Where high-speed internet for business was once a luxury and major competitive advantage, it’s now become the expectation.
Today, businesses in every industry depend on uninterrupted, broadband internet to connect with clients, operate essential tools and platforms, power internal processes, and collaborate across teams, departments, and remote workforces. Unfortunately, this dependence has made many companies extremely vulnerable to threats both internal and external. Hardware issues, configuration errors, and software update failures can all leave organizations disconnected and powerless, and that’s to say nothing of the dangers of security incidents and localized disasters.
Simply put, any event or failure that impacts the main wired network connection can leave a business completely unconnected and unable to interact with their supply lines, customers, or cloud-based services. In other words, when internet connectivity fails, disruption and lost revenue are sure to follow.
The truth is that no wired internet connection is impervious to downtime. As such, when network failover inevitably occurs, successful organizations have a wireless backup system in place to ensure uninterrupted network access for all connected devices. Here, we discuss wireless failover: what it is, what benefits it offers, and how SIMON IoT can help.
What Is Wireless Internet Failover?
Wireless internet failover is an automatic system that switches to wireless standby internet connections in the event that the main connection fails. Wireless internet failover is a crucial feature for businesses that rely on uninterrupted high-speed internet access, such as telecommunications providers and online retailers. This approach generally utilizes existing cellular networks to provide auxiliary connectivity, which is why wireless internet failover is often called “cellular failover.”
Why Wireless for Failover?
Often, companies will prepare for possible network outages by adding a second wired link to their branch router. But while this may protect against some downtime, it’s not foolproof; should there ever be a problem with the router or wired link, the backup connection would fail alongside the primary.
For uninterrupted internet access and connectivity for all devices, many organizations instead apply a strategy involving multiple routers with different wide area network (WAN) connections. And by incorporating cellular LTE and 5G wireless data links, the dangers of any single point of failure disrupting the network become almost nonexistent. Many situations that would impact wired networks (such as construction or other local events) leave cellular networks untouched, providing a completely separate and more dependable path to business connectivity.
Benefits of Wireless Failover
The primary benefit of wireless failover is continuity. With the right failover strategy in place businesses can operate with confidence, secure in the knowledge that their network connectivity is protected. More specifically, wireless failover provides the following advantages:
Protects Revenue Streams
When connectivity fails, operations slow to a crawl or cease altogether. Even a few hours of network outage can amount to a significant loss in terms of revenue. Wireless failover keeps businesses operating as planned, allowing them to continue generating revenue even when their wired connections drop.
Protects Against Reputational Damage
There’s more to business continuity than just generating revenue; when business operations cease as a result of network failures, customers may see that as a sign of unreliability. This could lead not only to lost clients, but also a negative reputation within the industry.
Promotes Employee Productivity
Most modern employees rely on constant internet connectivity to perform their duties. Wireless failover ensures that the workforce has continued access to their digital resources even when primary networks fail.
Offers Remote Access for Network Diagnostics
Having a second, separate network can be valuable even when the first network is functioning. Out-of-band-management (OOBM) is an approach that uses a secondary network to diagnose possible problems on the primary network and troubleshoot potential solutions.
Automatically Takes Over When Needed
The wireless failover strategy will provide a seamless solution, automatically taking over when the primary network fails. This helps keep operations running smoothly throughout even the most disruptive events.
Click here to learn more about the benefits of a wireless failover solution.
How SIMON Can Help
SIMON IoT, a leading cellular data provider, provides powerful LTE wireless failover routers and plans to protect your business continuity. Learn more about SIMON’s connectivity and failover solutions, and get started today!
