Staten Island Petroleum Barge Explodes, Killing Worker in Second Deadly Blast Since May

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The Ready Brief #195

Practical preparedness for uncertain times

My internet went down during a work-from-home day last month. The outage was at the ISP level, nothing wrong with my equipment. I switched to my phone's hotspot and kept working. But my smart home devices went offline, my security cameras stopped recording, and my daughter couldn't do her homework. One internet connection failure cascaded into a dozen household disruptions. This week: making your home network more resilient.

Here's what I've got this weekend.

Home Network Resilience: When the Internet Gets Flaky

We covered mesh networks (Issue 40), communication plans (Issue 99), and offline resources (Issues 50, 138). This week addresses the home network itself: how to maintain local connectivity and internet access when your primary connection fails.

A mesh Wi-Fi system provides consistent coverage throughout your home by using multiple access points that communicate with each other. If one node fails, the others compensate. This isn't about internet resilience (if your ISP is down, mesh doesn't help), but it eliminates the dead spots and single-point-of-failure that a single router creates. Systems from companies like TP-Link, Eero, and Netgear cost $100 to $300 for a 3-pack.

A cellular backup connection is the most practical internet redundancy. A mobile hotspot device ($50 to $100) with a prepaid data plan ($20 to $40/month) provides a secondary internet connection when your primary ISP goes down. Some modern routers accept a USB cellular modem and fail over automatically.

Your phone's hotspot function is the simplest backup. Most phone plans include 10 to 15 GB of hotspot data. During an ISP outage, tethering your laptop and essential devices to your phone provides basic internet access. It's not fast enough for streaming, but it handles email, weather monitoring, and communication.

Local network functionality matters even without internet. A NAS (network-attached storage) device provides access to your stored files, reference documents, and media across your home network without internet. Your offline maps, downloaded references (Issue 138), and local backups remain accessible through your local network even when the internet is gone.

UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for your router and modem ensures network availability during power outages. A small UPS ($40 to $60) keeps your router running for 2 to 4 hours during a power outage, maintaining local network access and, if your ISP has battery backup at their end, internet access. Many people lose internet during power outages not because the ISP is down but because their own router lost power.

Put your router and modem on a small UPS.

A basic UPS ($40 to $60) provides 2 to 4 hours of power to your network equipment during an outage. Your internet may stay up (if the ISP's infrastructure has power), and your local network definitely stays up for file access and device communication.

Internet Outages Are Climbing, and Your ISP Choice Is a 12x Difference in Downtime

Global internet outages rose 6% in the final week of August to 687 events, with U.S. outages up 15% to 537 and ISP-specific failures climbing 11% to 331 worldwide. Providers don't fail at the same rate: fiber services like Google Fiber average just 2 outages a year at under an hour each, while satellite and fixed-wireless options like HughesNet average 25 outages a year lasting 4 hours apiece, a twelvefold difference in annual downtime. If your home network has no backup plan, your ISP's own reliability track record is worth knowing before the next outage catches you unprepared.

Source: Network World, SpeedTestHQ

Joel Lambert spent years as a Navy SEAL and BUD/S instructor before turning that experience into practical home-defense writing. In A Navy SEAL's Bug-In Guide, he argues that bugging out into the wild during a crisis should be a last resort, and that the real work is hardening the place you already live: stockpiles, security, medical readiness, and water storage built in advance so a single failure point doesn't force you out the door.

The same logic applies to your home network. Your internet connection is one of those single points of failure Lambert warns about: when it goes down, so does the ability to check weather alerts, reach family, or verify what's actually happening nearby. A cellular backup, even a basic phone hotspot, is a small piece of the same principle: don't let one failure take out your whole ability to function.

A Navy SEAL's Bug-In Guide: How to Turn Your House into the Safest Place on Earth by Joel Lambert, about $37.

Staten Island Petroleum Barge Explodes, Killing Worker in Second Deadly Blast Since May

A petroleum barge named Casablanca exploded at a Mariners Harbor waterfront terminal on Staten Island on September 11, killing one worker and injuring two firefighters. More than 160 FDNY personnel responded after the blast ignited a shipping container of petroleum onshore; a hazmat team secured the site while investigators worked to determine the cause. This is the second fatal blast within blocks of this stretch of shoreline in under four months: a May 22 explosion at a nearby dry dock killed one person and injured 36, including two firefighters seriously. Industrial waterfronts sitting next to residential neighborhoods carry real risk, and a repeat pattern at the same stretch of shoreline is worth knowing if you live or work nearby.

Source: Firehouse, PIX11

CyberPower CP1500 UPS for Network Equipment

I put my cable modem and mesh router on a CyberPower UPS. During a 3-hour power outage, the network equipment ran continuously on battery. My ISP's infrastructure had backup power, so I maintained full internet access throughout the outage. Cameras kept recording. Smart alerts kept working. I didn't even notice the outage until I tried to turn on a light.

The UPS also protects equipment from power surges. Battery runtime for just a modem and router is about 4 hours. About $240 for the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD pure sine wave model.

Budget alternative: A small APC Back-UPS ($40 to $60). Less runtime, same protection. Keeps the network up for about 2 hours during an outage.

CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS, about $240.

Overrated: Enterprise-grade network equipment for home use. A $500 Ubiquiti setup is excellent but overkill for most households. A $150 mesh system provides reliable whole-home coverage for typical residential use.

Underrated: Your phone as a network backup. You probably already have a hotspot capable phone with an existing data plan. During an ISP outage, it's an immediate, zero-cost backup internet connection that most people forget they have.

Stoic philosophy for uncertain times. Ancient wisdom that was built for exactly the kind of world we're living in.

PS: That work-from-home outage cost me about 45 minutes of productivity before I switched to my phone hotspot. A UPS on the router would have prevented the disruption entirely because the ISP was still up. The $240 UPS has since prevented three more outage-related network drops. The investment paid for itself in avoided frustration alone.