When broadband goes wrong.. April 30, 2007
Posted by Rich Spragg in Broadband, Business, GMDDA, Internet, News, Technology.trackback
A firm of mortgage advisors were forced to take an injunction out against BT last week, when their broadband connection was accidentally cut by BT engineers, who then wouldn’t reconnect it. The County Court granted an emergency injunction forcing BT to re-establish the connection without delay, even though BT had argued it was physically impossible. The company now has it’s broadband back on, but are seeking compensation as they say they have “lost thousands of pounds”.
As reported by thinkbroadband.com, this raises an interesting point about the growing importance of broadband to businesses. They go on to ask whether ‘basic’ broadband services are sufficient for companies who rely on their internet connection as part of their core business:
“If your company uses broadband, you should be asking yourself the question ‘How much will it cost me if my broadband is down for a week?’ If the answer is inconvenience, then most business broadband packages will suit you perfectly. If however your answer can be expressed as a four digit amount (be it in direct costs, lost orders or any other costs), you should be considering how you can mitigate this risk by using multiple technologies, backup sites or other ways to continue working without broadband connectivity.”
They also put forward the following recommendations:
- Consider adopting multiple technologies (DSL, cable, wireless, etc.)
- Add BT TotalCare to any phone lines where possible to shorten repair time
- Make site-wide contingency arrangements (e.g. multiple/backup sites)
- Select service providers based on your needs, not just on price alone
Read the full story here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3067-when-broadband-fails-business-continuity.html
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they should have neaver use BB for a misson critical system (well SDSL might be ok for a backup) what where they doing hosting awebsite in there office? Lusers
Thanks for your comments. I think that’s the point, some businesses aren’t aware that basic broadband services should not be relied on. That’s why we try to raise awareness here on the GMDDA website. ps. get a spell checker!
we only reccomend Broadband as a high bandwidth but ultimately cheap option, if access to the internet is as vital as it appears it was to this company spend a few thousand pounds a year on a business class service not a souped up domestic connection which is essentially what all DSL services are.
if you are hosting a revenue generating web service never ever ever do it on a broadband connection, look at a hosted solution until you are successful enough to afford comparable infrastructure.
caveat emptor – if it’s cheap it’s cheap for a reason – mind you IMHO there is too little questioning by vendors of a customers intentions, we can’t expect customers to know that their broadband service can disappear for days or weeks with no recourse.
I’m astonished the judge found in the complainants favour, I suppose if the more costly option was offered at point of sale and rejected the story might have been different.
[...] this from thinkbroadband via the Greater Merseyside Digital Development Agency. [...]