Business Failover Internet

The Problem

Most businesses rely on a single ISP. When that connection drops, point-of-sale systems stop working, VoIP phones no longer work, and employees are unable to complete their tasks. Even a short outage can cost thousands of dollars in lost revenue and productivity.

A lot of businesses know they should have a backup connection, but the options have been frustrating. Traditional secondary ISPs are expensive and often run through the same infrastructure. Gray market cellular SIMs are cheap, but they can get shut down without warning because they violate carrier terms of service.

Some folks opt to purchase an iPad plan and try to put it into a Peplink or other cellular router. This violates the carrier's Terms of Service, and while it may work for a while, there is no guarantee it will keep working. For a business application, that type of risk is unacceptable.

How Cellular Failover Works

The concept is simple. You have a cellular router or a router with a cellular modem built in. It sits alongside your primary internet connection. When your main ISP goes down, traffic automatically fails over to the cellular connection. When the ISP comes back, traffic shifts back. Your devices, your staff, and your customers are able to keep working as if nothing happened.

Popular routers for this include the Peplink Balance series (our favorite), Cradlepoint, and even some Ubiquiti setups. The router handles all the switching logic. You just need a SIM card with a reliable data plan behind it.

Why the Data Plan Matters

You need a plan that actually works when you need it. That means:

• Truly unlimited data, so you're not hitting a cap during an outage that lasts a few days
• A legitimate carrier agreement, so your SIM doesn't get deactivated out of nowhere
• Support from people who understand networking, not a generic call center

We built Crosstalk Mobile specifically for use cases like this. We have direct carrier agreements, so your service isn't going to disappear because some reseller's gray market deal fell apart. And because we come from the networking world (the team behind Crosstalk Solutions has been deploying networks for over a decade), we actually understand how failover setups work.

What a Typical Setup Looks Like

Here is what a common deployment looks like:

1. Sign up for a Crosstalk Mobile plan
2. We ship you a SIM card (your billing doesn't start until you activate it)
3. Insert the SIM into your cellular router
4. Configure your router's failover settings
5. Your backup connection is live

If you're not sure which router to use or how to configure it, our support team can help. We deal with this stuff every day. We also have an advanced support option if you need us to help configure your enterprise router to work with this.

What It Costs

Plans start at $149/month for unlimited data. Your first month is charged at signup, but your billing cycle doesn't actually start until you activate the SIM. You're not paying for days it sits in shipping.