Most businesses are now heavily reliant on an internet connection, so as connectivity becomes more essential, downtime even for a short time can be a big problem.
If the internet goes down your company is left with no email, no incoming orders, no web browsing, no news or market feeds. Every business relies on the internet in different ways, but if your business can’t operate without it then its best to have a backup option in place.
Internet service providers (ISP) don’t give you minimum connection promises on internet uptime and even if yours does, they won’t guarantee a fault on your line.
Faults are often out of your control, for example a power failure at your ISP, damage to your incoming line or faults at the telephone exchange.
What are your options?
Innovation IT Support recommend DrayTek routers – they provide connectivity features that have secondary connections available for a backup Internet connection.
In the event of a failure, an advanced DrayTek router will automatically switch over to any of the following:
- A second ADSL or fibre line, using a separate DSL modem and different ISP
- 3G / 4G cellular data using a USB dongle modem (eg O2, EE, Vodafone)
- A cable-modem service such as Virgin Media
- Satellite Broadband
- ISDN dialup (single or dual channel) (‘S’ models only)
- Any other Internet connection via an Ethernet cable
What happens once my connection is back too normal?
Once your main connection is restored, the router will automatically switch back to the primary source. When both connections are available, the router can use both connections so that maximum bandwidth is used.
Load balancing
Load balancing increases your total Internet bandwidth. Load balancing can either automatically spread your internet traffic through both connections, or direct specific traffic through different connections for example one connection for Data Traffic and one for Voice Traffic.
Secondary ADSL Line
To protect your business from ISP outage its best to have your backup ADSL connection with a different provider.
Using a 4G data modem
If your business has good 4G coverage then this can be a very cost effective solution, however if your area has poor signal then this method can work out to be slow.
Satellite Broadband
While this is the most expensive option it would protect you against line faults and problems at the local exchange.