2. smart-home
  3. 186735-20253

Redundant Internet

My power went out last night for about 5 hours. Despite my network hardware being on a UPS, the Internet service went out anyway. Seems they use the same power feed my house does. When the power came back on late last night the Internet did not.

This used to be routine, then they fixed it, now we are back to unreliable.

As a result I’m investing in an inexpensive edge router and getting TMobile home internet as a fallback. The long term reviews for Tmobile home Internet were mixed. At first users loved it, then after a couple of months the performance seems to have deteriorated significantly. Hopefully it is now better an with a little luck I won’t have both go out at once.

erik_squires
carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,780 posts
 

My employees that have tried to use it eventually went back to cable because they couldn't have reliable internet for remote meetings.   california may be worse than where you live.  You might think CA would be good for infrastructure buildout and technology since many of the companies are headquartered here but because of environmental and permitting regulations, our mobile network lags many places in the country.

I think having it as a backup sounds like a good plan.  

Jerry

erik_squires OP
16,327 posts
 

Hey @carlsbad2 - I'm curious, did they try a variety of brands, or Tmobile specifically? 

Conceptually, I would love to have wireless Internet, but like I mentioned and your employees described, it's not all smooth sailing.  At the very least, I would like basic internet services for things like my lighting, fire alarms, and thermostats to keep working regardless of which I'm using. 

elrod
250 posts
 

Yep, the nodes aren't set to run indefinitely during a power failure. Plus i suspect the times you do lose internet without losing your power, is when the network hardware is being updated/replaced and they just pull the plug to do it.

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