What to know about backup internet in Glendale
The city is digging along 47th Avenue through June 2027
The Bethany Home Road Drainage Improvements project digs storm drain and water line along 47th Avenue and Bethany Home Road. Construction on 47th Avenue from Bethany Home Road to Marlette Avenue runs from November 2026 through April 2027, with final completion set for June 2027. The city does not say any line has been cut, but buried cable runs close to where crews dig.
Loop 101 design work and Grand Avenue paving
ADOT, MAG and Glendale have started designing improvements to the Loop 101 interchanges at 67th and 59th Avenues. That is design only, and ADOT lists no construction dates yet. ADOT is also rehabilitating pavement on 11 miles of US 60 (Grand Avenue) from 85th Avenue to I-17, which runs through Glendale (the ADOT item is dated July 2025, so check ADOT for current status). Paving is less likely than trenching to cut a buried line.
Source: ADOT Central District projects
Anyone digging must call 811, and a mark can still be missed
Arizona law requires contacting the 811 one-call center before digging, and the utilities have two working days to mark underground lines. Marking helps, but a line that is mislocated or not marked can still be hit.
Source: A.R.S. 40-360.22
Storms and power outages take communications with them
The National Weather Service defines the monsoon as June 15 through September 30 and lists power and communication outages among its consequences.
How failover works
Your main connection comes in through a router. A failover router watches it, and when it stops passing traffic, the router moves your network to the backup line within moments. When the main line returns, it switches back. Staff do nothing.
A hotspot works only if someone notices the outage, finds the phone and connects each device. Failover covers the register, cameras, phones and guest WiFi without any of that.
Starlink, 5G or both
5G cellular backup installs fast, needs only a good signal at the building and suits registers and phones. Starlink needs a clear view of the sky and a place to mount the dish, and it usually carries more data, so it is the better pick when cameras upload or a busy guest network depends on the backup.
Some sites use both. We check cell signal and sky view on the walkthrough before recommending either.
What the backup should carry
A backup line usually runs slower than the main one, so we decide what rides on it. Registers and card terminals go first, then phones, then cameras and the office. Guest WiFi can be capped or switched off while on backup.
Where the Starlink dish goes in Glendale
A dish goes on a roof, a pole or a wall with a clear view of the sky. Glendale's design standards require rooftop mechanical equipment to be screened from view, and the code's text names mechanical equipment, not dishes. Its definition of a satellite earth station covers dishes over 1.5 meters, and we found no Glendale standard for a smaller dish. We ask Planning whether a particular mounting counts.
If your building is a historic property, exterior work that needs a building permit requires a Certificate of No Effect or Appropriateness. We check that before mounting anything outside. Your landlord's approval comes first on a leased space.
Power: keep the router up
A backup connection does nothing if the router has no power. We put the router, switch and backup modem on a battery unit, so a short outage keeps you online and a longer one gives the register time to close out. If the power is out across the street, call your utility. APS lists an outage hotline of 602-371-3680 and SRP takes outage calls at 602-236-8888.
What else rides on the backup
The backup carries business WiFi, security cameras that need to keep uploading, and business phone systems that run over the internet. The rest of our Glendale work is on the Glendale page. Call (602) 769-7992 and we will check cell signal and sky view at your address.
