Back-up Plan Suggestions if Internet Goes Down

There’s nothing quite as frustrating as having an internet outage right in the midst of a busy check in.  While web based check-in solutions have a ton of advantages, they are sometimes at the mercy of your internet connection.  So what can you do should you lose internet connectivity – is there a back-up plan?  Here are some suggestions from us and we’d love to hear how you are tackling the situation.  

Reports/Manual Check-in:  In the reports library you’ll find a report called the “Manual Check-in Roster”. It is intended to help serve as backup in case of an internet outage.  It provides a list of children that have checked in at least once within a given date range and includes the primary guardian and their contact information.  Plus it has check boxes by the names for easy use in a back-up situation.  Print this report out periodically, such as monthly or quarterly, and have a hard copy at each check in station. While it won’t resolve the issue fully, it will provide a great deal of information to keep things running smoothly and help track things manually. 

Additional hardware:  If you are having frequent outages, you can purchase a wireless device such as those from CradlePoint (www.cradlepoint.com) which allows you to connect a web enabled cell phone or air card to the device and your main internet connection. If the main connection does go down, the device automatically switches over to the backup air card or smart phone (i.e. blackberry, etc) and continues service over a cell signal.  While not as perfect as your typical internet connection it is very usable. In fact, we sometimes use this as our set up for tradeshows/conferences and do check-in all day long without any problems.  Unfortunately there’s a cost involved (about $250), and if you buy a dedicated air card that’s about $40 more per month, but it’s pretty cheap insurance if you’re having connection issues. 

Test Internet Quality:  If you are having frequent outages, we suggest you test the quality of your internet connection.  We recommend www.pingtest.net.  This will review and then grade your connection. If the grade shows you have an issue, contact your internet provider to learn more. 

An educational article on wired vs wireless networks for check in can be found here.

Share your back-up ideas - others would benefit greatly from your suggestions and troubleshooting.