High Availability Internet: Keeping your Uptime during Downtime!

Does your business rely on the internet to be able to function? As more and more businesses migrate to a “digital first” landscape, utilising cloud-hosted solutions and services such as your everyday CRM, cloud file storage, and even crucial communications such as emails and virtual meetings. 

Being without an internet connection for any of these crucial business functions can be costly and undermine customer trust. A reliable connection is essential for your business to operate effectively.

Gartner has estimated that major businesses can incur costs of up to £4,400 per minute during outages, which is a stark indication of the financial repercussions faced by businesses of all sizes.

If your business lost its internet connectivity for 1 hour, could you still work? And how much would this “internet downtime” cost you?

We recently hosted a talk with local businesses where we asked them what some of their main operational pain points were. Stand out among the replies was poor or unreliable connectivity.

This response is commonplace among businesses that we speak with, not having the right connectivity or solutions in place to be able to continue to operate effectively during periods of downtime.

High availability (HA) internet solutions offer a protective layer of redundancy, allowing businesses to keep core services running smoothly even if one connection suffers an outage. This approach can significantly reduce downtime and the risk of lost revenue, damaged reputation, and overall operational challenges associated with not having an internet connection.

What is High Availability Internet?

High availability internet provides continuous connectivity in the event of downtime by utilising multiple internet pathways. This could be two internet connections from different line providers, or different connection types such as satellite internet or mobile data via 4G/5G. Failover mechanisms detect once the primary connection becomes unavailable and automatically switch your traffic to a backup link when service disruptions occur, often without the users noticing a change, and then automatically switch back once connectivity is restored.

Not only that, but we are also alerted once connectivity is lost so that we can investigate and contact the line provider to investigate the fault. Because all of this occurs in the background, it means that your business can continue to operate, guaranteeing minimal downtime and preserving your staff’s ability to work efficiently.

How does Line Redundancy Work?

Research from ITIC indicates that over 80% of enterprises experienced at least one unexpected outage in the last two years. Secondary, and even tertiary, connections act as safety nets if your primary connection drops. If the main connection experiences an outage, the backup service is already connected and is activated immediately, allowing seamless continuity in critical operations. 

Continuous line testing across all connections also means that if both your primary and secondary connection are unavailable you can automatically fail over to a tertiary connection without user intervention. This is particularly crucial for businesses that rely on cloud-based software, whether it be for managing cloud-based sales pipelines, accounting systems, customer support platforms, or in the case of some of our clients digital twinning for logistics.

According to Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, a growing number of Small to Medium Businesses are supplementing their primary internet connectivity with at least one secondary connection. This is especially important for businesses that require constant connectivity, are in areas with traditionally poor connectivity, or have a long history of experiencing downtime.

Primary Connections

When designing a high-availability internet strategy, selecting a suitable primary connection is a critical first step. By having a strong and reliable backbone that suits your business’s needs, it provides a strong foundation to minimise downtime. This choice often depends on bandwidth requirements, reliability demands, and even budgetary constraints. But what are the options?

Leased Lines

A Leased Line is a direct line to your business; it offers exclusive bandwidth, meaning upload and download rates are equally fast and are not impacted by local bandwidth congestion at peak usage times. These dedicated lines offer higher and stricter service level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee both uptime, response, and performance metrics so that your business knows what to expect from its connectivity performance. Whilst Leased Lines carry higher monthly costs, often also including a one-off installation charge for the line, senior managers often view them as a long-term investment in overall stability guaranteeing line performance and minimal downtime.

Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)

FTTP delivers fibre optic connectivity directly to the building from the local cabinet, providing high-speed internet, often being able to provide speed and bandwidth in line with Leased Line performance. However, the service does not always come with the same rigorous SLAs. This option generally suits SMEs that need high bandwidth but can tolerate less predictable performance compared to a leased line to their building.

Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)

FTTC connections are more widely available, especially in areas where full fibre infrastructure has yet to be implemented and are typically more cost-effective compared to Leased Line or FTTP. FTTC connections utilise a mix of fibre optic cables to the street cabinet from the local exchange, and then copper wiring into the business premises. However, the copper connection does mean that speeds are lower than pure fibre or leased lines (which use fibre connectivity) and businesses can experience bigger impacts to performance during peak connectivity periods. 

