How Does Cradlepoint Load Balancing Work?

Internet connectivity is crucial for businesses and individuals who work from home. Many businesses use multiple internet connections to ensure that they have a reliable and uninterrupted internet connection. This is where Cradlepoint load balancing can be beneficial. Cradlepoint load balancing allows businesses and individuals to use multiple internet connections simultaneously, increasing bandwidth and reliability. 

What is Cradlepoint Load Balancing?

Cradlepoint load balancing is a technology that enables businesses and individuals to use multiple internet connections simultaneously. This means that if one connection fails, traffic is automatically redirected to another connection. Cradlepoint load balancing distributes traffic across multiple internet connections based on several factors, such as the type of traffic, the available bandwidth, and the quality of the connection. Here’s a breakdown of the algorithms they use currently:

  • Round-Robin: Evenly distributes each session to the available WAN connections.
  • Rate: Distributes load based on the current upload and download rates. A WAN device’s upload and download bandwidth values can be set in the Connection Manager page.
  • Spillover: The default algorithm. Load is always given to devices with the most available bandwidth. The estimated bandwidth rate is based on a combination of the upload and download configuration values and the observed capabilities of the device.
  • Data Usage: This mode works in concert with the Data Usage feature. The endpoint will make best effort to keep data usage between interfaces at a similar percentage of the assigned data cap in the Data Usage rule for each interface, rather than distributing sessions based solely on bandwidth. For proper function you need to create data usage rules for each WAN device you will be load balancing. 

Benefits of Cradlepoint Load Balancing

Cradlepoint load balancing offers several benefits for businesses and individuals, including:

  • Increased bandwidth: With multiple internet connections, businesses and individuals can increase their available bandwidth. This is possible by splitting traffic across the multiple connections. This can help users handle larger data loads and increase productivity.
  • Improved reliability: With Cradlepoint load balancing, businesses and individuals can ensure that they have a reliable internet connection at all times. If one connection fails, traffic is automatically redirected to another connection, ensuring that downtime is minimized.
  • Cost savings: Using multiple internet connections can be more cost-effective than relying on a single high-speed connection. Businesses and individuals can choose to use less expensive cellular Internet connections, which can help them to save money on their monthly internet bills.
  • Flexible connectivity: Cradlepoint load balancing allows businesses and individuals to connect to multiple types of networks, including wired, wireless, and cellular networks. This flexibility can be especially useful for businesses with remote workers who need to connect to the internet from different locations.

Load Balancing Use Cases

Load balancing is a technique that can be used in a variety of situations to improve network performance and reliability. By distributing network traffic across multiple connections, load balancing can help ensure that applications and services remain available and responsive even in the face of network outages or other disruptions. Here are some common use cases for load balancing: 

  • Business Networks: Businesses that require high-speed, reliable internet connectivity can use load balancing to distribute network traffic across multiple connections. This can help avoid bottlenecks caused by single connections and improve overall network performance.
  • Cloud Computing & Web Applications: Load balancing is commonly used in cloud computing environments and for web applications. It distributes network traffic across multiple servers or virtual machines. This can help improve reliability and ensure that applications remain available even if individual servers fail.
  • E-commerce: Load balancing can be used in e-commerce applications to distribute network traffic across multiple servers or data centers. This can help improve reliability and ensure that transactions are processed quickly and securely.
  • Remote Access: Load balancing can be used to distribute network traffic across multiple VPN connections, providing remote workers with fast and reliable access to corporate networks and resources.

Cradlepoint load balancing is a powerful technology that can increase bandwidth, improve reliability, and reduce costs. It does so by utilizing multiple internet connections simultaneously. With its flexible connectivity options, load balancing can be used in a variety of situations to improve network performance and reliability. By taking advantage of load balancing, businesses and individuals can ensure that they have a fast, reliable, and cost-effective internet connection at all times.