The recent devastating wildfires in California serve as a stark reminder of how quickly unforeseen events can disrupt essential services. One of our clients experienced a full day of downtime when their internet service was interrupted during the wildfires. While their service has since been restored, the incident highlights a critical lesson: it's always better to plan for redundancy before it's needed. To assist those affected by the current wildfires, we are offering our services free of charge to help them get back on their feet.
Internet redundancy ensures your operations continue running, even during disruptions. Most often, we recommend a cable or fiber line as the primary connection and a cellular business connection as a backup. With cellular plans available for as little as $50 per month, this minimal investment provides significant peace of mind. This article explores how to configure redundant ISPs, the pros and cons of various connection types, and how tools like UniFi and Mikrotik make implementation easier.
Why Redundancy Matters
The Cost of Downtime The financial and operational impacts of internet downtime can be staggering. For businesses, even an hour without connectivity can mean missed sales opportunities, frustrated customers, and decreased productivity. Our client’s experience during the wildfires exemplifies this: their team lost an entire workday due to a lack of internet redundancy, impacting their bottom line and delaying critical projects.
Modern Connectivity Demands The increasing reliance on cloud services, remote work, VoIP, and online collaboration tools means uninterrupted internet access is not just a convenience—it’s a necessity. Without a backup connection, businesses risk falling behind in a competitive, always-connected world.
Connection Types and Choosing the Right Redundancy Solution
When planning for redundancy, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of various connection types and how to choose the right combination for your needs:
Cable Internet
Pros: High speeds, widely available, cost-effective as a primary connection.
Cons: Shared bandwidth can lead to slowdowns during peak usage times.
Fiber Internet
Pros: Extremely fast, highly reliable, low latency.
Cons: Limited availability and typically more expensive than cable.
Cellular (4G/5G)
Pros: Affordable backup option, easy to integrate with modern routers, starting as low as $50/month.
Cons: Data caps and higher costs for heavy data usage.
Fixed Wireless
Pros: Quick deployment, ideal for rural areas without cable or fiber infrastructure.
Cons: Line-of-sight dependency and weather sensitivity.
Satellite Internet
Pros: Global coverage, useful for remote locations or mobile setups.
Cons: High latency, data caps, and weather-related disruptions.
Recommendations for Choosing a Redundant ISP
Primary vs. Backup Needs: Use a high-speed, reliable connection (cable or fiber) as your primary ISP, with a cellular plan serving as a cost-effective backup.
Diversify Infrastructure: Ensure your primary and backup ISPs do not rely on the same physical network or backbone, reducing the likelihood of simultaneous outages.
Hardware Compatibility: Invest in a router that supports dual WAN failover or load balancing for seamless operation. Our current recommendation for most clients is the UniFi Dream Machine series, which makes setting up dual WAN configurations straightforward and reliable.
UniFi: A Modern Solution for Dual ISP Configurations
For businesses and homeowners looking for a straightforward way to implement redundancy, UniFi offers an excellent solution. Its intuitive interface and powerful features make configuring dual ISP connections simple and effective.
Setting Up Dual WAN in UniFi
Access the UniFi Controller interface.
Navigate to the “Internet” settings and make sure you have the correct ports. Unifi will helpfully show a digram with what ports are availible and label their function. As you can see in the example above port 9 is being used as the primary and port 8 is the secondary.
Configure the failover or load balancing settings:
Failover: Prioritize one connection (e.g., fiber) as the primary and switch to the backup (e.g., cellular) only when the primary fails. This is the default and what we normally recommend for our clients.
Load Balancing: While it may be tempting to maximize bandwidth by distributing traffic between both ISPs, this can lead to issues. Some applications may encounter problems when sending data across multiple connections, and discrepancies in latency between connections can also cause complications. For these reasons, if load balancing is desired, we recommend using traffic rules to send specific connections over the most appropriate link.
Test the setup to ensure seamless failover.
Why UniFi Is an Excellent Choice UniFi’s scalability and affordability make it a great option for small businesses and homeowners. The user-friendly interface eliminates the complexity of managing dual ISP configurations, while its robust features ensure reliable operation even during disruptions. For additional redundancy for locations where down time is unacceptable we recommend using UniFi's excellent shadow mode to have dual gateways. See this post for more information on HA.
Advanced Options: Mikrotik Scripting for Power Users
For those who require more granular control, Mikrotik remains a powerful tool for managing dual ISP configurations. In our previous blog post, we explored how to use Mikrotik scripting to customize failover and load balancing scenarios. While this approach demands a steeper learning curve, it offers unparalleled flexibility for advanced users with unique needs. Additionally it allows for more that 2 ISP connections to be used. Contact us for information on the multi ISP scripts.
Challenges and Considerations
Cost Implications While adding a backup ISP incurs additional monthly costs, the peace of mind and protection against downtime far outweigh the investment. Cellular plans starting at $50/month make it easy to achieve reliable redundancy without breaking the bank.
Configuration Complexity The simplicity of UniFi’s GUI-based system contrasts with the advanced capabilities of Mikrotik. Businesses should choose a solution that matches their technical expertise and operational needs. SeraphimGate Systems is here to help configure your network today.
Hardware Requirements Ensure your router supports dual WAN configurations to take full advantage of redundancy. Modern routers, even at the residential level, often include this feature.
Conclusion
The devastating California wildfires are a poignant reminder of the need for internet redundancy. Whether caused by natural disasters, infrastructure failures, or technical issues, downtime is inevitable—but its impact doesn’t have to be. By investing in a dual ISP setup, businesses and homeowners can protect themselves from disruptions and ensure continuous connectivity.
Don’t wait for the next outage to realize the importance of redundancy. Contact SeraphimGate Systems today to explore and implement the best redundancy solutions tailored to your needs. Our team specializes in creating reliable, cost-effective configurations to keep you connected when it matters most. To assist those affected by the current wildfires, we are offering our services free of charge to help them get back on their feet.
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