When your internet goes down, so do your card terminals, phones, cloud software and cameras. A dual-WAN setup with a second connection — another provider, cellular, or Starlink — lets the network switch over automatically when the main line drops. Harold Ragan Communications designs, installs and tests failover for businesses across Northwest Arkansas.
A failover setup uses a gateway with two internet connections — a primary and a secondary. The gateway constantly checks whether the primary connection can actually reach the internet. When it cannot, traffic moves to the backup automatically, usually within seconds to a minute depending on how it is configured. When the primary recovers, traffic moves back.
It does not make outages impossible, and it is not a guarantee of uptime. Some things briefly reconnect during a switchover, and a backup connection may be slower than your main line. What it does is turn a multi-hour outage into a short blip for most of your business.
Two connections from the same provider, or two services sharing the same pole and cable path, often go down together. The best backups use a different technology and a different physical path — for example, cable as primary and Starlink or cellular as backup, or fiber as primary with a fixed-wireless or cable backup.
Starlink is a popular automatic backup because it uses a completely different path to the internet. Needs a clear view of the sky and power at the dish.
Fiber primary with cable, fixed wireless or cellular as the backup — a common setup where fiber is available in the NWA metro.
A 4G/5G modem as the secondary link. Lower cost and quick to add; best where cell signal is strong and backup usage is light.
Where available, a local fixed-wireless provider can be a good second path, especially for rural properties.
Rules that keep phones and card terminals working first when you are running on a slower backup.
Notification when the network fails over, so you know to call the provider instead of finding out a day later.
Yes. Starlink works well as a secondary WAN on a dual-WAN gateway such as a UniFi gateway. The gateway monitors your main connection and shifts traffic to Starlink when it fails. A few things matter: the dish needs a clear view of the sky (trees are the usual problem around here), it needs to be mounted securely, and Starlink’s own plan and terms determine cost and how it behaves on standby — we will walk you through those before you buy anything.
We are not a Starlink reseller and do not sell the service; we help you choose a backup, install and configure it with your network, and test the failover.
We look at your current internet, gateway and what absolutely has to stay up — phones, POS, cloud apps.
We suggest a backup connection that uses a different path, and a gateway that can manage both.
Mount and cable the backup, configure dual-WAN, health checks, priority rules and alerts.
We unplug the primary connection and confirm phones, payments and the internet keep working.
Restaurants, retail, clinics, offices and warehouses that cannot afford to stop when the internet does.
No. Failover greatly reduces the impact of an outage, but nothing guarantees 100% uptime. Both connections can fail at once, and a short reconnect during switchover is normal.
Typically within seconds to about a minute, depending on how the health checks are configured. Calls in progress or long downloads may reconnect.
In most cases yes, especially with cloud phone service. We configure traffic priority so voice and card terminals get bandwidth first on a slower backup.
You can, but they often share infrastructure and fail together. A backup with a different technology and physical path is more reliable.
No. You buy service directly from the provider; we help you choose, then install and configure it with your network and test the failover.
Tell us what internet you have now and what has to stay up when it drops. We will recommend a backup and give you a fixed quote. Harold Ragan Communications, the networking division of Harold Ragan CodeWorks.
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(479) 510-2633