Utilizing A Wireless Cell Network for Back-up

Think back to the day when you went to your local store to purchase the latest “single” or “album” of music. Then came the internet and you could listen, purchase, and share the music you wanted through a few licks of a mouse. The internet opened up the ability to share files which had a profound impact on the music industry and the way people go about purchasing music…the shift could have been devastating to the music industry but wasn’t because they responded by reinventing themselves to integrate.


Our industry is in a similar situation. Some predict that cell phones are taking over the business phone world and will make desk phones obsolete. We continue to identify applications where the cell and business phones overlap and can provide additional benefits to businesses. Business telephone manufacturers and internet service providers have jumped into this game full force and are continually introducing new ways to incorporate cell phones and cell networks into new business applications.

The other day Bill related an interesting story to me. Recently, we were contacted by a prospective customer who was moving. They had ordered their business internet service through a cable company and at the last minute, learned that the cable company would not be able to provide the service that had been agreed to. They called us to help.

We started by checking to see if we could help this prospective customer by providing DSL, but they were too far from the circuit.

After a “Taylored Systems mini brainstorming session” we determined that we could utilize an Adtran router (that we had in stock) and insert a card from Sprint or Verizon to allow the prospective customer to have internet access to multiple devices through this one connection. Voila…it worked.

We don’t recommend this as a permanent solution, but it is an outstanding temporary option until the permanent circuit can get installed. And, the customer is able to keep working without worrying about lost productivity.

We have since tested this option in areas that we didn’t think had great cell connections – and it worked; even in environments without strong cell strength. And so, as you are looking at have redundancy and back up plans in to support your business applications, don’t underestimate the power of the cell phone network.

Call us, we can help.

This was Amy Hershman’s last conversation with Bill Taylor.