Partner POV | Cellular Failover Brings WAN Backup Out of the Trenches

This article was written and contributed by our partner, Cradlepoint.

Cellular failover provides a more versatile and resilient alternative to traditional wired lines 

Every play has its understudy — the person who stands by waiting in the wings, fully prepared to step in at a moment's notice if the lead actor is sick or hurt or gets a bad case of stage fright. Preparing for the worst guarantees the show goes on, despite less-than-ideal circumstances. The same goes for networking. Like an understudy, cellular failover is always there to seamlessly take over when the primary link fails. It knows all the "lines" and ensures business continues as usual, despite connectivity hiccups.

From online transactions to communication and collaboration tools, virtually every aspect of modern enterprise hinges on a stable internet connection. However, wide-area network (WAN) outages and disruptions are inevitable — particularly when it comes to wired lines that are subject to physical damage. Whether due to natural disasters or infrastructure issues, businesses of any kind are vulnerable to the crippling effects of network downtime.

Why should businesses have a failover strategy in place?

Connectivity is the backbone of most modern businesses, so a goal for any organization should be to improve uptime. In a 2023 state of connectivity survey conducted by Cradlepoint, 55% of businesses from across the globe relying on wired lines reported 1-2 hours of downtime per week. Taking a proactive approach improves productivity, enhances a business's resilience, and saves money.

While the cost of downtime varies depending on the size of your business, a 2020 study by ITICestimated that WAN downtime costs enterprises an average of $301,000 to $400,000 per hour. Whether it's monetary losses or damage to reputation, downtime can have significant and far-reaching consequences. So, what failover options does a business have?  

The different types of failover 

There are many ways a business can enable network redundancy through failover. These options include diversifying connection types, such as combining wired and wireless connections, leveraging multiple carriers at once using a dual modem router, or deploying multiple routers to establish hardware redundancy. Having two routers in place — each with a different type of WAN connection — improves resilience and continuity, adding backup and diversity to the network, and reducing any single point of failure.

Whatever type of failover an organization decides to utilize, having a cellular link as a secondary WAN option promises a more seamless experience.  

How does cellular failover work? 

Wired lines aren't the most reliable network understudy — wired failover or redundant services typically use the same path and trench, making them susceptible to simultaneous outages. On the other hand, a wireless failover solution brings WAN backup out of the trenches by offering a diverse pathway through the air. With a cellular networking solution, policies can instantly route traffic across the wireless link until the wired link is restored. Once available and stable, traffic flow automatically reverts to normal or "fails back" — typically unnoticed by users and customers. 

In places where wired lines aren't available or cellular is being used as the primary link, cellular-to-cellular failover is another viable option. Using a dual-modem router allows SIM cards from two different cellular carriers to be active simultaneously so there isn't any downtime when switching between the two. To improve resiliency even further, a satellite link such as Starlink can serve as another failover option, especially in rural or remote areas.  

What are the benefits of a cellular failover solution?  

Using a cellular failover solution provides benefits that extend beyond just improving uptime.  

Flexibility and mobility

One of the key advantages of using cellular connectivity for failover is its inherent flexibility and mobility. Unlike fixed wired lines, which are bound to physical locations, cellular networks give businesses the freedom to maintain connectivity across diverse environments. Whether operating from a brick-and-mortar office, remote site, or temporary pop-up location, companies can rely on cellular failover to stay connected regardless of their geographic footprint. 

Remote troubleshooting with OOBM 

When there's a disruption in network traffic, organizations must be able to respond immediately. But without physical access to a device, restoring connections can be difficult, resulting in delays that impact revenue and operating costs. 

Rather than paying to send a service truck to the location to troubleshoot an out-of-service router, enterprises can utilize a wireless solution for Out-of-Band Management (OOBM), which provides secure access to devices in any location. Whether it's for a branch office or pop-up location, OOBM capabilities allow IT teams to remotely connect to the primary router using cellular to diagnose or fix the problem. 

Bandwidth offload 

Apart from environmental damage and configuration errors, traffic spikes are another cause of downtime if a network isn't prepared to handle it. To deal with these sporadic spikes in traffic and preserve uptime, enterprises can utilize a cellular WAN backup to offload extra traffic or applications. 

Using cellular in any of these scenarios provides significant benefits to businesses, ensuring you "break a leg" during every performance.