The service often suffices for small to medium businesses with smaller data demands and who cannot get FTTP connectivity in their area. FTTC through a secondary line provider is also often seen as an excellent secondary connection in a high-availability setup, paired with a Leased Line or FTTP primary connection, providing a cost-effective secondary line to your business.

Backup Connections

Backup connections, whether they be secondary or tertiary connections, drastically reduce the risk of extended downtime if your primary connection becomes unavailable. The nature of the backup connection can vary based on location, availability, and business needs. As we have mentioned, whilst a Leased Line and/or FTTP are seen as desirable primary connectivity, FTTC can be used in either a primary or secondary capacity depending on the business requirements. However, when it comes to secondary or tertiary connectivity there are other options for businesses to consider that do not require a fixed line into your business that could be impacted by downtime.

Satellite Broadband

If you had asked us in 2015 if we thought that satellite broadband was a good backup line, we would have said to consider literally any other option. It used to be slow, impacted heavily by weather conditions, and just generally unreliable due to the lack of satellite infrastructure. 

Today, though, all that has changed. Starlink, operated by SpaceX, uses a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites, offering significantly lower latency compared to traditional satellite services, and the infrastructure is constantly growing. Since Starlink launched its first satellite in 2019, it now has more than 7,000 in operation, with plans to deploy up to 42,000. This makes satellite connectivity more viable for real-time applications such as video conferencing and cloud-based telephony. Even airline providers are now partnering with the company to be able to offer low-cost internet to passengers with speeds that rival many people’s home internet speed.

Whilst we often deploy Starlink in temporary or secondary solutions for businesses, we also provide Starlink as primary connectivity for businesses in remote locations where traditional infrastructure, and even standard 4G/5G signals, may be weak or unstable. According to data from Speedtest Intelligence, Starlink’s average download speeds in the UK have shown consistent improvement since its launch, suggesting the service is maturing as a reliable option for consumers and businesses alike.

4G and 5G Wireless Broadband

Mobile broadband technologies like 4G and 5G have evolved to offer higher data rates and lower latency. They operate independently of local fixed-line networks, providing an immediate alternative if a primary line fails. 5G coverage across the UK is expanding rapidly, especially ahead of the 3G switch off which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025, and businesses in metropolitan and semi-urban areas can expect performance that rivals traditional wired services.

Many of our routers are now deployed with a 4G/5G SIM pre-installed to be able to remotely activate if/when it may be required, providing your business with a quick and automatic failover option which can be configured so that users hardly notice any interruption. These connections can be especially helpful for small to medium sized businesses in co-working spaces or leased offices where installing additional physical lines is complicated or time-consuming.

What are the critical considerations for Small to Medium Businesses (SMEs)?

Investment vs. Return

The total cost of implementing a high availability setup may initially appear steep, particularly if you opt for services such as a Leased Line alongside a 5G or Starlink backup. Yet the potential return on investment in the event of prolonged downtime on your primary connection is substantial when you account for lost productivity and revenue from even short disruptions. We recently spoke with a radio provider who were looking to install a Starlink backup high availability connection after their Leased Line connection took their station down for more than 4 hours, leaving listeners unaware of the issues the station was experiencing and losing trust within those customers.

Reputation

Customers/clients increasingly expect timely responses to communications and consistent digital interactions. Downtime as a result of a loss in service can impact phone and email availability and can damage credibility among prospective customers and long-term business partners. Having a backup connection to failover to safeguards your business image, showing that you take professionalism, reliability, and continuity of service seriously.

Securing Your Business Future with High Availability Internet

If you have read any of our other cyber security articles, you will understand that every day, businesses are encountering increasing and evolving digital threats, supply chain challenges and changing customer expectations when it comes to their digital interactions and data privacy. Investing in a robust internet infrastructure is a proactive measure as part of your business’s overall Business Continuity Strategy.

Multiple connection types, such as a Leased Line or fibre solution accompanied by a mobile broadband or satellite internet backup, provide your business with the peace of mind that you can continue to operate despite any service interruptions. Maintaining continuous access to data, communications, services and much more protects revenue and fosters trust among both your customers and employees.

It all boils down to this simple question: What does an hour of downtime mean to your business?

Does the cost of a secondary (or even a tertiary) connection outweigh the potential benefits of continuing to work in the event of an internet outage?

If you would like to speak with us about your business’s continuity strategy, including high-availability internet solutions in line with your business needs, book an appointment with a member of our team today.