I want to use the Wi-Fi and Mobile Data (cellular) interfaces simultaneously on my Android 11 Galaxy Tab S7 5G device. The setting "Mobile data always active" does indeed allow fast interface-changeover. However, both interfaces are never data-accessible simultaneously. Using a third-party channel-bonding VPN service, called Speedify, this is possible on this Galaxy Tab S7 5G tablet. Also, a Google Pixel running Android 11 is also able to use both interfaces simultaneously, without any third-party utility help. How can I use both interfaces on a Galaxy Tab S7 5G without using Speedify (not possible because of security and business reasons)?
This cannot be done without third party software. You can alternate quickly between the two, but there is no WAN aggregation/bonding built into Android.
This cannot be done without third party software. You can alternate quickly between the two, but there is no WAN aggregation/bonding built into Android.
I will accept this (cannot be done) as an answer. If you could indulge another question... If I wanted to roll my own channel bonding solution, I assume I would need to create a VPN, which would somehow allow simultaneous Wi-Fi and Mobile Data communications, correct?
I assume you've tried getting fancy with permissions. I've seen you post elsewhere as well. Is hardware an option? You could achieve this with a 5G/LTE/Wifi router, or even a system running pf-sense. You could try to push it through VPN but the issue is largely driver support to create a bond which can't be achieved without root or just fast switching between the two networks. I'll keep my eyes open for other solutions.
I've not looked at any myself, but have you taken a look at software firewalling like No Root or other software firewall solutions? Is the reason you can't use Speedify because of cost factor?
Will look into No Root. Speedify does work great and does offer the channel bonding required. However, due to security policies, we cannot route traffic through a third-party VPN. Speedify does something on the Android tablet itself to facilitate channel bonding. Also, Speedify creates a tunnel interface via a VPN which may be required for channel-bonding.
As noted previously, Google Pixel phones do allow this type of channel-bonding. Any more thoughts on how this might be accomplished on any Samsung Tablet would be appreciated.
I did read elsewhere there are ways of using standard VPN tunnels with split-tunneling to use multiple interfaces on one device. The author provided no details.
How would you implement VPN tunnels with split-tunneling?
This is true but you still require an external (from your tablet) VPN server. Honestly, in this situation I would just set up PF Sense on a generic open router or laptop that has 5G/LTE WWAN and Wifi and then use rules to direct the traffic to which network. Using VPN will still require external (from the tablet) services. Perhaps you could get creative with virtualization and/or tethering 🤔 Seems a lot though. I'll keep poking around because I'm sure this will come up more as the world shifts to wireless.
You could conceivably use a Pi with an LTE/5g hat to create a portable VPN and define your traffic rules on there 🤔 Again pf-sense would probably be the best solution, but that's at least light weight and portable.
