One of the difficult jobs of being at CES is trying to fight through all of the ‘noise’ that’s generated here, and find interesting developments. Sharedband is one I consider interesting. Sharedband is enabling their own form of ‘co-opetiton,’ by allowing users to combine a DSL and cable modem subscription into one super fast broadband connection. Sharedband sends its customers two routers – one for DSL and one for cable, and uses its own proprietary software to ‘combine’ the two pipes into one. The two broadband pipes could be wireless or fiber as well.
Who needs this type of service? Primarily small and medium businesses (including home based businesses) who need reliable connectivity but don’t want to buy a T1 or other more expensive option. I can think of my own real world situation where this service makes perfect sense. Our office uses VoIP service and increasingly produces online webcasts, both of which can be temporarily interrupted due to DSL performance. I’ve often dreamed of adding some type of redundancy so these services could automatically switch over to the most reliable broadband connection at any given time – especially mid-call. If the costs of two separate broadband connections and Shareband’s service still cost less than a T1, it very well may be worth it. Shareband charges $75 for each router and $10/month for each broadband line they are aggregating. The monthly fees increase, based on the total aggregate amount of bandwidth used.
