Home Forums Discussions General Discussion what's the back up plan for loss of internet

this week was unusual. we had 2 days where there was no internet.
If I were to switch to the cloud. would I be out of business, or would there be a backup plan.

Loss of internet is a huge problem for cloud based applications, especially if one is paperless too.

I have my practice management program in the cloud and Amazing charts running locally.
My internet provider, Century Link , was down NATIONWIDE for almost a whole day a couple of weeks ago. It sure was nice to have Amazing charts running locally. I was a pain, but I was able to tether a computer to my cell phone in order to get use our practice management program and process credit card transactions.

I have redundancy in both phone and internet services. I run incoming voice and fax lines through Comcast, and also get their internet and cable. I have two other phone lines for outgoing calls, and DSL internet through CenturyLink. I use the DSL as guest internet for my patients, but can switch to it if Comcast is done (which is has never been). For a while, I also had a Verizon business-class dongle and corresponding router, which I used while on the road, but also as a backup to the backup internet in the clinic.

In my usual overkill fashion, we have two ISP's configured through a SonicWall firewall. On a normal day it gives us substantial speed increase, and it provides automatic fail-over.

When I don't have internet access I can tether my laptop to my cellphone and use AC in the Cloud.

John

Probably, depends on whether you have the ability on your phone. Then you need a tethering plan or such.

I have been toying with getting a wireless Internet devise as an backup, which is basically the same thing. Most of them are 4G and fairly inexpensive, some even allow use by the day.

Only reason I haven't is that I can survive for a while without Internet, but it would speed up AC with its Internet checking if Internet is down.

I have done exactly what Wendell suggests.I bought a T mobile hotspot for $50 on ebay. It has 4G service. You can buy a week or a month of service as needed. It can connect up to four devices wirelessly.

If you need to connect more than 4 devices or need a wired Ethernet connection, there are low cost routers available that can use WIFI as WAN. They allow you to connect to a hotspot or wifi tether capable phone and connect wired and additional wireless clients to it.

I've been using a Cradlepoint MBR95 as backup, which works great...and can usually be found for around $99, easy setup too. I've run 25 or so devices on mine and it didn't have any issues...

Internet was down for 2 hours on Friday, not sure why I haven't exercised this option. Phone is internet based through Comcast. No faxes, no eRxs, no phone calls. May have to pick up a 4G solution. (a clear 4G tower is about 100 yards from the office)

The other issue with a tethering is that only one person can use it. SO you staff can't deal with patients and have the AC running at the desk while you are also using it to do notes...just a thought...I am always a fan of just running it locally..though i see the reasons people may want the cloud which would be to have access to it from other locations. i think that they should have it where you can run it locally and it dynamically updates the cloud you have...that way you can just use it locally but when you need to use the cloud it would work as well. just a thought

To somehow use the cloud and the local server if possible at the same time dynamically integrated would be quite the solution to a lot of issues

This already exists, but the price is pretty high for live replication. You need a robust internet connection and a server at a remote site. Take for example rackspace, for a server equivalent to a small business server, it's over $800/month.

Keep in mind that during any significant natural disaster, political uprising, or other major problem, the cell networks, the internet, and the electricity may go down. I have a generator which will allow basic lighting and computers during such an event. I still want to preserve our ability to see patients in such a setting. Our hospital has also recently outfitted itself with a trailer, generator, lights, stretchers, water, and so on.