Keeping your side of the net up.

Few small businesses can afford to lose their net connection for any length of time. Second in importance only to choosing an Internet provider (or two, but more on that in a future post) is making sure you've got good kit and a disaster plan.

Choose a good router. Then buy two. In the event of a suspected failure, swapping the router out with an identically configured spare in the cupboard will quickly tell you if the problem is yours or your ISPs – and get you back on the air in minutes. I’ve had so much grief with (the often re-badged) Thomson routers supplied by most ISPs, I recommend sticking them in a cupboard until your ISP insists it’s connected for diagnostic purposes.

Get a basic Netgear box instead. Not all of Netgear’s products work so well but their big sellers are as thoroughly bug-fixed and reliable as a routers get and pretty easy to configure. For ADSL go for a: Netgear DG834G (around £38+VAT). Cable (Virgin) demands a Netgear WGR614 (around £30 + VAT).

As well as being reliable and good value, they have very useful separate DSL synchronisation and authentication indicators. The DG 834G works well with DSL 2, as currently supplied by Be Un limited and, eventually, everyone else. These are basic boxes made and sold on wafer-thin margins, so don’t expect more than a respectable WiFi range and basic technical support – and buy the best insurance possible, that second router in the cupboard.

Once you have your routers, a bit of care will keep things secure:

- Disable WiFi if it’s not being used.

- If it is, enable the strongest encryption: WPA2. Use a strong passphrase. Make a note of it.

- Ensure you are using a free wireless channel. Use NetStumbler to find one. Because WiFi occupies three wireless channels either side of the one chosen, all but channels 1, 6 and 11 should be avoided. Chances are, there won't be a free channel – so pick the one with the weakest signals.

- Change and record the router’s admin password. Write it on the router if need be.

Once you are happy everything’s perfect print out copies of the router's set-up pages. Use the routers ability to save the settings to a file, and keep that file safe. Make sure your back-up router has the same settings before you put it away – and remember to update it if you make changes. It's a crying shame that routers don't have an easy-to-use cloning function, or the equivalent of every application's "You've made changes. Do you want to save them?" option to ensure a fresh back-up, but they don't. Some people write a checklist of how to save their router settings, print it out and stick it to the top of the router itself – no guarantee, but a useful reminder. And if that seems a lot of hassle for something you can fix easily enough, imagine what'll happen if you're on the other side of the world when the office broadband goes down.

So at the least, leave an easy to follow ‘what to do when the net goes down' plan that is so simple even the most IT-phobic member of staff can power-cycle or swap out the router. Identify what the front panel lights mean, so your staff can talk to your ISP's technical support line. Call that line yourself and check that the ISP has your staff members on the list of people they’ll talk to, which also, by the way, means your staff will probably get access to your billing information as well. At least when they flee to the Bahamas on your credit card you’ll at least have the consolation of knowing you're still online to email the bank.