Add Wireless as an Extra Level of Internet Back-up to ADSL/Cable Failover

A Vancouver Systems Integrator came to me with an interesting opportunity last week. He was looking for high speed Internet options for one of his business customers, a prominent Security company here in the Lower Mainland. A quick check of their address showed that they qualified for both our High Speed Cable and Business ADSL service, so I was able to recommend our Enterprise Cable DSL bundle for $249. Even though this service includes Automatic Failover, our I.T. Partner was looking for a second level of added insurance for their connection.

Skyway’s Cable modem and ADSL router connect to a 5-port GigE appliance, which we use to deliver our Auto Failover and Policy Routing. However we have additional ports which can be used for even more reliability (like a Wireless back-up). Although the chances are extremely rare that both the Cable and DSL network fail at the same time, both Coax and Copper wire might be delivered into a building through the same conduit, so there is a slight chance of a physical disruption affecting both technologies.

Rogers, Bell and Telus Mobility all have Wireless Data plans that offer very high bandwidth over their cellular network, and at a low monthly cost. For example, Bell Mobility’s service starts at only $22 per month and includes 100 MB of data. This low amount of included data is the reason I’m suggesting Wireless as only a back-up and NOT as your main Internet connection.  Business customers pay a very low rate when not using the service and only pay for extra GB traffic when it’s used, which would be very rare on a secondary back-up. This way you have a low cost but high speed back-up connection to the Internet that is there if you absolutely need it. In the rare event that both the ADSL and Cable connections fail, your business can connect to the Internet over the Wireless service and still keep Skyway’s existing Public Static IP addresses.

The Security company already had a “Dual WAN” SonicWall Firewall, so with our Cable DSL bundled service taking up one of the SonicWall’s WAN ports, another option would be to take advantage of the 2nd WAN port. Instead of connecting the Wireless back up service to a Skyway appliance, the SonicWall router would handle the back-up to the Wireless network. Both configurations offer 3 levels of Internet reliability at a price that is extremely affordable.

Chris Miles | 604-484-5257 | cmiles@skywaywest.com