Earlier this week, AT&T’s cellular network experienced a major outage that left thousands of customers nationwide without cell phone or data connectivity for several hours. This disruption highlighted the fragility of our reliance on a single network provider and the need for redundancy in critical infrastructure.

For businesses and individuals, the inability to make calls, send texts, or access the internet on our phones has huge consequences. Important business deals may be lost if workers can’t communicate with clients and partners. Doctors can’t reach patients who need urgent care. Families are left scrambling if they can’t coordinate schedules or check in on loved ones. The impacts of losing connectivity extend far beyond mere inconvenience.

Events like the AT&T network outage reveal the lack of redundancy in our telecommunications networks. While most enterprises invest in redundant internet connections, redundant power supplies, and failover data centers, few extend that redundancy to communications connectivity. We put all our trust in a single provider, hoping their service levels will suffice. But as this week showed, even major providers like AT&T are vulnerable to regional outages. The impacts were felt not just by AT&T customers but also by anyone trying to call or text them.

That’s why more organizations should look into redundant communications networks, such as VoIP and cellular networks. Contracting with multiple carriers and communications technology and implementing automatic failover can maintain connectivity even if one carrier’s network goes down. Critical infrastructure like hospitals, public services, and financial networks would do well to have backup cellular capacity. The redundancy costs are minor compared to the business disruption of losing connectivity.

This week’s AT&T network outage won’t be the last major telecom disruption. However, we can learn from it and implement redundancy concerning critical communication. Our reliance on cellular connectivity continues to grow. Let’s ensure we build resilient infrastructure when things go wrong.

Learn how to implement effective business continuity strategies with VoIP and Cellular failover here.  Contact us to learn more.