Backup Internet & Failover
Cellular LTE/5G, fixed wireless, and SD-WAN failover — designed around what your business actually cannot afford to lose, and sourced across available supplier options.
The Risk
When the internet goes down, payment terminals stop processing, cloud tools stop loading, VoIP phones go silent, and staff either wait or go home. If an hour of downtime costs more than a month of a backup link, the business case writes itself.
A single internet circuit — regardless of how good the SLA looks — is a single path that can fail for reasons outside the carrier's control: street work, building network room issues, hardware failure. One path means one risk.
A second connection only helps if traffic actually moves to it when the primary fails — automatically, fast, and without staff intervention at 2 a.m. Getting that right requires the right hardware and configuration, not just a second SIM card.
Not everything needs full-speed failover. Payment terminals need very little bandwidth; a VoIP system needs low latency; a busy warehouse operation needs something different from a small office. Failover design should match what matters, not treat every site the same.
What We Arrange
A cellular backup connection installs in hours, not weeks, and runs on a completely separate infrastructure path from any wired circuit. When the primary connection drops, a cellular router detects the failure and shifts traffic automatically — typically in seconds. It is the most common failover technology for small and mid-sized sites because of how quickly it can be deployed and how reliably the network path differs from the wired primary.
Fixed wireless uses a rooftop antenna pointed at a nearby tower or building, providing a dedicated wireless connection that is independent of the wired network. For sites where cellular coverage is weak or bandwidth requirements are higher, fixed wireless backup provides more consistent throughput than cellular and can be provisioned with an SLA. It also works well as a primary connection in areas where wired infrastructure is limited.
SD-WAN manages traffic across multiple connections simultaneously — primary fiber, cable, cellular, or wireless — and shifts traffic automatically based on performance and availability. Beyond failover, it applies traffic policies so critical applications like VoIP and payment processing get priority, and less critical traffic uses whatever path is available. For businesses with multiple locations, SD-WAN also standardises how connectivity is managed across sites.
Multi-path configurations run two or more connections in parallel, so that traffic flows across both at all times and failover is instantaneous rather than reactive. Active-active setups increase total available bandwidth and eliminate the detection delay of active-passive designs. We scope multi-path arrangements where zero-tolerance for interruption justifies the additional cost, and active-passive where cost-effectiveness is the priority.
When to Call
If you can measure what a recent outage cost in lost sales, staff downtime, or customer friction, you already have the business case. The question is just whether a backup link costs less.
Payment terminals and POS systems that depend on internet connectivity stop working when it fails. For retail, hospitality, and service businesses, that's revenue off the table.
Hosted VoIP and UCaaS systems go down with the internet connection. If your team can't answer the phone during an outage, failover is part of the VoIP decision.
A new site is the right moment to design connectivity with failover built in from the start, rather than adding it after an outage teaches you the lesson.
How the Desk Works
We source backup connectivity options across available supplier channels through authorized upstream partner relationships. That means we compare cellular carriers, fixed wireless options, and SD-WAN platforms for your address — rather than defaulting to whatever one vendor is pitching.
Good failover design starts with understanding what your business actually cannot afford to lose — payment terminals, VoIP, warehouse systems — and works backwards to the right technology, bandwidth, and configuration. Once you order, we coordinate hardware, provisioning, and testing through one desk. When you order through us, the supplier pays us a commission — you do not pay more.
If you are reviewing your full connectivity setup, the business internet page covers primary connections including fiber and dedicated internet access.
FAQ
Tell us about your sites and what happens when the internet goes down — a SwitchU advisor will come back within one business day with options.