Why Pay for Backup Internet Capacity You Rarely Use?
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
Most organizations install a backup internet circuit to protect against outages.
It’s a smart move. Even the most reliable networks occasionally experience downtime due to fiber cuts, equipment failures, or upstream carrier issues.
But there’s a frustrating reality that comes with that protection:
Backup circuits often sit idle nearly all the time — while still costing hundreds to thousands of dollars every month.
By combining Lumen Internet On-Demand with CarrierControl automation, organizations can keep a fully functional failover connection in place while dramatically reducing the cost of maintaining that standby circuit.
The Challenge: Paying Full Price for a Circuit Used 1% of the Time
A regional customer support center operates a call center with more than 120 agents handling inbound customer calls throughout the day.
Their phone system runs entirely over VoIP, meaning every call depends on a stable internet connection.
Agents rely on the internet to:
receive incoming calls
access CRM systems
retrieve customer records
collaborate with supervisors and support teams
If their internet connection goes down, the impact is immediate.
The phones go silent.
Agents can’t take calls, customers can’t reach support, and the operation effectively stops until connectivity is restored.
To protect against this risk, the company installed:
a 1 Gbps fiber circuit as their primary internet connection
a secondary 1 Gbps circuit for failover
This backup connection ensured the call center could continue operating during an outage.
But there was one problem.
The backup circuit was used less than 1% of the time, yet the company still paid full bandwidth pricing every month to keep it available.
A Smarter Backup Strategy
Instead of maintaining a fixed 1 Gbps circuit around the clock, the company deployed Lumen Internet On-Demand for their backup connection.
Internet On-Demand allows bandwidth to scale dynamically rather than remaining fixed at a single capacity.
Under normal conditions, the backup circuit runs at a minimal bandwidth level, keeping the connection active but inexpensive.
When the primary circuit fails, the backup connection can scale up to full capacity.
Their configuration looks like this:
Scenario | Bandwidth |
Normal operation | 1 Mbps |
Primary outage detected | 1 Gbps |
Primary restored | 1 Mbps |
Most of the time, the backup connection quietly operates at a low bandwidth level.
But if the primary provider experiences an outage, the backup circuit immediately scales up to support the full call center workload.
Automating Failover with CarrierControl
While Internet On-Demand provides the ability to dynamically adjust bandwidth, many organizations want this process to happen automatically when an outage occurs.
CarrierControl provides a simple automation layer that connects directly to the Lumen Internet On-Demand platform.
CarrierControl continuously monitors the organization’s primary internet circuit.
If the primary connection goes down:
CarrierControl detects the outage
A bandwidth increase is automatically triggered
The backup circuit scales from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps
This creates a fully automated failover environment where bandwidth adjusts dynamically based on real network conditions.
The backup circuit remains ready at all times, but only runs at full capacity when it’s actually needed.
What Does This Mean for Cost?
Traditional backup circuits require organizations to pay for full bandwidth capacity every month, even if the circuit is rarely used.
By using Internet On-Demand, bandwidth can remain low during normal operations and scale up only during outages.
In this example:
Scenario | Estimated Monthly Cost |
Traditional 1 Gbps DIA Backup Circuit | $850 |
Internet On-Demand Backup | $356 |
Potential Savings | $494/Month (Over 50%) |
Instead of paying full price for unused bandwidth, the company primarily pays for the minimal capacity required to keep the backup connection online.
Savings become even more substantial as bandwidth needs increase.
When an outage occurs, the circuit temporarily scales to full bandwidth until the primary service is restored.
Why This Matters for Network Resilience
Backup circuits are essential for maintaining uptime.
But traditional pricing models force organizations to pay for peak bandwidth capacity even when it isn’t being used.
Internet On-Demand changes that equation.
Organizations can maintain a standby circuit that is always ready to activate, while significantly reducing the cost of keeping that connection available.
For networks where outages occur infrequently — which is the goal of any well-designed network — the savings can be substantial.
Getting Started with Internet-on-Demand
Organizations interested in this model typically begin by confirming whether Lumen Internet On-Demand is available at their location.
The process is straightforward:
Check service availability - In partnership with Lumen, CarrierFinder can determine whether your location is served by Lumen and whether Internet On-Demand is supported.
Install the access port - Once the circuit is installed, it provides the capacity needed to scale bandwidth up or down.
Connect your Lumen Account - Customers receive access to Lumen’s Internet On-Demand portal.
Configure CarrierControl - Monitoring and automation policies are configured for the circuit.
From there, the backup circuit remains online and automatically scales bandwidth based on real network conditions.
CarrierControl was built with one goal in mind: giving organizations simple, automated control over their internet capacity.
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