Yesterday morning my internet service was down!
We are so dependent on our internet for our home, work and personal uses, without which we become just like fish without water. Now a days, all of our personal matters like paying utilities bills, banking, rents and tax filing is done online via internet.
Have you experienced those moments when you had planned to do important work or meet a work deadline and suddenly realize that there is no internet connection on your computer? Now you become restless because you had to meet the deadline, or you had not planned ahead for an alternative because we take the internet for granted just like water in our faucet taps.
Though life and work without internet connection is a common phenomenon in most developing countries, but those of us living in developed countries without the experience of these types of internet interruption can’t imagine such experiences.
I have experienced several times here in US when I wake up and prepare to do some important task early in the morning and realize that my Comcast internet is not down. Occasionally, when that situation arises I re-plug the power cord and after a while, all the connections are established, and boom! The internet is back. Just a few minutes of uneasy experience, then back to work. While other times, I have to wait hours, and the connection can’t be established and my entire early morning work plans get ruined. I get frustrated and look at the Comcast modem box every few minutes to check whether the connection is back or not.
Because early morning, my brain is fresh and often set aside for difficult tasks. Early mornings is my most productive part of the entire day. Therefore, I always make my plan (writing, reading, coding, etc) for the next morning a day before so that I could jump into my plan. Even though my work is entirely dependent on the internet, there is no alternative plan in case there is no internet connection.
How about the remote work?
While I was going through this — without the internet — unpleasant experience, my mind was rushing to imagine the situation for those millions of remote workers whose work depends on the availability of the internet. Do they experience a similar situation – not availability of the internet when they need it the most? How about the entire distributed company like Automattic, whose workforce of above 1700 comes from more than 60 countries around the globe. How do the workers from the developing world manage to complete their tasks without the internet? What’s the alternative or backup plan?
My entire morning goes without an internet connection. While my mind was juggling with these and other similar thoughts, I thought to archive my experience and hence the birth of this post.
Backup Internet Provider Services
After brief research, I found that most businesses subscribe to alternate internet provider services as backup.
For household purposes, business insider recommends the following measures to investigate the problem without loosing connection and unsaved data loss.
What to do when Internet is while working at home?
- “If your internet goes down while you’re working from home, the first thing you can do is turn your smartphone into a WiFi hotspot as a quick, temporary backup.
- If you’re concerned about keeping a stable internet connection while you’re working, you and your employer may look into investing in a dedicated mobile hotspot rather than your smartphone to serve as a backup.
- Wireless carriers are helping to keep their customers connected during the coronavirus pandemic, when they need a data connection the most.
- There’s very little indication that the “work-from-home” surge is causing any negative impact on the internet in general.
- It’s worth double checking that you’re not just seeing an issue with a single website or service. Visit other websites to make sure your internet connection is actually down. If it is just a single site or service having issues, a mobile hotspot won’t help you.
Source: Business Insider
This article from Catapult discusses tethering as as an quick but brief alternative to fill the gap while your connection is offline.