The Baltic BackPack

The Baltic Backpack and a 4G modem are no comparison. Many customers that come to us for this service have used regular 4G services and been let down by its performance, restricted by Carrier Grade NAT (CGNAT) and lack of support.

Here are just a few of the differences between the BackPack and 4G modem:

• Increase your chances of your data getting through.  By utilising four simultaneous mobile connections you’ll increase your chances of connection reliability especially during crowded events whereby other 4G users are all competing with each other for bandwidth and mobile mast airtime

• The backpack uses Carrier Aggregation on each 4G connection (making use of multiple mobile carriers frequencies resulting in higher speeds in areas of high amount of mobile users)

• We use Business grade (non-consumer grade) unlimited data SIM cards for each connection as such it’s not constrained by the mobile carriers fair use policies for excessive use

• You get a static IP address(s) that remains consistent for the life of the hire, or it can remain permanent for all future hires (by arrangement)

• It has higher gain antennas that connects to various mobile masts and an high gain interference rejection filter, something that regular 4G modems don’t have

• We connect directly to the mobile operators RAN (Radio Access Network), allowing us to provide our own internet “over the top” and therefore don’t use the the highly contented, bandwidth shaped and performance managed broadband that they usually provide (you will have Baltic’s Internet)

• We optimise your connection by automatically shortening the path between you and your end point (for example, we directly peer with YouTube and many more (have a direct connection with them) in order to keep latency, packet loss and dropped frames as low as possible)

Yes, you can add up to 5 more internet connections into the backpack when used for High Availability Mode, for example you can put your mobile phone into hotspot mode (for the backpack to use) and 4 more wired connections directly into the backpack (ADSL/DSL lines, Cable, Leased Lines and even satellite internet connections. 

Every additional contribution that you provide gets added to the mix of connections that the backpack uses, sending your data across all connections.  The first data to arrive at the endpoint (our data centre) gets used and passed on, normally the one with the lowest latency.

During our testing and with feedback from customers, 8 hours is a realistic duration on a single charge.  The battery can be charged at any time whilst in use. Baltic also supplies a spare battery with the setup. For an additional charge, we can also hire a larger battery and even small petrol generator for those clients who need extended durations in the field.

If you hire multiple portable connectivity solutions from us, you can ask for a private link to be created between them at no extra charge. 

This link acts as a flat Layer 2 connection (like a long network cable between both or multiple devices) (sometimes called MPLS) connecting them together on the same physical network.  Customers use this feature to connect together various equipment types or when they need all devices on a single flat network that they control (the devices could be on the other side of the country from each other!), which is a handy feature to have.

Customers that tend to use this feature are IT companies, Film Companies (that connect together film set equipment), Music Festivals (backend lighting control) talk back channels for remote crews, or customers of Baltic Broadband who wish to extend their office network into the remote field.