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Network

How we connect your users

Our call relays and media servers run in regions around the world. Each device reaches the one nearest to it, and when the people in a call are far apart, our servers carry it between their regions on private links. There is nothing for you to set up or host.

The nearest region

Every device finds its nearest server

Our SDKs and plugins reach our servers by one name. Each device that asks for it gets the region nearest to it, measured by how fast the region answers, not by a setting.

Nothing to configure

Your app never picks a region. Users in Toronto, Paris and Singapore each reach their own, in the same call, and a region we open serves the users near it from its first day, with no change on your side.

Close to every person

The delay people hear in a call grows with the distance to the server between them. A server in their own region keeps it short, wherever the others in the call are.

Moves without hanging up

A server leaving for maintenance moves its calls to another one first, and the people in them keep talking.

Calls between two people

The shortest path that works

A call between two people goes straight between their devices when it can. When a firewall blocks that, each device reaches the relay nearest to it, and when even the relays cannot reach, the call moves to our media servers without hanging up.

  1. DirectlyBetween the two devices, on most networks. The fastest path.
  2. Through our relaysWhen a firewall blocks the direct path. They answer on the ports of the web, so a call gets through wherever websites do.
  3. Through our media serversWhen even the relays cannot reach. The call moves there and goes on, without hanging up.

Encrypted end to end on every path, and included in every plan.

Group calls and live streams

One call, many regions

In a group call each person joins the media server of their own region, and our servers pass each voice and picture between them. Someone in Warsaw and someone in Montreal talk through servers near each of them, not through one far from both.

Once per server, not per person

A picture crosses between regions once for each of our servers with someone watching it, then reaches everyone there from that server. Fifty people watching in one country take no more between regions than one does.

Only what is watched

A picture nobody in a region watches does not travel there, and each region gets it only at the size its people show it.

Live streams for audiences everywhere

Each viewer of a live stream watches from the server of their own region, so an audience spread over many countries is served close to each of them.

Messages and events

Realtime events from Germany today

Messages, presence, typing and the other events of your app go through our realtime servers in Germany, which grow with the traffic. An event is small, and it reaches users across the world in a fraction of a second. Edge servers in more regions are coming to bring events closer to your users too.

Built on it

Calls and streams on this network

Better Messages on WordPress and our SDKs for your own apps make their calls and live streams on these relays and media servers.

Video calls for appsLive streaming for appsFor WordPress

Questions

Frequently asked

Do I choose a region for my app?

No. Each device reaches the region nearest to it by itself, so users in different countries each get their own, in the same call. Your app and its settings stay the same wherever your users are.

What happens when the people in a call are in different regions?

Each of them connects to the media server of their own region, and our servers carry the call between the regions on private links. A picture crosses between regions once for each server with people watching it, not once for each person.

Where are your servers?

Our relays and media servers run in these countries: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Poland, Canada and Singapore. Each call goes through the one nearest the people in it. Coming next: United States, Australia, India and Italy. The realtime servers that carry your events run in Germany.

Does a call between two people go through your servers?

Only when it has to. It goes straight between the two devices when it can, through the relay nearest each person when a firewall blocks that, and through our media servers when even the relays cannot reach. It is encrypted end to end on every path.

Do WordPress sites get the same network?

Yes. Calls and live streams in Better Messages on WordPress run on the same relays and media servers as those of apps on our SDKs.

Which regions open next?

Next come United States, Australia, India and Italy. A region serves the users near it from the day it opens, with no change in your app.

Questions about your users and their regions? Write to us.