How To Navigate The Connectivity Options For Micro Markets

Micro markets require connectivity to allow customers to pay at the kiosk, check their account balance, report inventory levels, allow diagnostics, update firmware, provide sales data and more.

The connection types include local Internet connections, local Wi-Fi, purchased air cards, MiFi, jetpack, purchased hardware and data plans and fully managed solutions. It’s important to valuate the benefits of each one to figure out which option will fit your needs in order to reduce downtime, speed up the installation time, cut down service calls, provide help with troubleshooting, save money and generate more revenue.

Based on your company’s needs and how many resources that are being allocated for communications, an evaluation of the listed pros and cons should help determine which method of connectivity works best for you.

With more pros than cons, managed connectivity is always a great option for micro markets. By outsourcing the mission critical component of connectivity to a dedicated team of experts you can be sure to have the greatest uptime and reliability available.

Following are the pros and cons for using existing local Internet connections.

Pros:

No monthly data costs
Decent bandwidth speeds

Cons:

Getting permission from IT can be a lengthy process and involve high implementation costs
Possible need to open firewalls or to enable security rules with IT can be burdensome
Static IP connections are rare
Can suffer from spotty Internet service or poor download/upload speed
Local IT may be resistant or unwilling to troubleshoot your potential Internet issues

Following are pros and cons of using local Wi-Fi.

Pros:

No monthly data costs

Cons:

Not a secure connection method
Limited range or distance
Network names and passwords are subject to change
Slow connections
Wi-Fi may not be PCI compliant

Following are pros and cons of using a purchased aircard, MiFi or jetpack.

Pros:

Set-up is fairly simple

Cons:

Monthly data costs
Subject to either overages or slowing after certain data thresholds
To reset lost connections usually requires a manual power cycle
Designed for personal not commercial use

Following are pros and cons of using purchased hardware and a set-up data plan.

Pros:

Operator has full control of the hardware and data plans

Cons:

Monthly data costs
Setting up the configurations with all of the different options can be difficult for a novice
Coordinating data plans to be as low as possible without hitting overages can be a balancing act
Maintaining portfolios with software versions can require dedicated resources to communications
Unlikely the company would want to coordinate both billing and data plans with more than one carrier
If only using a single carrier, some locations may suffer from poor coverage or limited bandwidth

Following are pros and cons of using a managed solution.

Pros:

Single source of contact 24/7 support
Ease of installation for virtual plug and play. When specific routing or settings are needed, dedicated technical support to assist set-up
Security, connectivity, profiles, firmware are handled
Ability to have multiple carriers and just pay one bill
Carrier options to provide best coverage and bandwidth in any given area
Purchase and lease options available

Cons:

Monthly data costs
Possible threat to job security for dedicated communication staff

By Rob Ramage, OptConnect Support Engineer

For more information visit http://www.optconnect.com/

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