- What happens to my Bonded ADSL solution if a line fails?
- How many bonded connections can you have at once?
- What is the difference between Bonded ADSL and Load Balanced ADSL?
1. What happens to my Bonded ADSL solution if a line fails?
If there is a fault on one of lines, your internet connection will remain live due to the auto failover features of 500 FastPipe. This is due to the nature of the bonding model. Data packets being up or down loaded are sent over multiple links, through multiple sessions.
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2. How many bonded connections can you have at once?
The answer is as many as your business needs. Most customers combine 2,3 or 4 lines. Additional combinations can be bonded but require further intelligent network management.
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3. What is the difference between Bonded ADSL and Load Balanced ADSL?
The difference between Bonded and Load Balanced is that how the different aggregated lines are used.
With Bonded, aggregated lines can be utilised as one large ‘pipe’. When several large data files are downloaded they are broken down into individual packets and sent down the ‘pipe’ in the most optimised way. Think of it as a road system, each separate road becomes merged together and you have a motorway, with the ability to ship huge amounts of traffic.
With Load balancing however, the aggregated lines are still used as lines within the ‘pipe’. A large file is sent in its entirety down one of the aggregated lines. The next file would be sent down a line with most space available.
Both models offer increased bandwidth, but have different advantages. Bonded is optimal in site to site environments, or when most of the data needs are from a single source. Load balanced is optimal for sites where usage is web-based rather than location specific or data center specific.
As Bonded ADSL offers better bandwidth optimisation, this allows data to download faster. However, Bonded ADSL requires similar quality and sized lines to be aggregated. Load balancing can aggregate a variety of lines together, from cheaper lines that offer variable speeds on them to more expensive lines.
Bonded ADSL and Load Balanced ADSL in a complex area. The beauty of the 500 FastPipe product is that it is a unified solution. We can provide a solution across multiple sites ensuring that bonded or load balancing is optimised for your business needs and requirements.
It is something we at 500 always say – No two customers are the same; so why should the solutions be. Should you have any further questions then please call 0845 0000 500.
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+The Bonded ADSL service utilises tunnelling, so the underlying network, i.e. multiple circuits are just treated as a single circuit. This does mean it has some constraints when it comes to MAX services. Hence you are limited to more stable services, which aren't the top end speeds available on ADSL. Where it really excels is on uploads, and can offer some outstanding speed advantages.
The Load Balanced service passes each new TCP connection down the circuit/line that has the greatest capacity left. Because MAX services are constantly rate adaptive (not just over the first few days) this means a line that had the most capacity at one point could actually become a slower link. Because the established TCP session (and UDP streams) has to be passed down the same interface to preserve the source address, it can't then utilise another lower used circuit.
