Backup Internet for Boston Offices: Why You Need a Diverse Connection

One Cable Cut Away From Downtime

In 2024, a construction crew in Boston's Seaport district accidentally severed a fiber conduit during routine utility work. Dozens of businesses lost internet service for over 8 hours. Companies with a second connection from a different provider also went down, because both connections ran through the same underground conduit.

This scenario plays out regularly in cities with active construction. Boston, with its perpetual infrastructure projects, Big Dig-era conduit, and aging utility corridors, is particularly vulnerable. And if you've ever tried calling a national carrier's business support line during an outage, you know how that goes.

The Problem With "Two Connections"

Many businesses think they're protected because they have two internet connections from two different providers. But in most Boston buildings, all wired connections (cable, fiber, DSL) enter through the same underground conduit or the same building entry point.

Common scenarios that take out both connections simultaneously:

• Construction crew hits a shared conduit
• Building basement flooding damages shared entry point
• Utility work requires conduit access, forcing a temporary disconnect
• Fire or water damage to the building's cable riser

If both your connections share any physical infrastructure, you don't have true diversity. You have two connections that fail at the same time.

What True Path Diversity Looks Like

True diverse backup means your secondary connection uses:

• Different technology (wireless vs. wired)
• Different physical path (over the air vs. underground)
• Different infrastructure (independent tower vs. shared conduit)
• Different failure modes (what knocks one out shouldn't affect the other)

A wired primary connection paired with a Netafy Broadband GigTier wireless backup achieves this. They share no physical infrastructure. A backhoe can't cut a wireless signal. A tower issue won't affect underground cables.

How SD-WAN Makes It Seamless

Having a backup connection is only useful if traffic moves to it automatically when your primary fails. Manual failover (unplugging one router and plugging in another) means downtime while someone notices the outage and physically makes the switch.

SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Networking) solves this. An SD-WAN appliance sits between your network and both internet connections, monitoring both continuously. When the primary connection drops:

1. Traffic automatically shifts to the backup within seconds
2. VoIP calls, video conferences, and cloud sessions continue without interruption
3. When the primary recovers, traffic shifts back
4. Your team may not even notice the outage happened

Netafy includes SD-WAN managed failover with its Diverse Backup add-on. The hardware, configuration, and monitoring are all included for $50/mo on top of your backup connection.

What It Costs

Adding a diverse wireless backup to your existing internet is more affordable than most businesses expect:

Installation is a one-time $199-$499. Compare that to the cost of 8 hours of downtime for your team: lost productivity, missed client deliverables, cancelled meetings, and potential SLA violations with your own customers.

For businesses that need more backup bandwidth, Netafy GigTier plans scale up to 1 Gbps. Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) plans with 99.9% SLA are also available as backup connections.

Who Needs Backup Internet?

Every business that can't afford to be offline. But it's especially critical for:

• Financial services where regulatory requirements often mandate diverse connectivity
• Healthcare offices running EHR systems and patient communication that require constant connectivity
• Law firms with filing deadlines, client communication, and research that can't go down
• Retail and restaurants where POS systems stop when internet stops, costing real revenue per minute
• SaaS companies whose products run in the cloud, making internet part of their product infrastructure
• Any business with VoIP phones, because no internet means no phone system

Boston-Specific Considerations

Boston's construction environment makes backup connectivity more important than in most cities:

• Active utility work throughout Downtown, Seaport, and Cambridge increases the odds of accidental cable cuts
• Winter weather can damage underground infrastructure and delay repair crews
• Aging conduit in neighborhoods like Back Bay and the Financial District means more frequent maintenance disruptions
• Building density means construction at a neighboring property can affect your building's conduit access

Setting Up Diverse Backup with Netafy GigTier

Getting a wireless backup connection installed alongside your existing wired service is straightforward:

1. Check coverage by confirming Netafy GigTier wireless service reaches your building
2. Choose your backup tier and match it to your minimum acceptable bandwidth during an outage
3. Install with a technician who places a small antenna on your rooftop and connects to your network closet (1-2 weeks)
4. Configure SD-WAN with the failover appliance installed between your router and both connections
5. Test by verifying automatic failover works with a simulated primary outage

The entire process from order to working failover typically takes 1-2 weeks in Greater Boston.

The ROI Calculation

Ask yourself: what does one hour of downtime cost your business? Include:

• Lost employee productivity (hourly cost x headcount)
• Missed or delayed client deliverables
• Lost sales or transactions
• SLA penalties you may owe your own customers
• Emergency response and recovery costs
• Reputation damage

For most Boston businesses, a single significant outage costs more than a full year of backup internet service.

Ready to add diverse backup to your Boston office? Check wireless coverage at your address or learn more about Netafy Broadband GigTier business plans.