Tag Archives: cloud software

Dealing With Broadband Outages

It’s always been a hassle when a business loses broadband. But in the last few years, an increasing number of businesses have been telling me that they are practically immobilized when they lose broadband. The reason for this becomes obvious once businesses explain the degree to which they now rely on software in the cloud. A decade ago, big companies worked in the cloud, but big companies have started to move critical computing power back to the edge. It’s now small and medium businesses that have fully embraced cloud software as part of normal business operations.

If you define the cloud as working with data stored remotely, a few industries have worked in the cloud for a long time. For example, lawyers started using the online LexisNexis database in the 1970s. The first cloud service experienced by retail stores was online credit card validation. Over time, more and more functions have moved online,to the point that businesses have critical functions handled in the cloud.

A few examples of day-to-day functions that now require a broadband connection:

  • Timekeeping and payroll systems.
  • Automated point-of-sale devices that not only process credit cards but that interface with accounting records and inventory systems.
  • Online sales portals for accepting sales orders.
  • Restaurant and hotel reservations systems.
  • Business software of all sorts like Microsoft Office 365, DropBox, collaborative software, video meeting software, emails, you name it. There is a surprisingly small amount of business software that is self-contained at a business these days,
  • Industry-specific databases and portals for numerous industries like healthcare, real estate, hotels, stock trading.
  • Data backup and online data storage.
  • Security monitoring.
  • Voice over IP phone systems.
  • Banking and financial transactions.
  • Shipping and customer fulfillment.

This reliance on broadband has made businesses become hyper-aware of broadband outages. In the many surveys and interviews we conduct, businesses say that being without broadband for even a few minutes brings them to a screeching halt.

Unfortunately, many businesses live on networks provided by unreliable ISPs. It’s not unusual to hear from businesses that have several all-day or half-day broadband outages every year and dozens of shorter duration. I’m hearing increasingly from businesses that reliability is their primary broadband issue, more even than price or speed.

Businesses don’t have a lot of options to fix the problem. Their choices are:

  • Change to a more reliable ISP. Unfortunately, a majority of the businesses I talk to also say they don’t have competitive choices for their primary ISP.
  • Use more software locally. That’s a nice thing to say in theory, but the small business options for operating without using cloud software is harder to do every year. But there are still some things that can be done. There is more expensive software that can be run locally. Companies can move telephones back to a landline (gasp!) that operate when the broadband network is down.
  • The most realistic option is to find a second or even third broadband connection so that the business doesn’t lose all functionality. I’m finding that as many as 10% of the small businesses I talk to have gone to a two-ISP solution for redundancy. A company may only get the amount of bandwidth they need from the local cable company, but DSL, fixed wireless, or satellite as a backup is better than going totally dead. This is an expensive option, and a business has to do the math. What’s the real cost to the business for expected outages? If outages equate to significant lost sales or productivity, then a backup connection is probably justified.

 

 

 

The Growth of Upload Usage

I’ve written a number of blogs about the growth of download broadband usage. I recently looked at the growth trend for upload broadband usage and found that upload usage has been growing faster than download usage.

The statistics in the following table come from OpenVault, which has been tracking broadband usage statistics each quarter. The numbers represent the national average monthly usage of broadband for households at the end of the second quarter of each year until before the pandemic. Just like with download usage, there was a big burst in upload usage at the onset of the pandemic as people were sent home. People instantly needed upload links to communicate back to the office or the school. But even since the pandemic, the overall trend shows upload usage growing faster overall than download usage.

Upload Annual Download Annual
Mbps Growth Mbps Growth
2Q 2019 15 265
2Q 2020 23 56% 357 35%
2Q 2021 28 22% 405 13%
2Q 2022 31 11% 460 14%
2Q 2023 36 15% 498 8%

There are a lot of possible explanations for the growth of upload usage:

  • The pandemic trained the whole country to communicate by video conference. This has grown to become a routine practice. I use video conferencing at least a few hours per day, and often a lot more.
  • Over the last five years, a lot of the routine software we use migrated to the cloud. As a common example, Microsoft Office 365 has migrated the Microsoft suite of products to store and save in the cloud. Opening or modifying spreadsheets, Word Documents, or PowerPoints now uses upload bandwidth.
  • There is also widespread use today of collaboration software where multiple people can work on documents, spreadsheets, and graphics at the same time.
  • It’s hard to imagine anybody with a lot of files that doesn’t back them up in Dropbox or the many other storage systems.
  • There is a lot of hidden machine-to-machine traffic where software automatically and routinely connects to the outside world. A few years ago, a Washington Post reporter left his computer running during a month-long vacation and found that his home had generated almost a gigabyte of upload traffic in his absence.
  • It’s now a video-driven world, and people share videos as easily as we used to share pictures.
  • A major portion of gaming has moved to the cloud.
  • We are using a lot more security cameras. There has been a proliferation of doorbell cameras installed as well as inside cameras to check on pets, kids, and babysitters. People routinely check the cameras remotely.

It seems unlikely that upload usage will ever catch up to download usage for most homes. Most people consume more video and other content than they generate. But the volume of average upload usage is still significant. I doubt that anybody a decade ago would have predicted that the average U.S. home would be uploading 36 gigabytes each month.

There doesn’t seem to be any reason on the horizon why the growth won’t continue. More people are sharing videos and other content. We’re slowly creeping towards having early versions of telepresence and virtual reality, which will likely mean a huge bump up in upload usage for many homes. Does anybody care to make a prediction of the average amount of upload usage a decade from now?