emergency plan for internet downtime

doningtonphil

what phone have you got, is it a recent smartphone?

terra_ferma

paulwf wrote: »

Computer failure is just as likely as broadband or electricity failure so getting a second computer in the form of a laptop sounds like the way to go. It will also allow you to decamp to a coffee shop with wifi if the power/broadband goes down, sitting in the dark won't be much fun!

Google for a ups - uninterrupted power supply - which is probably better as a battery backup than getting a generator in the garage. If you go down the laptop route then keep the battery charged and keep a spare one charged...that should give you 6+ hours of uptime depending on the model.

A mobile dongle is cheap or as others have said tether to your mobile. Also invest in a spare wifi router, they are cheap. Routers commonly pack up without any warning, a collection of spare power cords and fuses has also got me out of trouble more than once.

So...ups for your desktop, backup laptop, backup laptop battery, backup router and mobile dongle. It all depends how critical is critical of course

so far I've got desktop, backup external drive, laptop, and mobile dongle. I've never had to use any of them in over two years.
I probably need a new router, it's a few years old, hadn't thought of that.
I have a dongle, which I haven't activated yet, but will probably pay £2 a quarter to keep it active. Will look into getting a spare battery for the laptop, good idea.

I'm not going to go down the tethering route because I already have a dongle, but it's useful to know that's also an option.

dtaylor84

A UPS will not keep a desktop PC running for very long, unless you spend a lot of money. They are more designed to keep PCs running if there are short power cuts (minutes), and allow them to shut down cleanly if there is a longer outage. To keep a PC running through a long (hours) power cut you really need a generator.

However, if there is a lengthy power outage, even a generator might not keep you online. If power to the exchange or mobile mast is lost, it doesn't matter if you've got power. Most will have have battery backups, but not generators.

longtimelurkersam

googler wrote: »

So do you run a cable from that to the room with the PCs, or do you have some switching gear on the house's consumer board?

I just run an outdoor rated extension lead from the garage to the house and then distribute the power. Ive only had to use it once (I had bought the generator for powering of tools when working somewhere with no 240v power and set it up at home for a laugh).

InsideInsurance

It all depends on the scale of the business and the likelihood of an outage. There is no point spending hundreds of thousands a year on a 1 in 500 year event if your annual turnover is a couple of grand.

For home, simply have two mobile devices for tethering on two different networks. Alternatively there is always the local pubs and coffee houses that all have power and wifi for laptops etc.

For work, the office is serviced by a number of leased lines from different providers and whilst non are a pure redundancy the useage of the total capability is below 60% and so the failure of two suppliers could still allow near normal operation plus from a personal view point there is the mobile option again. The office has a large UPS and a generator to cope with loss of power.

thegirlintheattic

We have all the desktops, fridge/freezer, TV etc. on UPS units. These give us about 45 mins, which is more than enough in most power outages we get here. We also have an old generator that we could use and some car batteries. Never needed to use these at home yet, reserved for camping.

Our laptops are always plugged in so would have several hours of charge if needed, and tether phones so we could use 3G on the laptops. For light we have headtorches, lanterns and candles, as well as gas stoves (again from camping)

We are rural so prefer to know we will still have some power during an outage.

battyboimatt

Or you can buy a UPS *Uniturrupted Power Supply* but these are not cheap.