Engineering Indestructible Networks
A cloud POS is only as strong as the ethernet cable connecting it. If your primary fibre line gets cut during construction next door on a Friday evening, standard IT practices won't save your revenue. You need automated failover.
The Anatomy of an Outage
When the internet drops, consumer routers freeze. Card machines stop authorising. Kitchen screens stop receiving API calls from Deliveroo. Staff panic and revert to writing tickets by hand, which inevitably causes missing allergy information and cash reconciliation nightmares.
Cost of Downtime (Peak Hour)
- Avg Revenue Lost: £1,200 - £3,500 per hour depending on venue size.
- Reputational Damage: Unquantifiable, but walkouts due to "cash only" signs have a high churn rate.
- Data Corruption: Local offline modes often cause sync conflicts when the system reconnects.
The Dual-WAN Solution
We mandate the installation of commercial-grade routers (such as Cradlepoint or Peplink) configured for Dual-WAN failover. This means a primary fibre line handles the heavy lifting, but a secondary 5G SIM card is constantly on standby.
| Network Component | Specification Standard |
|---|---|
| Primary WAN | Dedicated leased line or high-speed FTTP (Fibre to the Premises). |
| Secondary Failover | Directional 4G/5G antenna mounted externally to bypass kitchen interference. |
| Internal Cabling | Cat6a shielded cables to all fixed terminals. Never rely on WiFi for the till. |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How fast is the automatic failover?
- When properly configured, a Peplink router can detect a primary line drop and switch to the cellular backup in under 3 seconds. The staff operating the tills usually don't even notice it happened.
- Can we just use a mobile hotspot?
- Absolutely not. A mobile hotspot cannot provide IP routing to your wired KDS screens or receipt printers. A true failover must sit at the top of your network topology and route all internal traffic seamlessly.