3G WiFi Mobile Internet Bridge Router

The concept: Use four 3G USB pens from different mobile internet providers, plug them into a Belkin wireless hub, power it all with a Solar charged PowerMonkey and bridge all connections to get the best speed from all four networks while in a mobile location …. I made this image to demonstrate the concept …

This would enable a multiple mobile 3G access point for laptops or mobile phones through WiFi. I can already turn my mbile phone into a WiFi access point , but this only allows one (slowish) connection to the internet.

This sort of setup could be great for live video streaming from multiple users at remote events with no WiFi or high bandwith for one streamer.

The best I’ve seen on the market so far is:

• WiFi routers with a 3G socket – but they don’t bridge multiple 3G connections.
• ADSL routers that bridge/bond multiple lines.
• LiveCD Linux router boot disks that run on old laptops and bridge multiple connections.
• The Belkin Wireless USB hub (above) could be used, but would then need to be bridged on the laptop – so no good for mobile phone access.

Let me know if you have seen anything like this by leaving a comment below.

Update: This may need to be powered with something a bit more sustantial! … See my post about a Solar Power Trickle Charger for £30

Update AUG09: I found a small Linux distribution called ZEROSHELL that can be loaded onto a flash disk and can manage multiple Internet connections by balancing traffic. You can run it on a number of known system boards to build your own low power box or just chuck it on an old lappy (Hardware needed to run ZeroShell) AND you can plug in multiple 3G dongles and broadcast one big fat mobile WiFi access point.

Here is a screengrab from their site showing Load balancing between 1 ADSL and 3 UMTS/HSDPA connections (YES 3 mobile connections! YAY!)

Read more about Load balancing and Failover on several Internet connections with Zeroshell