Information technology diffusion, 40 years ago, generally ran from enterprise to mid-market to small business to consumer users. Tools available in the business gradually became affordable to smaller businesses and then in consumer appliances.
The internet tended to reverse the process: new technologies moved from consumer markets into enterprises, mid-market and small business. Cell phones were one example. Consumer social media and cloud-based applications of every sort provide examples.
Software as a service provides another example. Instead of waiting for formal information technology departments to create a needed capability, department heads often found they could buy capabilities on credit cards without waiting.
Stil, sometimes the older pattern emerges. Some businesses have used 4G for backup of their primary business broadband connections, for example.
Vodafone Always Connected is a 4G backup for home broadband, now offered in Ireland. If the home broadband line has an interruption, access is switched automatically to the 4G mobile network using an in-home appliance.
When the fixed network issue is resolved, the connection switches back to the home broadband fixed network.
That “4G as a backup” strategy has been used for some time by some business customers who want a failover strategy for their primary fixed network connection.
To my knowledge, this is the first mass market service to offer the same feature to consumer customers.
The Vodafone Always Connected device is self installed and delivered by mail.
It uses its own standard subscriber information module. The device connects to the USB port at the back of the customer’s existing broadband modem. The device autoconnects. That is pretty much it.
Vodafone notes that this backup service works only when 4G is available, as is the case for about 99 percent of locations in Ireland.
Vodafone points out that the backup solution works when there are:
Alterations to connections and wiring inside your home,
Any local or exchange faults on your broadband,
Fallen lines due to building work or;
Storms, high winds, or adverse weather conditions that cause damage to the fixed broadband network.
Instances where it does not help:
The customer modem does not have power. For example, if there is a power outage, your modem will not be powered and Vodafone Always Connected will not work.
The 4G mobile network is down at the same time as your broadband or;
There is any damage to a customer’s modem.
Of course, when there are local power outages, then the appliances and devices using the internet (TV, PC, dongles and devices using Wi-Fi) also will not work, unless the customer has a backup power source. But that is the case for all locally-powered devices.
As was the case for locally-powered cordless phones, they are useless when local power is lost, even if the connection remains operational.
Widespread power outages are another problem. If cell towers are damaged or power is lost over a wide area, for many hours, then the mobile network itself is likely to be unavailable as well.
For most consumers, higher levels of backup are probably not considered worth the cost and effort. That would entail generator power and battery backup for the whole house and ample supplies of fuel, plus the proper permits.
Still, the feature is an interesting extension of a business service to the consumer market. For most of the internet era, the diffusion of technology actually ran the other way: from consumer to business.
We often forget that many current business-grade tools initially came to work when workers wanted to use the same tools they had available to them as consumers.
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