What to know about backup internet in Tempe
Street repaving and fiber work run through 2028
Voter-approved street bond work from November 2024 is repaving and rebuilding Tempe streets citywide through 2028, and the city says it tells affected businesses by signs, postcards or door hangers. Tempe's Fiber License also schedules fiber installs around work like paving, and more street cuts are likely as providers apply. Every crew near your building is a chance for a buried line to be hit, so a business on a street scheduled for work should have a failover.
Call 811 and wait two working days
Arizona 811 must be contacted at least two full working days before digging, and locators have two full working days to respond. Within two feet of marked underground facilities, hand tools only are allowed. Even a well-run job can damage a line you cannot see.
Source: Arizona 811
Monsoon and SRP outages
Arizona's monsoon season runs June 15 through September 30. SRP says monsoon storms can bring high winds, torrential rain and lightning that affect its electric system and a business's operations. Its 24/7 outage line is (602) 236-8888, and its outage map shows affected areas and expected restoration. If the power fails, your modem fails too, unless it is on a battery.
Source: SRP, Business Outage Preparation
A roof dish may need Planning's okay
Tempe's zoning code treats an antenna dish as mechanical equipment. Roof-mounted mechanical equipment must be concealed on all sides, and equipment such as a satellite dish that can't be concealed must be made visually subordinate with development plan review approval. The code doesn't name Starlink, so we ask Tempe Planning how a roof dish on your building is reviewed before we mount one.
Source: Tempe Zoning and Development Code Sec. 4-405 and 7-102
How failover works
A failover router, also called a dual-WAN router, holds two internet connections. It uses your main line normally and tests it every few seconds. When the main line stops answering, the router moves traffic to the backup within moments, and it moves back when the main line returns. Staff and customers notice a short blip at most.
A hotspot someone has to switch on by hand does none of that. Failover happens at 2 a.m. with nobody in the building, and it covers your cameras, phones and card readers too.
Starlink or 5G
A 5G cellular connection installs in about an hour, needs no dish on the roof and works where signal is strong. Starlink uses a dish with a clear view of the sky and works where cellular is weak. Both travel on different paths from your main line, which is the point: a cut fiber line or a dead cable node doesn't touch either one.
- 5G installs quickly, needs no roof work and suits registers and phones.
- Starlink needs a clear view of the sky, a mount and a cable run, and it handles heavier use.
- Some businesses that can't afford any downtime run both.
- A backup is often slower than your main line, so we point it at what matters most.
Deciding what stays online
A backup connection may be slower or capped, so we set the router to protect the essentials first. Card payments, phones and cameras go first. Guest WiFi and streaming can wait, or be switched off during a failover. You choose the order and we configure it.
What we do on install day
- A site survey of where the signal is best and where the dish or antenna can go.
- A failover router and, where needed, a battery backup so the modem and router stay on in a short power cut.
- A mount for the dish or antenna, with cable run to your equipment room.
- Settings and a live test where we unplug the main line, so we see it fail over before we leave.
- A written note of the service plans and where to call for each.
Construction close to Tempe businesses
The Grand Canal Connection near Priest Drive north of the 202 is under construction and set to wrap up in early 2027. The city says business access stays open during the work. Access to your door says nothing about the line buried under the street, so if crews are on your block, ask your provider which path your line takes.
Often paired with
Backup matters most for the systems that stop working with the internet: business phone systems, security cameras and business WiFi. More of our Tempe work is listed on the Enzo in Tempe page.
