Technology
MagNet by magNet delivers true bonding, redundant smoothing, and edge sharing on macOS, Windows, Linux, Pi, and OpenWrt — with a control panel that shows ISP, Mbps, and path health.
Every WAN carries encrypted UDP frames. The regional hub reassembles them and NATs to the public internet — so both upload and download can use every healthy path.
MagNet enumerates Ethernet, Wi‑Fi, USB tethering, and cellular adapters — then lets you lock Bond vs Share roles so LAN ports never loop into the tunnel.
The client fans the encrypted handshake across all WANs so a one-way phone hotspot can’t block a healthy fibre path from completing the session.
Choose Speed, Redundant, or Failover live. Lossless Shield (Enhance Streaming, default on) duplicates every packet in Speed mode; auto-shield engages at 0.5% loss and stays until reconnect. Redundant mode duplicates always. Keepalives measure RTT/loss per link.
Regional hubs (including ZA) terminate the tunnel, NAT to the internet, and bond the downlink the same way — so downloads also ride every link.
The core capabilities operators expect from SD-WAN bonding — implemented as software modes you can switch live.
Packet-level aggregation
Packet-level striping across every WAN so a single download, stream, or VPN session can use the combined capacity of fibre + 5G + Starlink — not just load-balance whole flows.
MagNet’s Speed mode round-robins encrypted frames over every healthy link. The hub reassembles and deduplicates so TCP/UDP see one tunnel IP.
Lossless redundancy
Duplicate every packet across links so the first good copy always wins — eliminating perceptible loss on calls, streams, and VPN sessions.
Redundant mode sends each packet on all alive paths. The receiver deduplicates instantly — UDP real-time apps see near-zero perceptible loss. Speed mode + Enhance Streaming (Lossless Shield, default on) duplicates every packet; auto-shield also engages at 0.5% loss and stays active until reconnect.
Session persistence
When a WAN dies, traffic moves to surviving links without tearing down the tunnel session — your Zoom room and SSH sessions stay up.
Failover mode sticks to the best probed path and switches as soon as keepalives prove another link is healthier. No waiting for the OS default route to time out.
LAN gateway
Turn a Pi, OpenWrt box, or spare laptop into a bonded gateway. LAN devices get the combined pipe with no app install.
Assign WAN ports as Bond inputs and one LAN port as Share output. MagNet NATs the bonded tunnel out so phones, cameras, and PCs ride the bond.
Classic dual-WAN routers move whole sessions when a link dies. Bonding stripes packets, so one TCP download can ride fibre and 5G at once — and survive a carrier blip without rebuffering the whole stream.
Pick the trade-off the way broadcast engineers pick FEC vs duplication — except you can change it mid-call from the control panel.
| Mode | Goal | How it works | Best for | Bandwidth cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | Maximum combined throughput | Stripe packets across every healthy WAN | Downloads, backups, large file sync, browsing | Normal bandwidth use |
| Redundant | Zero-drop resilience (WAN smoothing) | Duplicate each packet on all links; keep first arrival | Zoom, Teams, live stream uplink, VoIP, trading | Uses ~N× bandwidth on N links |
| Failover | Lowest overhead, instant hand-off | Primary path until probes say switch | Metered LTE as backup, battery devices | One link active at a time |
From pop-up production kits to rural offices — software bonding when CapEx appliances are overkill or too slow to ship.
Bond cellular + Starlink for uplink that survives a single carrier drop. Redundant mode keeps frames flowing when towers hiccup.
Fibre for bulk throughput, LTE as insurance. Meetings stay up when the ISP blips — Failover or Speed without buying a SD-WAN appliance.
Raspberry Pi or laptop as the bonded gateway. Cameras, POS, and crew Wi‑Fi all ride Pair & Share out one LAN port.
Starlink + cellular + VSAT-style diversity. Bonding turns “best effort” links into one workable pipe for ops and crew welfare.
Live RTT from your browser to MagNet relays — ZA, EU, US, and global.
Measured from this browser to each MagNet relay — lower is better for real-time apps.
Probing hubs…
Estimate combined throughput for your WAN mix.
Speed mode stripes packets — expect ~90–95% of combined healthy throughput.
Use the calculator to estimate Speed vs Redundant vs Failover before you install. See also the router compatibility matrix and system status.
Where MagNet sits versus consumer VPN apps and hardware SD-WAN stacks.
| Capability | MagNet | Consumer VPN apps | Hardware SD-WAN |
|---|---|---|---|
| True packet-level bondingSingle TCP session can use all WANs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs without proprietary hardwareInstall on gear you already own | Yes | Yes | No |
| macOS · Windows · Linux · Pi · OpenWrtClient apps on every major platform | Yes | Yes | limited |
| Redundant / smoothing modeLossless Shield + Redundant — first good copy wins | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hot failover (session persistence)Tunnel IP stays; paths change | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LAN Pair & Share / edge gatewayShare bonded WAN to whole LAN | Yes | partial | Yes |
| Transparent per-link ISP & Mbps UISee which carrier is carrying what | Yes | partial | Yes |
| Regional cloud hubs (incl. ZA)Lower RTT to the bonding relay | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ChaCha20-Poly1305 encrypted tunnelBonded traffic never leaves in plaintext | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Starts from a few dollars / monthSoftware subscription, not CapEx appliances | Yes | Yes | No |
| No per-device appliance taxInstall software; bring your own NICs | Yes | Yes | No |
MagNet targets enterprise-grade bonding outcomes with software you install on hardware you already own — no proprietary appliance lock-in.
