Cellular IoT and Wi-Fi: Outage-free connectivity

If you’re not thinking about using cellular IoT for critical business operations, you might be missing out on an affordable and reliable solution for outage-free connectivity. With increased speed, lower latency, and improved reliability, 5G can deliver connectivity on par with Wi-Fi. Now, you can use cellular as a reliable fall back affordably and with performance on par with Wi-Fi.

Cellular IoT and Wi-Fi highlights

Let’s start with a quick overview of these two technologies and some of their benefits. Cellular IoT connects devices directly to the internet via cellular networks using a SIM, bypassing routers entirely. Wi-Fi connects devices through a local router, requiring proximity and network stability.Here are a few of the benefits of cellular connectivity:

• High levels of security: Data is always encrypted and private.
• Unlimited wireless range: Devices can connect anywhere there’s a cellular signal, including roaming networks.
• Easy implementation: Devices can be provisioned remotely with minimal user interaction.

Wi-Fi connectivity refers to devices that connect to the Internet through a router, usually located within the same room or building as the device. For uninterrupted connectivity, the Wi-Fi service in the area must be stable and the device has to stay within range. Wi-Fi connectivity offers:

• Access to connect multiple devices: Wi-Fi is a cost-effective solution for stationary devices, but does require local provisioning and on-going security through the corporate network.
• Video and large data file streaming: Wi-Fi is good for stationary IoT devices, like video security, that transfer a high volume of data in real-time.

Connectivity is transforming industries

Now let’s take a look at three use cases where cellular IoT connectivity and Wi-Fi collaboration can help deliver outage-free connectivity when it matters the most.

Smart buildings

Smart buildings deliver benefits across energy efficiency, predictive maintenance, and employee health and safety. to monitor air quality, flow, and humiditybut only when devices stay online.

Wi-Fi networks face connectivity issues that can disrupt this monitoring. Cellular IoT provides an ideal backup, ensuring the reliability organizations need to keep employees safe.

Frictionless retail

Physical point of sale (POS) systems must stay connected to capture every sale. Wi-Fi plus Cellular IoT ensures high availability for both mobile and stationary systems.

Beyond POS, optichanneling optimizing how consumers choose their preferred path to purchasehas emerged as the new retail strategy. This approach relies heavily on consistent connectivity across every touchpoint.

Customers expect consistent information across digital channels, call centers, and physical stores. Whether they're webrooming, browsing online before visiting a store,they expect accurate stock levels.Wi-Fi plus cellular IoT delivers the consistent, frictionless experience from decision to purchase.

Smart manufacturing

Manufacturers are connecting factory lines to bring industrial equipment into the future, making reliable connectivity critical. Downtime is costly with outages averaging four hours and $2 million per incident.

As manufacturing advances toward full Industry 4.0 digitization, always-on connectivity becomes the backbone operations depend on.

According to Ericsson's 2025 State of Enterprise Connectivity Report, 88% of U.S. businesses consider 5G critical to optimizing the use of AI in the workplace, underscoring 5G's growing impact on connectivity. Wi-Fi plus Cellular IoT as backup ensures the outage-free connectivity smart manufacturing demands.

How Hologram can help deliver outage-free connectivity for your organization

We’ve highlighted just a few industries that can benefit from the collaboration of Wi-Fi plus Cellular IoT to ensure connectivity when it matters the most. Count on Hologram for:

• The highest levels of reliability. The new Hologram Outage Protection SIMs feature two fully independent mobile cores that seamlessly switch to a backup core in the event of an outage.
• Guaranteed uptime commitment. Hologram includes uptime guarantees in our contracts and 24/7 support to resolve any issues quickly.
• Exceptional performance: Hologram’s low latency and high throughput solution can handle the volumes of data produced by these mission-critical use cases.
• Simplified management. The Hologram Dashboardprovides real-time visibility into device activity and performance, so you can keep operations running smoothly.
• Global coverage. Hologram seamlessly connects to carriers across the world to ensure your user experience is consistent.

Frequently asked questions

Can you use Wi-Fi and cellular data at the same time?

Yes, devices can use both Wi-Fi and cellular data (/blog/a-case-study-cellular-vs-wifi/) simultaneously through channel bonding technology, which combines multiple internet connections to improve speed and reliability while maintaining encrypted data transmission.

What is an IoT network?

An IoT network connects physical devices—like ATMs, fitness trackers, and voice assistants—to the internet so they can communicate and share information with each other through built-in sensors and connections.

How do IoT devices connect to Wi-Fi?

IoT devices connect to Wi-Fi networks that use WPA2 authentication, though some devices may require connecting to a mobile hotspot if the main network uses WPA, WPA3, or blended authentication methods.

What are the main types of IoT connectivity?

The two primary IoT connectivity types are cellular IoT, which connects directly through cellular networks using a SIM card, and Wi-Fi, which connects through a local router and requires proximity to that network.