Backup Internet for Business

When the internet is down, it can really cut businesses down in a hyperconnected world. According to SolarWinds Pingdom, 98% of organizations say that an hour of downtime costs over $100,000. Backup Internet for Business strategies can be used to ensure that operations keep running without suffering from much loss due to a backup internet solution. The article gives the importance of having a backup internet connection for business, types of backup internet connections available, and how to choose the right solution.

Short Summary

Backup internet is a must-have for business continuity and productivity.
When selecting a provider, you may look at these: speed, reliability, cost, scalability, and carrier diversity.
The types of backup internet connections include broadband, dedicated, 4G/5G, fixed wireless, and satellite.
SD-WAN multiplies the value of a backup internet connection
Brightlio provides business internet quotes in no time that is customized to suit your needs and budget.

Let’s get started!

What is Backup Internet?

Backup internet connectivity or redundant internet connectivity comes at cubicle where there is an additional internet connection provided to prevent downtime of the primary internet service due to outages of the primary internet service provider. A backup internet connection for business helps the establishment to be online at all times, protecting the image of the business, and enhancing productivity.

According to Gartner, network outages are estimated at about $5,600 per minute or $336,000 per hour in the average company. For small businesses, an internet outage indeed has a cost. Buying a backup internet service is always a good investment for most organizations.

Selection of a Backup Internet Solution

When you make a decision on a backup internet solution for your business, you have to weigh a lot of important considerations. Your choice is going to considerably impact your operations and expenses, so this is an area where you want to make a pretty sound decision.

Reliability and Performance

An important aspect is the reliability and performance of the standby connection. Your backup internet should be reliable enough to offer service uninterrupted in case the main connection fails. In terms of speed and bandwidth, the backup connection needs to be able to support your business operations until the primary connection is fully restored. While it might not need to be as fast and have the same amount of bandwidth as your main connection, it should at least support critical operations.

Remember that during the course of a power outage, your backup router or cable modem may shut down too. You should therefore invest in battery backup for your secondary service to make sure you don’t get disconnected.

Cost Effectiveness

Another factor to consider is the cost of the backup solution. While having a backup internet connection is important, it should not be out of your budget and too expensive. The cost of internet backup varies with the service offering, bandwidth, and geography involved. A balance of cost against specific needs and the potential cost for business downtime will be in order.

Another critical component is the carrier diversity. Carrier diversity refers to the use of one primary internet connection and a different internet service provider for the backup internet connection. The strategy provides redundancy due to the lower probability of two connections failing at the same instance.

If your primary and backup are both with the same provider, you might not have internet failover if there is a wide-spread problem with that provider. The chances are much slim, though, if you have diverse carriers, in which case if one provider has an outage, it’s unlikely the other would be simultaneously affected.

Another part of your evaluation of diverse connections is the path that each carrier takes into your facility. If the two carriers take the same path, then damage to one connection will likely damage both. So often, data centers and large office buildings provide multiple internet provider paths into their facilities.

Geographical Considerations

Location may also impact your backup internet options geographically. For example, if you live in a rural area, your choice may be really limited, and you would opt for satellite or even fixed wireless internet.

Scalability

Last but not least, consider the scalability of the data backup solution in question. Your business will expand surfacing the need for more internet bandwidth. The data backup solution that you decide on should be able to match the growth of your enterprise as well.

Checking Out Backup Internet Options for Your Business

Today, there are hundreds of different options for business to have backup internet. Each one has its various benefits, drawbacks, ideal use cases, and costs. The understanding of these is key in identifying the most suitable solution that meets your needs and budget. Let’s dive in.

Broadband Backup Internet

Broadband internet is a high-speed internet connection with speed that does not vary and gives constant access to the internet via different mediums such as DSL, cable, or fiber optics. Compared to dedicated Internet which uses a fixed amount of bandwidth per single user, broadband bandwidths are shared between users, which often causes slower speeds when usage peaks.

Broadband backup internet service offers the ultimate value for money and is also easy to get started with. This practice has recently been taken up by small and medium-sized businesses.

Advantages:

Relatively inexpensive, great for firms on a tight budget
Variety of business requirements are met since lots of speeds are available
Easy to install, pretty reliable as a whole

Disadvantages:

Speed and reliability varies greatly depending on the providers and places
Bandwidth tends to slow down at peak times since more than one device is sharing the internet
Ideal use case: Small and medium businesses that need to have a cheap solution and whose business operations can afford occasional slowdowns during peak usage periods.

