What is 4G Failover and Does my Business Need it?

If you rely on the internet to connect your business, downtime comes at a cost.

What if your Point Of Sale system wasn't working during your busiest hours? Or what if your business network went down on the day of an important deadline?

To stay fully operational, your business needs the internet. But sometimes, things happen that are outside of your (and our) control that might leave you without an nbn® connection for a short period of time.

That's why it's important to add 4G backup to your business internet.

Failover is becoming essential for business-grade connections to keep services online and minimise any downtime in the event of an unscheduled outage. Enabling 4G LTE failover gives your business a redundant secondary path that automatically switches over in the event of your primary nbn® link going down so your business stays connected.

By combining 4G LTE Failover (Also known as 4G backup) with a higher Service Agreement Guarantee (SAG) and an enhanced Service Level Agreement (eSLA), your business can benefit from a strong, reliable and resilient connection.

What is 4G Backup and how does it work with nbn®?

4G backup is what it sounds like: A 4G mobile internet connection that kicks in automatically if your main nbn internet connection goes down.

Why is 4G backup important?

4G backup keeps your business internet connection running at all times.

In today's connected world, you need the internet to run your business. So if your internet connection goes down, you won't be able to operate at full capacity - or at all.

Over the last few years, businesses from retail to professional services have pivoted to become 100% online.

Benefits of 4G backup

4g backup offers immense benefits to businesses. Primarily, it enables business continuity through an always-on internet connection.

Business continuity: Maintaining up-to-date stocklists, running your business's website and e-commerce store, accepting payments through a Point-of-Sale (PoS) system are just some of the business-critical activities that require an internet connection. For some businesses, cloud migration has meant the only way for employees to work and teams to collaborate is through the internet. With 4G failover, your business can continue operating as normal should your main internet connection goes down.

Portability: Need to take your internet connection on the road? With a capable modem, you can take your 4G internet with you anywhere you go.

Can I use my mobile phone sim card for 4G backup?

Yes, you can. 4G SIM cards will work as long as it's in a device capable of providing 4G backup. This will be your modem router, or your router if your modem and router are separate devices. To enable 4G backup with your mobile SIM, simply insert the SIM card into your router or modem router's SIM card slot.

Does Aussie Broadband offer nbn® plans with 4G backup?

Yes, we do! All of our business nbn® plans come with the option to add 4G backup.

For high-speed business nbn® plans (100/20Mbps or higher), you can get 4G backup at no additional cost. For lower speed business nbn® plans (75/20Mpbs or lower), 4G backup will cost $10/month.

To get 4G backup, you'll need compatible hardware from Aussie Broadband, like the Netcomm NL19MESH, which costs $289 + postage. To learn more and order your business nbn® service with 4G backup, visit our 4G backup page.

4G Backup case study: Foodworks

We've helped several businesses build redundancy into their network through 4G backup. Foodworks is one of them.

Like many retail businesses, Foodworks rely on the Internet to power business-critical devices such as EFTPOS machines and stock inventory systems. They are so dependent on connectivity that every second their internet was down, they lost money. To avoid costly downtime, Foodworks needed a contingency plan to ensure they wouldn't be without business-critical connectivity. In building a network that met Foodworks's connectivity needs, 4G backup was a critical component. 4G backup ensured Foodworks could continue to accept Eftpos transactions and keep on top of stock levels even when their main interest connection was down.

To get 4G backup for your business, visit our 4G backup page.

To find out more about 4G backup, speak to one of our Australian-based business internet experts. Give them a call on 1300 480 905 or send them a message via our website.