Keeping yourselves online is now more important than ever. Here are some ideas for when it all goes wrong.
GET 2 BROADBANDS
Sign up with 2 separate broadband providers so that if one fails, another keeps going. If you can get Virgin cable (from £15 per month), sign up for that - it uses a wholly different technology and ensures that even if BT cut your phone cables, you should still have service. We have 2 separate broadbands in our office and have 2 separate routers all ready to run. If we get a broadband failure, it is just a question of plugging one cable into another box
GET A 3G FALLOVER DEVICE Buying 3G dongles for mobile users ensures that thay at least can get connected but what about the poor people stuck in the office? You might want to think about a 3G fallover device. This is a second router that connects you to the internet via the 3G mobile phone network.
These are cheap to buy but you will need a 3G dongle from your chosen network. Maplin sell a good quality device - click here for details
Another solution is to buy one of the new breed of battery powered mobile wifi devices. I use a gadget called Mi-Fi from the 3 network. This is a £50 match-box sized thingy that gives decent wi-fi wherever I need it (normally, in my case, the middle of Poole Harbour). Wifi equipped PCs and laptops can connect to the internet at decent speeds anywhere there is one of these and some 3 3G service. Vodafone have just launched their equivalent - the snappily named Vodafone Mobile WiFi R201. Click here for an excellent comparison between the two devices. We have done demonstrations and training sessions using the mi-fi devices - they work very well.
Of course, if you use Expert Agent, one nice failsafe is that if the broadband or power fails, just go and work from home!