Proposed Pricing Plan for Back-up Broadband Internet

Business broadband pricing for internet backup can vary by area, speed, and contract term. Average users pay in the range of $65 to $500 per month, with rates averaging $100 to $200 per month. Most broadband services can be rented on a month-to-month basis, so you’re not stuck in a year-long, multiyear contract.

Dedicated Internet Backup

Dedicated internet offers a fixed amount of bandwidth only for a single user or company and therefore offers more reliability and predictability compared to broadband, which shares bandwidth for one or more users; its exclusive bandwidth allocation brings in higher speeds and superior performance when usage peaks.

Benefits:

It does not compromise with variable speed of operation
It is unflustered by times of excessive usage.
Suitable for heavy data workloads and cloud applications, SaaS-heavy applications
More secure

Disadvantages:

Pricier as compared to others
Setup could be challenging
Term lengths are more extended in most cases

Best Use Case:

Dedicated internet is typically deployed as a main internet. The best fit for dedicated backup internet includes big businesses; organizations whose need for internet is quite high; and those whose data centers are local, with vital business applications residing in the above data centers.

Dedicated Backup Internet Pricing

Dedicated Internet Pricing Dedicated internet pricing varies more widely than broadband. Some locations may already be on network for dedicated internet providers. Costs will be lower in such instances. Some will require expensive construction. In most cases, you should pay a minimum of $1,000 per month for dedicated internet, and prices may be as high as $5,000 per month or more. You’ll likely also have longer-term contracts (12 to 60 months), especially in areas where construction is required.

4G/LTE/5G Cellular Data Backup

4G/LTE and 5G are cellular network standards, used to connect users to the internet through wireless connection over a 4G/LTE and 5G network in the same service that provides mobile telephone services. These networks have wide coverage and are even gaining the ability to connect at even faster low-latency rates than ever before. Though this can’t be compared to landline-based solutions, like broadband or dedicated internet, the installation and ease of setup with 4G/LTE and 5G are far more flexible and mobile. Still, they do have their weaknesses with data plan caps and performance.

Benefits:

Covers wide area
Easy to install and set up
Potential to enjoy high-speed, low-latency connections using 5G

Disadvantages:

App-dependent, data-stilted limits may apply based on your plan and provider
Slower connection speed compared to a wired connection
Not everywhere, so you’re liable to experience connectivity issues in some geographies.
4G/LTE/5G backup service is great for smaller companies to maintain their connection in case of a short outage or where hardwired, traditional landline is simply not possible. The entities are also those that need a portable or a temporary backup solution. These provide excellent internet backup for all retail shops, the many branch offices, small businesses, and home offices.

Expected Pricing for 4G/LTE and 5G

Plans offered by T-Mobile for unlimited 5G business internet start at around $50 per month while Verizon charges a similar fee of $69.99. Some can be up to about $250 per month depending on bandwidth and geography. Most of these plans have month-to-month contracts.

Fixed Wireless Backup

Fixed wireless backup is one form of point-to-point internet service that works through a wireless signal to provide internet connectivity. This is achieved by sending signals from a ground station to a fixed antenna at the client’s premises, all bypassing physical cables.

Although fixed wireless is not reliant on the use of terrestrial structures, it will by no means play second fiddle compared to broadband or dedicated internet, making this technology perfect for areas with limited or low-quality wired options for internet. The performance will depend on geographical obstructions or even weather.

Advantages:

No cables will be needed for this; thus, this is an excellent solution for areas and places that are remote or hard to access.
It can provide a reliable connection at high speed

Disadvantages:

The weather will affect the connection, and even geographical obstructions may interfere with it
There needs to be a line of sight between the ground station and your antenna
Your equipment will have to be mounted, typically on your roof

Best Use Cases

A fixed wireless backup is best used for enterprise locations with limited broadband infrastructure. It also applies well to enterprises that have very widely spread out premises, for example agricultural enterprises, or university campuses.

Fixed Wireless Pricing Expectation

Fixed wireless pricing tends to be higher than broadband but less than a dedicated physical internet connection. We often see pricing between $350 and $1,000 a month. There may also be an installation fee to install the antenna.

