When the Wi-Fi Goes Down: How to Keep Your Business Taking Payments

You know the feeling. It is rush hour at lunch, the line is down the street and then, just when one customer tries to swipe his or her credit card, the horror of horrors appears on screen, the message reads: Connection Lost.

To most of small businesses, loss of Wi-Fi suddenly can result in a hectic day. No cards, no orders online and disappointed customers walking away without anything. However, when it is properly configured and given some preparation, losing your internet connection doesn’t have to stop your sales.

The reality of Wi-Fi dependency

The current stores, cafes and salons are dependent on the internet system in nearly all aspects:

Payment terminals, smart lighting, loyalty apps and EPOS systems. However, broadband networks are not flawless. Local outage, router failures or even a sheer power outage may put you out of business without a warning.

Ofcom statistics show that the loss of connectivity to businesses in the UK is at an average of 30 hours per annum. It does not seem like a lot but in the case of a shop that was turning over PS500 an hour it will have lost PS15,000 in potential sales.

Impact of connection downtime on customer confidence.

Long queue may be forgiven by a customer but inability to pay may rupture confidence immediately. Individuals are used to tapping or swiping and swivelling; it does not work, and your business appears to be unreliable, even though this is not your fault. This in the hospitality industry may equate to stock wastage and hard to read cash only boards stuck to the till. Worse still, perception fastens quicker than facts once some customers start posting it online.

This is why it is equally important to plan payment continuity as it is to have a fire extinguisher, it is risk management. Strategies to be implemented in case of an outage.

• Have a backup connection.
Have a 4G or 5G mobile hot spot or SIM-based router on hand. The new payment systems also enable a great number of payment systems to automatically use mobile data in case of Wi-Fi losses.
• Apply a transaction offline EPOS
The optimal systems log sales locally and reconcile when the internet is restored- none of the data is lost or duplicated.
• Check your power sources
Small power outages can be sustained by using a mini UPS battery or power bank.
• Train your staff
All people need to be informed about how they can react and speak in case of payment drop-keep a cool head, console customers, and provide fast solutions such as mobile hotspot or a postponed transaction.
• Communicate clearly
An amicable 'Temporary connection problem, we will be online in a moment' message keeps the customers informed and patient.

The difference between smart payment systems

The old card machines are fully relying on hard-wired broadband lines. Contemporary cloud infrastructure, though, is intended to be resilient: it is able to reroute over mobile data, save transactions in an offline state, and pick up immediately when a signal goes back online.

Such flexibility implies that you do not have to turn away a customer even when your internet service turns away a customer.

Staying connected with confidence

Technology hiccups are a fact, and the fact that Wi-Fi is gone should not imply that the revenue is lost.

That is why a large number of UK retailers and cafes are converting to IPOSG Payments which is a full payment system developed with offline protection and mobile connectivity.

With automatic failover, real-time syncing, and 24/7 UK support, IPOSG Payments keeps you trading smoothly—even when the Wi-Fi doesn’t. Because the only thing worse than slow service… is no service and with IPOSG Payments, your business never stops.

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