "ideal case", which is often underrun in practice.
The return channel for cable links is supplied with only a low bandwidth, making it technically impossible to provide a symmetrical connection.
WiMAX - 4G a bit different
WiMAX, an access technology common in about 150 countries around the world, is both an alternative to wireline DSL as well as the new mobile phone standard LTE. Bandwidths up to 25 Mbps with a range of up to 30 mi sound attractive. However, WiMAX has the disadvantage that it cannot make use of an existing infrastructure, unlike DSL and UMTS / LTE. Therefore, the network coverage differs over the countries. In Germany, there are currently about 30 WiMAX networks, which cover only a small part of the Federal Republic. In the U.S., WiMAX is already wide-spread.
At about 50 ms, the latency (signal propagation time) of WiMAX lies fairly low in absolute terms but higher than that of LTE. WiMAX innately features different QoS classes that can be selected for different applications (VoIP, video conferencing etc.).
Viprinet combines satellite radio, cable and WiMAX connections via Ethernet
All three of these media have their advantages, serve special purposes, and are essential in some constellations.Viprinet takes this into account by offering a hotplug module for Ethernet, to which all here mentioned media, i.e. satellite radio, cable and WiMAX, can be attached in order be bonded with other WAN media like DSL and UMTS / LTE. Of course, permanent analysis and configuration of bandwidths and latencies are important when bonding together different media. In this respect, Viprinet dominates the market.