Verizon Wireless for backup internet circuit?

[JohnGage]

Our main internet connection is a 12/12 fiber connection provided by the local cable company.  Verizon is offering a 4G wireless option that they claim can bring 5-12MB/s download and 2-5MB/s upload.  When setup as a backup solution it costs $10 per month for the first 25MB.  If it's ever used billing jumps to $10 per GB.  Hardware is in the $600 range plus a possible antenna if I can't get 4G from inside the building.

No QOS so it would be risky (foolish?) to use for office voice traffic. 

Our current backup connection is a DSL circuit with less upload, higher download and no usage based billing - but a higher flat monthly rate.  I'm thinking Verizon doesn't make sense but the $10 a month for an extra circuit caught my attention.  Any thoughts?

[Billy Welsh]

Trying to look at something similar from AT&T but have not gotten very far yet.  Our new SonicWall has a port for a USB aircard, but I don't think that will make as much sense because of the fixed monthly charges.

[Jeff Zylstra]

It doesn't sound like a bad idea as an "extra layer" type of solution that uses a different medium than phone, fiber or cable, but I'm not sure how useful it might be in a real outage, since my feeling is that a wireless connection would be easily overcome by high traffic in that kind of situation.  But for $10 a month, having it save your bacon just once would be worth it.

[Billy Welsh]

In our particular situation, we have ONE, yes 1, available wired ISP in the building.  And the landlord does not push for more.

So, I am looking for any decent redundancy I can get.  In the event we actually have to use it, I anticipate a blanket request that everyone limit their usage to necessary/critical items, and if necessary throttling them down via the Sonicwall.