Internet fallback solution

I have mentioned before that many businesses now rely heavily on their internet connection for email and other services such as banking and ordering supplies.

Anything longer than an hour without an internet connection can cause major stress.

Over the last few years there have been several occasions when customers have had internet connection problems and I am usually helpless to do anything except report the problem.

Usually the problem is one that affects many customers because it is network related.

Occasionally it is a specific problem associated with equipment attached to the customer’s line in the BT exchange.

In all cases there is nothing that can be done except wait for some third party to fix the problem.

For the type of internet service that is used by most homes and small businesses the Service Level Agreement in their internet contract would read something like this:

“…although we attempt to provide all customers with the best possible service, we can not guarantee that the internet service will never be faulty. However, we will endeavour to correct all reported faults as soon as we reasonably can…”

Unless you are paying more than £100 per month for your internet service you are unlikely to have a Service Level Agreement that guarantees anything better .

The last time that my customers experienced a general network fault that caused an internet outage of a few hours I had customers calling me and insisting that they had to have their internet connection restored immediately because “they were expecting some important emails” or “they had to get online to pay the wages”.

I sympathised, but unfortunately these customers have unrealistic expectations from their £20 per month internet service.

Ironically it is the fact that their internet service is usually very good that causes customers to rely on their internet connection.

Fortunately there is an inexpensive internet failure solution.

If you are in a situation where you can’t be without your internet connection for more than a few hours I suggest that you invest in a 3G dongle which you can either plug into the USB port of your PC or laptop or compatible router.

This will give you a true failsafe internet connection that will bypass your phone line, the equipment at the BT exchange, the backbone internet connection and your Internet Service Provider’s equipment.

It will not be as fast as your regular connection, but it should be sufficient for those infrequent periods when your main internet connection goes down.

It is possible to buy a 3G dongle for £20 on a plan that charges £2 per day, but only on the days it is used.

In other words there would be no charge for the days when it is not connected.

I suggest that buying a 3G dongle on that basis would be an exceptional investment.

This internet failsafe, or backup, strategy of course assumes that 3G coverage is good in your office, but that’s another issue…

Please contact me if you would like advice on how to continue working (or playing) when your main internet connection fails.