Some of you may know my wife and I spend a lot of time at my 99 year old MIL’s home in NC (she’ll be 100 in June). When there, I use my Dell XPS 15 Roon core with Verizon Wireless data from two iPhones and two iPads, each with it’s own data plan. I have a total of 160 GB of hotspot data before Verizon throttles it. I have unlimited data on all four devices, but I prefer using Roon on my laptop which requires hotspot data.
Last night I started exploring if it is possible to combine some of the throttled cellular devices thinking I might find a portable router that could do that. There are some, but I also discovered a software solution using Speedify VPN. So, after a short trial (2GB), I purchased a two year plan for US$99.99 that will probably be all I will need.
So, right now I’m using two devices that are on throttled data and one device that is still unthrottled. I have the throttled devices set as primary and the unthrottled set as secondary to stretch that out. It will be interesting to see how well this works with all three (or four) devices using throttled data.
This Speedify plan allows 5 devices and my Dell can use 4 devices with one connected by WIFI, two by USB A and one by USB C. It’s working well so far. This will also be part of my fallback plan for when my U-Verse internet goes out when at home.
PS: Don’t confuse internet channel bonding with internet load balancing.
That’s pretty cool. I imagine getting ARC to work in this environment would be tricky…but unimportant for your use case, I’d imagine. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks. ARC is not affected. ARC is fed from my Nucleus at home to one of my IOS devices. I’m using the internet bonding VPN just when running Roon core on my Dell laptop. It is possible to run the Speedify app on a cell phone and combine with other cell phones, etc, but that’s not something I need to do.
This Speedify app is working pretty well, but not perfect. I get a few skips that I never get otherwise. Most of the skips are when I’m using the Dell for other purposes while streaming from Roon. I’m using Speedify to make use of throttled Verizon data that would otherwise be useless for streaming music.
My strategy going forward will be to use one IOS device until it’s non-throttled hotspot data is exhausted. Then, switch to Speedify and add a second IOS device. When it’s non-throttled hotspot data is exhausted, add a third IOS device, etc.
The unanswered question is what will happen when I’m using four IOS devices (2 iPhones and 2 iPads), all on throttled data. If that doesn’t work, I’ll switch to Roon ARC and/or Apple Music using regular data (unlimited, not throttled) without the Dell. This is only an issue when we stay here (MIL’s home) more than about 16 days at a time.
EDIT: I get no skips if I stay away from 96 and 192.
OK, it’s now apparent that 3 or 4 IOS devices using Verizon throttled hotspot data are not sufficient for streaming lossless music from Tidal or Qobuz directly or through Roon. I need at least one of the IOS devices to still be on non-throttled hotspot data. So, using Speedify will extend my time frame, but once all four devices have exhausted their non-throttled hotspot data, it’s on to Roon ARC and Apple Music for me. At this point, Speedify will facilitate computer use for all other activities using Verizon throttled hotspot data.
The remaining question to be answered is the added time worth the effort of connecting 2, 3, or 4 devices or should I just use up my hotspot data and switch to Roon ARC and Apple Music sooner. TBD.
EDIT: I’ve been using Roon ARC with my iPhone for a couple days and it’s working flawlessly. I’m playing through my Chord Mojo2 and Focal Clear headphones. I’m using Speedify with my Dell laptop and two iPads on throttled Verizon data for general web surfing, etc. All is good.
EDIT2: Back running Roon on Dell core and using last 8 GB of non-throttled hotspot data on wife’s iPhone along with my iPhone and 2 iPads, all on throttled data. This will be a good test of how much throttled data I can utilize to extend life of the non-throttle data. I made a couple settings changes in Speedify and all is running smoothly even with 96 and 192.
EDIT3: So, it looks like using Speedify will allow me to stretch my Verizon non-throttled data from 2 weeks worth to 3 weeks worth by mixing in throttled data. That was my goal, so I’ll keep the Speedify app. They give you 30 days for a full refund.
In 8 days of using Speedify, I’ve been able to use about 36GB of Verizon throttled hotspot data that would normally be too slow to use. So, in the future, spending 3 weeks in NC and following a logical strategy, I should be able to stretch my 160GB of non-throttled hotspot data to last 3 weeks instead of just two weeks streaming Tidal and Qobuz using Roon on my laptop.
That works out to about $0.10 per GB over 2 years for $100 vs the $0.40 per GB I pay for my other hotspot data.
That said, Roon ARC is working very well the last few days.
