One network down, a whole country stuck
The Rogers outage cut phones, internet and card payments across Canada for most of a day. Do you have a second path?
On Friday, a maintenance update in Rogers’ core network took down its mobile and internet services across Canada for most of a day. Shops couldn’t take debit cards, some people couldn’t reach emergency numbers, and many offices simply stopped. It wasn’t an attack. It was one change in one place.
Most small companies depend on exactly one internet provider, one phone carrier and one payment terminal network. That’s fine, until the day it isn’t.
Cheap ways to have a second path:
- A backup internet link from a different provider, even a 4G or 5G router, that the firewall switches to automatically.
- Phones on two carriers for the people who must stay reachable.
- A payment fallback: a terminal that can use mobile data, or a way to take payment later.
- Contact lists on paper or offline, for staff and key customers.
And when you choose a backup, check it really is different. Two providers sharing the same cable or network don’t help much.