The world as we know it today relies on connectivity to function. Every organization needs to be connected to run day-to-day operations, but sometimes that isn’t always possible. Networks can fail, and connectivity can go down. When networks fail, businesses need connectivity to fall back on to continue daily operations. In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of having a failover solution, what to look for in a solution, and how to choose the right one.
The Importance of a Network Failover Solution
Every organization relies on internet and cellular connectivity to succeed. The healthcare industry relies on connectivity and the internet to save lives. The financial industry relies on connection to keep registers running and transactions working. Whatever the industry, connectivity is crucial. But the primary connection link can fail from something extreme like a natural disaster or something simple like commonplace construction. Without connection, even for only an hour, your business could lose thousands of dollars.
With a failover in place, your business won’t need to worry if the primary connection fails. The failover solution will continue connectivity without a loss in productivity.
Why LTE Is a Good Failover Solution
Within network failover solutions, there are different types of failover connections to choose from. Your business can choose from typical cellular connectivity options, i.e. 3G, 4G, LTE. Or, they can rely on a hard wired solution such as Fios or CenturyLink. Some of the best internet failover solutions are wireless because they’re reliable and efficient.
LTE is a good failover solution because it’s reliable and can keep up with the demands of a modern business. When a primary wired connection fails, an LTE failover solution provides internet access, support for cloud-based applications, and connectivity to other locations.
What to Look for in an LTE Failover Solution
Here are three crucial factors to consider when choosing the right LTE failover solution for your business.
Connectivity Needs
Not every business needs the same amount of connection to run at full capacity. Small businesses with only a few employees can make do with less data, but large businesses with multiple locations and hundreds of employees need much higher capacity connections. Because every business is different, you want to take time to determine exactly how much data your business needs to continue running.
If you choose a failover plan without enough data, you won’t be able to continue running your business at full capacity. Or, you could be charged hefty overage fees. The reverse problem, paying for a plan with more data than you need, leaves you paying more than you have to. This is preventable by determining your connectivity needs and choosing a solution that matches them.
Hardware Requirements
Internet failover solutions require different hardware options, from routers to battery backup systems. Before choosing a solution, you’ll want to make sure that your operation’s physical layout fits the failover solution you choose. You’ll also need to be aware of gateway device options and management options. For instance, some solutions will need a power source or server to connect to. Before choosing a solution, you will need to determine what hardware requirements your company has as well as your solution will need. You want to choose a solution that you can support.
Pricing Options
One of the most important considerations is finding an affordable solution. You want to choose a solution that provides the connectivity you need with a price that fits your budget. Most internet backup solutions use similar price structures. You pay a monthly fee to maintain service and to cover a certain amount of data, should you need it that month. Then, there’s an overage fee for if you use more than the set amount of data.
Here’s an example of how pricing could work using a common failover solution from RocketFailover. Their pricing is $29.95 a month with 100MB of connectivity but $20 per GB after that. Let’s walk through what could happen with this pricing model. There’s a company with 50 employees that pays $29.95 a month of LTE internet failover. Most months the primary connection is fine, but one day the connection crashes from a nearby construction project. Luckily this company pays for internet backup, and they’ve already paid the $29.95 that month. Backup WiFi kicks in immediately and work continues as normal.
Let’s break down how much data this company may use in one hour of using the failover network. One hour of surfing the Web (using the internet to find information for work) uses about 18MB. Multiply that 18MB by the 50 employees, and this company uses 900 MB using Web browsers during that hour. But most companies use more than just a Web browser. Handling an email uses about 0.2MB per email. If each of the 50 employees handled 25 emails during that hour, that’s an additional 250MB. Already that’s over 1GB, which is an additional $20 for the failover solution. If five employees streamed videos that hour, that’s 3.75GB. Video calls from five employees can add another 1.7GB. All together that’s nearly 7GB of data, which adds up to $140 for only one hour. If this business needed backup for longer, used more internet services, or had more employees using certain functions, the price would increase.
So while the pricing solution may look reasonable at first glance, it can add up quickly if you ever need to rely on failover. That’s why it’s crucial to explore pricing options before selecting a solution. You want the solution to meet your needs but stay within your budget.
