What happens to your business phones when the internet or power goes down?
Short answer: a cloud phone system can keep taking your calls even if your office has no power or internet, because the system itself doesn't live at your premises. A traditional on-site PBX usually can't. Here's why — and how Wise Cloud Technology's disaster-recovery divert works.
Quick answer: With a cloud phone system, incoming calls reach the carrier network first — not your office — so they can be automatically diverted to mobiles or a backup team even during an outage. Wise Cloud Technology calls this disaster-recovery divert, and it happens automatically, with no manual step required.
Why a traditional PBX fails during an outage
An on-site PBX (private branch exchange) is physical hardware sitting in your office, connected to a specific phone line. If the power goes out, the hardware stops working. If your internet connection drops (for VoIP-based on-site systems) or the physical line is cut, calls generally can't reach it — callers hear ringing with no answer, or are sent straight to voicemail, until the outage is fixed on-site.
Why a cloud phone system behaves differently
With a cloud (hosted VoIP) phone system, your phone number and call-routing logic live in the carrier's network and data centres — not a box in your office. That means an outage at your premises doesn't have to stop calls from being answered: the system can be configured to reroute calls elsewhere before they ever try to reach your (currently offline) office.
How Wise Cloud Technology's disaster-recovery divert works
- You nominate one or more mobile numbers, or a backup group, in advance.
- If your office internet or power goes down, incoming calls automatically divert to those numbers.
- No manual switch-over is needed — it's built into the service.
- Once your connection is restored, calls flow normally through your office system again.
Making the most of it
- Keep your nominated divert numbers current — review them whenever staff or roles change.
- Use at least one divert number on a different network to your office internet (e.g. a mobile), so a local outage doesn't take out your backup too.
- If uptime is mission-critical, consider a Tailored Link with built-in internet redundancy alongside your phone system's divert.
Outage & disaster recovery — quick answers
Does a cloud phone system stop working during a power outage?
A cloud (VoIP) phone system has no on-site hardware that needs power, so calls to your number can still be answered elsewhere — for example diverted to mobiles — even if your office itself has no power or internet.
What happens to calls with Wise Cloud Technology if the internet drops?
Wise Cloud Technology’s disaster-recovery divert automatically redirects incoming calls to nominated mobiles or a backup group the moment it detects an outage, so calls keep being answered without any manual action.
Does an on-site PBX system have the same protection?
Not usually. A traditional on-site PBX depends on power and often a specific internet line at your premises — if either goes down, incoming calls are typically lost or go to voicemail until service is restored.
What should I do to make sure disaster recovery works for my business?
Keep your list of nominated divert numbers (mobiles or a backup group) up to date with Wise Cloud Technology, and make sure at least one nominated number is reachable on a different network to your office internet.
What is the impact of a business internet outage?
For a modern office, an internet outage stops far more than web browsing: cloud phones, EFTPOS and online payments, email, booking systems and cloud apps can all go down at once. Staff sit idle and customers who cannot get through often call someone else. That is why it pays to plan for an outage before it happens rather than during one.
Does a dedicated fibre connection still need an outage plan?
Yes. A dedicated fibre service, such as Wise Cloud Technology’s dark fibre, is built for higher capacity and consistency than a shared connection, but any single physical connection can still be cut, for example by civil works. Businesses that depend on their connection usually plan for a second path, such as a backup mobile data service, and make sure their phones divert automatically while the main link is down.
How can a business reduce the impact of an internet outage?
Three steps cover most of the risk: keep the phones answerable with automatic call divert to nominated mobiles (Wise Cloud Technology’s disaster-recovery divert does this), have a backup way to get online for the essentials, and keep a short written plan of who does what. A cloud phone system also lets staff keep taking calls on the mobile app from anywhere with data.
Never miss a call, even during an outage
See how disaster-recovery divert works on Wise Cloud Technology's cloud phone system — set up once, it just works.
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