Bonded High Speed Cable Internet Service scores a Touchdown for CFL Team
Unique game-day requirements of a professional football team call for a unique internet solution. Bonding multiple cable services meets their high data (video) upload demands much quicker, and at a much lower cost, than comparable Fibre services.
Recently we were able to provide one of our beloved Canadian Football League teams with a timely cost-effective bonded Internet solution the likes of which we haven’t been able to offer before.
The Past (Bonding 1.0):
Up until a couple of years ago if you wanted to go faster you chose between Telus ADSL, Shaw cable or fibre. ADSL and cable were great for download speeds but upstream was somewhat lacking. If you wanted more upstream you upgraded to fibre which was significantly more expensive to install and run.
Over the past couple of years Skyway West has been bonding services, combining download and upload speeds to give you a near fibre experience. The drawback was a 30 Mbps up and down speed threshold we could not cross because of equipment limitations. The product was good but the limitations on speed restricted the product to a group of clients that needed or wanted to go faster – but not too fast.
The Present (Bonding 2.0):
Necessity is truly the mother of invention. When were asked to come up with a solution for a CFL team under pressure to meet a league-mandated deadline, we put our Engineers on the task and they came up with a terrific solution. The primary concern the team had was upstream availability, as they need to be able to transmit large amounts of data (digital video from the game tapes) within hours of game time. The team also needed a solution in place within three weeks. We recommended a bonded connection as the only viable solution for their needs: to send data at 25 Mbps, delivered within three weeks.
The solution was to bond six 50 Mbps downstream / 5 Mbps upstream cable connections together into one bonded service. To break the 30 Mbps barrier we needed something with a lot more horsepower than the bonding equipment we typically use. PC Engines ALIX boards was our answer. The punch they are able to deliver when bonding faster services is a significant improvement over the D-Link and Linksys routers we have been using: Alix boards are making it possible for our bonded clients to hit 100 Mbps up and 100 Mbps down, speeds previously achieved only with high end cable and Fiber.
I am happy to report the service is working well, with a final speed outcome of 28 Mbps up. Our success with this installation has opened up many possibilities for our clients, allowing us to bond services well beyond the previous speed limitations.
We’re pretty excited about our new bonding capabilities to increase upload. If you think our new bonding products might be something you are interested in I invite you to call your Skyway West Sales representative and talk to them about it. Alternatively you can contact me in Support (support@skywaywest.com – 604-482-1212).
Got a question or an idea for a topic you would like to see covered in one of my upcoming blogs? Write to support@skywaywest.com and sound off. I’ll do what I can to address your questions or concerns either personally in a reply email or on the blog. Until next month, take care.
–Wes