Home Business - Need Failover Internet solution

Pj94z

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Apr 16, 2010
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Hello,

I work from home and my business is 100% internet based. I use only my desktop PC. I work for 4-8 hours per day ( hours vary from 12 pm to 4 am )
(My desktop PC has built-in wifi)

If my internet connection is interrupted for even 30 seconds during my work sessions - it could cost me up to $1,000.

So, I'm looking for advice on setting up failover internet connections.


I currently have cable internet through charter. I also have Vonage phone service.

My current setup: PC <--- Netgear gigabit router <---- (cable modem) + (vonage modem)


I am looking for a fail-over setup that can work seamlessly, meaning if my cable ISP goes down for 1 hour...I wouldn't even know about it...and my PC applications would remain connected using the 2nd connection...without me having to manually switch wires or anything that would involve a delay of 3-5 minutes to setup.


Wireless option:

1. Sprint Broad band - USB device plugged straight into my desktop PC. Big advantage: take it when me when I travel...(which is often)

I was thinking of buying the sprint mobile broadband card and plugging that into my work PC when I am at home.
If my cable isp drops out, I want the sprint mobile internet to pickup immediately.

Is it possible for my desktop to failover to using the sprint mobile broadband connection IF my cable drops out ? or vice versa?
I use windows 7.


Any suggestions for the best way to go about this?
 

Pj94z

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Apr 16, 2010
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Emerald - I'm aware of the option to go with the dual WAN router with DSL.

However, I am exploring other options...and looking for advice on the wireless part.
 

Catsrules

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Dec 6, 2008
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It should auto switch, but it isn't seamlessly, all active connections will be killed and they will need to reconnect with the other internet connections.
It will depend on what you are doing online, like normal web browsing will not likely be affected (as long as your are not loading a new page right when everything goes down. this would require a refresh on the page)
You will see a problem if your are remote controlling a computer or doing a video chat or webinare. or something like that. It will come down to how the programs operate.

The only why to know for sure is to try it, just plug in your wireless card and your home internet, and then start acting like your are working, then pull the plug on your home internet and see what makes it
 

jgesullo

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Nov 2, 2012
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I use a Cradlepoint MBR1200 cell router.

http://www.mbr1200.com/

I have it connected to my firewall as a failover solution. I have 2 Verizon 4G usb cards plugged into the unit. When my firewall no longer sees our highspeed it switches over to the cellular modem. The 2 cards are set up to load balance. I get about 6Mbps up and 4Mbps down with the 4G. It is slow but it keeps the email server flowing and is fine for light web browsing.

Verizon has a machine to machine service that is 250mb per month with no contract. When my system kicked on this week due to the hurricane I called Verizon and upped the plan to 5GB per card.

Hope this helps. You can put 3 usb cards, and 2 express cars in it with a total potential for 5 - 4G modems set up for loadbalancing.

-Jason
 

rebroad

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Oct 25, 2016
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If you want the connections to not be interrupted you need some sort of VPN or VLAN solution that supports multiplexing. The multiplexing would be done at both ends. The "computer to computer" service mentioned might be talking about this. The two ends still are effectively single points of failure, but they allow the traffic to be routed over as many ISPs as you like.

You could have multiple ISPs being multiplexed in order to increase redundancy, but then if a switch/failover happens, then that does mean a broken connection.

If you can ensure that all your clients/customers use the same VPN/VLAN multiplexing then you can avoid these disconnects altogether.

An example of what I am assuming you require: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nOc-35Xti4