Satellite Backup Internet

Satellite internet is internet that uses a satellite dish to transmit and receive data via a satellite orbiting the Earth. Unlike landline or cellular access, satellite internet can pass through almost any location, although it may contain higher latency and weather interference, and usually is available with data caps and slower speeds compared with other Internet options.

Benefits:

Abilities that can reach places where other types of connections do not exist, nor are they available
Serves as an independent source of backup which does not depend on the terrestrial infrastructure

Drawbacks:

Weather-sensitive
Generally occurs with higher latency compared to the other types of connection
It could have data caps and slower speeds

Best Application:

Satellite backup internet is excellent for businesses located in highly remote places where other internet connections would be impossible. It is also suitable for companies that will require a fully independent backup solution distinct from local infrastructure.

Pricing of Satellite Internet Expected

Sattelite internet typically costs around the same as a broadband connection. The cost will depend on your specifics, but generally you can expect to pay between $50 and $300 per month. Most services charge a rental fee for the satellite dish in the neighborhood of $15 per month. You’ll also typically contract with the provider annually.

The Synergy of SD-WAN and Backup Internet

It is a revolutionary network connectivity approach that optimizes and enhances the performance of a business network. Instead of relying on traditional, static network configurations, SD-WAN employs software to manage and route network traffic. It allows you to balance traffic across multiple connections efficiently, permit to route to backup links in real-time without an outage, and improve overall network performance.

SD-WAN adds even more benefits with this reserve internet by including smart and dynamic network management. SD-WAN relies on software, which handles control, management, and service deployment between colocation data centers and even remote branches or cloud instances. It makes the network more flexible and responsive to the demands of the business.

Indeed, with the application of intelligent routing, SD-WAN optimizes bandwidth usage by directing various kinds of traffic over the most suitable connection. On top of that, applications that have lower thresholds for latency, such as unified communications and video conferencing, are then prioritized. Improving business applications therefore improves their performance.

One of the key benefits of SD-WAN is its manageability of multiple connections, from MPLS through broadband to LTE, dynamically steering the traffic according to the current status of each link. Particularly useful in relation to a backup internet connection, this can ensure that the transition to a backup internet can be made smoothly if the main internet fails.

Another capability of SD-WAN, however is not limited to failover. SD-WAN lets you bond multiple links together. That is, you would be able to simultaneously use the combined bandwidth of your primary and backup internet connection, delivering more bandwidth for your business.

Conclusion

Ensuring business continuity will, in the long run, protect one’s brand due to having a failsafe internet backup. Be it broadband, dedicated internet, 4G/LTE/5G, fixed wireless, satellite, or even point-to-point wireless, you do focus on carrier diversity, reliability, performance, location, cost, and scalability. Every form of connectivity has its pros and cons. The right choice for you will largely depend on your business needs.

But beyond making your network more resilient, integrating technologies such as SD-WAN is sure to further safeguard an uninterrupted operation, as that’s another layer of assurance. Rather than purchasing an internet connection, the proper backup internet solution means securing the continuation of one’s business.

FAQ

What are my considerations when picking a backup internet option for my business?
Consider also location, carrier diversity, reliability, and performance in terms of price and scalability. Opt for a solution that fits both speed and capacity needs, fits within the budget, and scales to meet the business ever-expanding needs. Different providers make it less likely that the network would go out at the same time.

What is the value of a backup internet solution for business continuity?
It ensures there’s a backup connection should the primary one crash, thereby minimizing the interruption of its operations and ensuring that it can continue operating, especially for those entities with online services.

How does failover work in case of a primary network outage?
Failover automatically switches you to a backup when the primary fails and keeps your business connected and productive. Available in fixed wireless, 4G/LTE/5G.

What are the main causes of an internet outage?
Primarily caused by power outages, equipment failure, and service provider problems; reliable backup connectivity is key to minimizing disruption.

Test your backup internet solution
Test your backup solution periodically, simulating an outage to ensure you can switch over smoothly and that all critical applications are accessible.

What do I look for in a provider of internet backup services?
Choose a service provider with a good track record for reliability, with good customer support and the most competitive rates. Be sure to check the service level agreements – SLAs that guarantee uptime and response times.