Tips to Prepare Yourself for an Outage When Working from Home

The Covid19 pandemic has changed a lot around the world. People have switched to online shopping from the traditional style of going to the markets and malls. They prefer online learning over traditional learning and the same is the case with work. Work from home is the new thing and it’s being practiced all around the world for all the good reasons. 

Being able to work on your own time and from wherever you want, seems like a far-fetched idea for many of us. Although, the number of people making this possible is increasing by the day. But where it has a lot of perks, there are many other things we need to take care of while switching to work from home. 

We have gathered up some of the best tips to prepare you for outages during work from home so without any further ado let’s get into it:

1. Back up a solid internet provider to save yourself from internet outage

The internet is fundamental to working from home. So, you’ll need to make sure to sign up with the best available provider in your area. What if there is a power outage or the internet connection is having problems? 

Normally, when you’re working at a company’s office you don’t have to worry about this because power and the internet are not your problems. The office needs to make sure there’s a backup source of power and if the internet gives up you could spend the whole day sitting around without a care.

That isn’t the case when you’re working from home. The moment you sign an agreement to work remotely for a company you’re basically taking all such responsibilities to your head. A power or internet outage is inevitable and usually simultaneous, which is why it is best to have a backup plan in place. So the very first step you need to ensure a smooth remote working experience is to sign up for a reliable internet connection that does not disconnect or lag too often.

If you still haven’t found the right internet connection to pace up your remote working experience then we suggest you look into ATT Internet plans. It offers consistent fast internet speeds even during peak hours. So you don’t have to worry about internet outages while attending an important meeting from home.

2. Keep your devices charged

Most of the time your electricity company will announce a power outage, telling you the reason and duration. Sometimes though, due to an unanticipated reason, you might lose power unannounced. Usually, these are the times it could take hours or in some unfortunate circumstances even days before the company can locate and fix the problem. It is best practice to always keep your devices fully charged and all documents that you need for work downloaded on your computer.

If convenient, invest in a backup generator. This can save you from a lot of loss. Especially when the power cuts off in the middle of an important call or if you’re editing a document that you haven’t saved yet. A generator will back up your power supply and cover for you in such times.

3. Invest in Mobile Broadband or Cellphone Data

Mobile broadband is a modem that looks like a USB stick and plugs into your laptop. Cell phone companies provide monthly as well as pay-as-you-go mobile broadband plans. A pay-as-you-go plan would make a lot more sense if you’re going to use mobile broadband in case of emergencies only.

Another option could be using your cell phone data. You can either work on your phone if that’s comfortable for you or turn it into a hotspot and connect your computer to it. You can easily stay connected via cellphone data to your work even when you’re away from your home office.

4. Always keep a Car Charger

Car chargers are lifesavers for people working on the go and of course for people facing a power outage. Get a charger with multiple USB ports so you can have multiple devices running simultaneously, no matter how long the outage. Don’t wait for an actual outage to happen and buy your car charger adapter in advance. 

5. Find Free Wi-Fi Hotspots

With the world more virtually connected than ever and everyone online for most of the day, free Wi-Fi has become an amenity usually offered at coffee shops and restaurants. In fact, many internet providers in the U.S. also provide lots of free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country. 

Locate these Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as coffee shops or restaurants that offer free Wi-Fi that you could park yourself at to work in case of an outage or maybe just to get out of the house for a change. However, it’s not the safest option on the table to use free Wi-Fi hotspots.

But in case of a power outage where you are left with no other option, this could really be considered. To be on the safe side you can use VPN to create an encrypted network for you to work on because online security comes first.

Wrapping up:

We have mentioned above the five easy tips to ensure that you don’t face an unfortunate internet or power outage running around cursing the whole world because you can’t go online and get your work done before the deadline. So practice these steps and get your work from home done smoothly.