What Happens If My ISP Goes Bust?

If your internet provider were to suddenly shut down, how would your business cope? Steve Cassidy explores your options

- Steve Cassidy

Is this something we need to worry about? It’s 2017, not 1999. When was the last time a major ISP went offline without warning?

A lot more recently than you might think. Last December, fast.co.uk and several associated brands abruptly closed down, leaving subscribers high and dry. An announcement was posted online, but their customers couldn’t read it, having been disconnected and all.

The thing to understand is that ISPs operate in a tight financial gap, between the fixed rates they charge their customers and the variable rates they pay for upstream links and other expenses. This is difficult to manage for any business. Look at airlines, for example: they’ve certainly been known to go bust in the past, with such dire consequences that the industry now has built-in insurance. Sadly, there’s no such protection for internet access.

My business should be safe, though, surely?We have a total service contract from a specialist supplier who handles these things for us.