Cader NetworksThe problem with waiting for a permanent line
A new fibre or leased-line install can realistically take anywhere from a few weeks to several months once wayleaves, ducting and Openreach's own queue are involved, see our own install timeline breakdown. A construction project rarely has that kind of runway. The site office needs email, drawings, timesheets, CCTV and often supplier portals live from week one, not month three.
What actually gets deployed on day one
For most site offices and welfare cabins, the answer is a bonded 4G or 5G router, sometimes with two SIMs on different networks for resilience, giving a genuine business-grade connection with zero civil works. It's in a cabin and working within a day of the order going through, weather and signal permitting. Where mobile signal is weak or the site is in a proper dead zone, portable Starlink covers the gap, dish on a tripod or mast, live in about twenty minutes.
Multiple cabins, one network
Bigger sites often have several cabins, site manager, welfare, a secure store, sometimes a visitor centre. Rather than separate connections for each, we typically run one uplink into a central switch and cable or wirelessly bridge to each cabin, so the whole compound sits on one managed network with one bill, similar in principle to the way we handle multi-site business connections, just built for a temporary footprint.
What changes once the site becomes permanent
Plenty of construction jobs end with a permanent occupier, a new office, a retail unit, a completed development. At that point it's usually worth moving onto a proper business broadband line with the temporary 4G kept as failover, rather than ripping the whole setup out and starting again.
Practical things to check before you order
- How long is the site genuinely expected to run, weeks, or the better part of a year?
- Does the site need CCTV or remote monitoring uploading constantly? That changes the uplink spec.
- Is there more than one cabin or structure needing coverage?
- What's the fallback if the primary uplink drops mid-shift, particularly relevant if timesheets or safety systems depend on it?
We cover temporary and construction-site connectivity across Wales, tell us roughly how long the site will run and what's on it, and we'll come back with what actually fits rather than a generic router in a box.