High-quality Internet connectivity can be a challenge for many businesses. Most companies either implement a failover approach for redundant Internet or deal with a spotty connection. But there’s a better solution for reliable and affordable on-site connectivity.

Read on to learn what ISP bonding is and why it matters for businesses and consumers.

What is ISP Bonding?

ISP bonding (often called channel bonding) is a process for taking connections from multiple Internet service providers (ISPs) and combining them into one. This includes broadband bonding, cellular bonding, and many other types of bonding that pair two or more connections together. By combining multiple connections into one, ISP bonding creates an aggregate connection that’s generally faster and more reliable than relying on a single one.

Internet bonding can be implemented using hardware or software. An ISP bonding router is a device that can take in multiple connections and output an aggregate connection. There’s also specialized bonding software that can combine web traffic into a single connection. Both solutions can increase the bandwidth of a single connection (also called a pipe) to improve Internet performance.

ISP Bonding vs. Load Balancing

Load balancing might seem similar to ISP bonding, but they’re actually different networking approaches. Load balancing distributes Internet traffic across different connections while ISP bonding combines multiple connections into one. That means load balancing is more about optimizing the performance of a network rather than increasing the speed of a connection.

Both approaches can improve overall Internet reliability, but load balancing cannot improve the performance of a single connection in the same way as an aggregate connection. This limits the usefulness of load balancing for improving streaming, downloading, and file transfers.

ISP Bonding vs. Failover Systems

Another way businesses achieve a redundant Internet connection is a failover system. This approach also uses multiple connections, but there’s usually a disruption as end-users switch from the primary connection to a backup.

Bonded Internet is already connected to multiple sources, so there’s no need to reconnect to a backup source if one fails. That means ISP bonding can seamlessly and dynamically migrate traffic if a connection goes down without any impact to the end-user experience.

Why ISP Bonding Matters

When businesses use an Internet bonding device, they’re decoupling the Internet performance they experience from the underlying infrastructure. They’re no longer dependent on a single carrier, and can achieve the best and cheapest Internet connection possible for a given region.

ISP bonding can also consolidate the management of a company’s Internet infrastructure into a single provider. Businesses with a large geographical footprint would normally need multiple carriers for different coverage zones, especially if they’re also implementing a failover system with backup connections. ISP bonding eliminates the need for numerous contracts to cover different regions or to utilize multiple connections at once.

MotionRay's MR•NET is a plug-and-play ISP bonding solution that provides reliable and affordable Internet to businesses. By bonding together data from every available ISP in a location, MR•NET ensures consistent connectivity nearly anywhere at a much lower price point than other business-grade Internet solutions.

Want to learn more about MR•NET? Reach out to sign up, start a trial, or connect with a professional.