The Evolving Home Office: Ensuring Seamless Connectivity with LTE Backup

Hybrid or remote working has become the norm, compelling many to transform their homes into small business premises. Setting up a home WiFi network with sufficient device connection capacity and bandwidth availability was just the beginning. Now that your home serves, in part, as a remote office for your company, and with so much business being conducted in the cloud, having a robust, always-on, dependable internet service at home is key to your, and your employer’s, overall Business Continuity Plan (BCP).

Additionally, with the rise of online tertiary education, many households require a stable and reliable internet connection to support both professional and educational activities. The importance of uninterrupted connectivity has never been greater, making it essential to have a dependable backup solution in place.

This article explores the necessity of a Business Continuity Plan that includes reliable internet backup options, ensuring that both work and studies can proceed without interruption.

The Importance of Business Continuity

Business Continuity Managers need to know that if something goes wrong, a business can keep running, even when you’re at home. The primary medium of connectivity, especially in metropolitan areas where access is pervasive, is fibre. While it is the fastest, most reliable, and perhaps future-proof connectivity technology in today’s market, its physical infrastructure is not completely safe from external elements like theft, vandalism, and breakages through third-party negligence.

The Reality of Fibre Outages

In the past, something as relatively common as bad weather would cause outages on copper lines, whereas fibre outages tend to happen only when the line is physically cut – during roadworks, floods, and intentional malice, for example. This greatly reduces the likelihood of your fibre failing, but even with this in mind, the risks to your business of internet disruption with extended downtime are simply not worth taking.

The truth is accidents will happen, and with you and your company being so reliant on your home internet connection, it’s vital to make sure the effect on business-critical applications is kept to a minimum. While the grid does seem to be far more stable at this time, it is important to have measures in place regardless. There are still instances where there is planned or unplanned maintenance that can affect the integrity of the electrical grid and has been known to cause interruptions for at least a few hours at a time.

Many will resort to hot-spotting from mobile phones during a break in internet service, but how practical is it to rely on your mobile plan to keep you running during an interrupted fibre connection? When your fibre is down, it certainly is not the ideal time to learn whether your mobile plan has enough data to carry you through while your fibre network operator and internet service provider work to get your service up and running again.

Developing a Business Continuity Plan

What’s your alternative? Or rather, your BCP? Having a business continuity and contingency plan (BCP) is vital to make sure you’re prepared, should something unexpected happen. It’s a good idea to review your BCP regularly – ensuring it always reflects and safeguards your premises, the online and digital needs of your household, and the technology critical to you working from home.

A comprehensive BCP should include:

Assessment of Needs:

Identify all the essential online and digital requirements of your household. This includes the internet speed needed, the number of devices connected, and the type of activities (video conferencing, cloud-based applications, streaming, etc.) that demand reliable connectivity.

Risk Analysis:

Understand the potential risks that could disrupt your primary internet connection. While the electrical grid has become more stable, planned or unplanned maintenance can still affect the integrity of the grid, causing interruptions that may last for several hours. Additionally, external factors such as theft, vandalism, and natural disasters can impact fibre connections.

Backup Solutions:

Part of your BCP should be ensuring that connectivity is never lost. This can be achieved by setting up a backup internet solution such as Fixed LTE. Unlike fibre, which requires physical cables, Fixed LTE provides wireless connectivity through cell towers, making it less susceptible to physical damage.

Coordination with Your ISP:

A great place to start – if you’re looking for a connection that keeps up and doesn’t let you down when a fibre disaster strikes – is your ISP. Find out from your representative if they can assist with a backup solution to keep you connected if there is any interruption to your fibre line. Many ISPs offer automatic failover functionality, which seamlessly switches your connection from fibre to LTE and back again once the issue is resolved.

Implementation and Testing:

Once you have selected a backup solution, implement it and conduct regular tests to ensure it functions correctly during an outage. This ensures that all systems will operate smoothly without any manual intervention.

Education and Training:

Educate all members of your household on the importance of the backup plan and how to use it. Ensure they know what steps to take when the primary connection fails and how to troubleshoot minor issues.

Fixed LTE as a Backup Solution

Perhaps the most fitting alternative to your fibre connection will be a Fixed LTE connection. It offers speeds comparable to what you already get on fibre and can be bundled with an allocation of bandwidth big enough to cater for those unexpected downtimes. Although not widely available, it would be best to enquire from your ISP about automatic failover functionality. Self-install options are available, and your ISP should have a guide as well as a video to show you how it is done.

Benefits of Fixed LTE Backup

The biggest benefit of Fixed LTE with failover is its capability to switch over from fibre to LTE and back again once the fibre issue has been resolved without any intervention from you. It also provides notifications so that you’re informed at all times whether your household is tapped into fixed or mobile connectivity, allowing you and your family the ability to school, work, and meet interruption-free.

Ensuring Business Continuity at Home

Ultimately, ensuring business continuity at home requires a comprehensive plan that addresses all potential disruptions. Fixed LTE serves as an excellent backup solution that can seamlessly take over when fibre fails, ensuring that your work, education, and daily life continue without interruption. By integrating Fixed LTE into your home network setup, you can safeguard against unexpected outages and maintain productivity no matter what challenges arise.

Consider reaching out to Huge Connect to implement Fixed LTE as a backup to your primary fibre connection. This proactive step will provide peace of mind, knowing that you have a reliable contingency plan in place to keep you connected and your business running smoothly. Contact us today to learn more about how our Fixed LTE solutions can support your business continuity needs.