What if you cannot handle internet downtime?

If your home internet connection has around 99% uptime - that means that for a 30 day month, you will have 7 hours of downtime. I have seen business class DSL ads for 99.9% uptime, which means approximately 40 minutes per month.

It is probably more like, every 6 months, the internet could go out for 2-3 hours. That is my experience.

If you cannot handle that, and sometimes you can’t, then it will cost money.

You could

- get another internet service (if you have DSL, get cable, or vice-versa)
- use 3G internet

The 2nd option is good if you already have an unlimited data plan for your cell phone. You will need to buy a 3G router, or tether your 3G phone to your computer, or buy a 3g computer card.

3g computer card - this plugs into your computer, generally laptop in the PCMCIA slot. It allows you to connect to a wireless carrier 3g data network.

tethering your phone - you plug your phone with a cable to your computer, change some windows settings, and you are connecting

3g router - you get a PCMCIA card, plug it into this special type of router, and you now have 3G network that all computers in your home can connect to.

The last option will probably cost around $200-300 dollar at the time of this post, but if you already have an  unlimited data plan , you  could even  get rid of your other DSL/cable broadband, though I am not sure of the uptime of the 3G data network.