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Solutions · Connectivity

Multi-Homed, High-Availability
Internet Connectivity

Internet connectivity delivered across multiple independent Tier 1 upstream carriers with a fully redundant core network. 100% uptime with no single point of failure - out of the box, without managing BGP, dual carrier contracts, or your own IP space.

Talk to a Network Specialist See how it works
3-4
Tier 1 upstream carriers
2
Simultaneous failures sustained
100%
Uptime by design
Auto
Failover - no ticket required
9
Canadian data centres

Why Multi-Homed High-Availability Connectivity

Single-carrier internet is a single point of failure

Most colocation internet is delivered over one upstream carrier. When that carrier has an outage - a misconfiguration, a fibre cut, a national event - your business goes with it. Qu's connectivity is architected from the ground up to eliminate that failure mode entirely.

The problem with single-carrier dedicated internet

Dedicated internet from a single carrier is fast and simple - until it isn't. Your provider's upstream, their core routing, their maintenance windows, and their major incidents all become your incidents. A business-critical application hosted behind a single carrier has exactly one upstream path to the internet. When that path fails, there is no fallback.

The complexity of building your own multi-homing

Sophisticated organizations try to solve this by contracting two carriers independently, managing their own BGP routing, and maintaining their own IP address space. This works - but it requires network engineering expertise, ongoing management, and a level of complexity most enterprise IT teams don't want to own. Qu delivers the outcome without the overhead.

Qu's approach: built-in, not bolted on

Qu's multi-homed architecture connects to 3-4 independent Tier 1 carriers simultaneously at the network level. Your connectivity inherits that redundancy by default. You do not manage BGP. You do not maintain carrier relationships. You do not need your own IP space. You get 100% uptime as a baseline, not an aspiration.

Multi-Carrier Upstream

3-4 Tier 1 carriers. Simultaneously.

Qu's network connects to multiple independent Tier 1 upstream carriers - providers like Bell, Rogers, and others - simultaneously, not as primary and backup. All carriers carry live traffic. When one has an outage, the others absorb the traffic automatically with no customer action required.

What this means in practice

Traffic distributed across 3-4 independent upstream providers at all times
A national carrier outage - like the July 2022 Rogers event - does not take you offline
No single upstream provider controls your path to the internet
Automatic traffic rerouting at the network level - not at the application layer
You inherit the redundancy without managing carrier contracts or BGP
When Canada's largest carrier went down. In July 2022, a single nationwide carrier failure disrupted internet access for an estimated 12 million Canadians - financial institutions, payment processors, emergency services, and thousands of businesses went dark. Organizations on single-carrier internet had no fallback. Qu's multi-homed customers stayed online because no single carrier controls their path to the internet.
Qu multi-homed high-availability network architecture diagram showing multiple Tier 1 upstream carriers, redundant core network, and dual links to customer equipment

Redundant Core Network

Designed to sustain two simultaneous failures

Most networks are designed to survive one failure. Qu's core network architecture is designed to sustain two simultaneous component failures and keep customers online. There is no single point of failure anywhere in the path from your equipment to the internet.

Dual-linked core and border routers - Every core and border router in Qu's network carries dual links. A single router failure does not interrupt traffic - the network reconverges automatically through the remaining path.
Two simultaneous failure tolerance - The architecture is validated to sustain two separate, simultaneous component failures anywhere in the core. Most enterprise networks tolerate one. Qu's tolerates two.
No planned maintenance windows affecting customers - Because the core is fully redundant with no single points of failure, routine maintenance on individual components does not require customer-facing downtime.
Compliance and mission-critical workload ready - For regulated organizations where connectivity interruptions carry legal, financial, or operational consequences, the redundant core design provides the infrastructure assurance compliance teams require.

Standard single-carrier internet

One upstream provider. One path to the internet. Any failure in that path - carrier outage, fibre cut, routing error - takes you offline. No fallback.

Qu multi-homed high-availability

3-4 upstream carriers. Redundant core with dual-linked routers. Two simultaneous failure tolerance. Automatic failover. No single point of failure anywhere in the path.

Dual Redundant Links to Customer

Two physically separate links to your equipment

Multi-carrier upstream and a redundant core mean nothing if the last link to your equipment is a single connection. Qu extends the redundancy all the way to your colocation environment with two physically separate links delivered to your cabinet or cage.

How dual links work

Two physically separate connections delivered to your colocation environment
Typically terminated on dual firewalls in an HSRP failover configuration
Core switches continuously monitor link health on both paths
If the primary link or firewall fails, traffic continues on the secondary path automatically
No customer action required - failover is handled at the network layer
Both links carry live traffic - not primary and idle standby

Why the last link matters

A network with redundant upstream and redundant core but a single connection to the customer environment still has a single point of failure - just closer to the customer. Qu's dual link configuration closes that gap.

For organizations running mission-critical applications - financial services transaction processing, healthcare systems, government services, e-commerce platforms - the combination of multi-carrier upstream, redundant core, and dual customer links provides connectivity resilience equivalent to enterprise carrier-grade infrastructure.

HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol) is the failover mechanism used at the customer equipment layer. Core switches monitor both links and invoke HSRP failover automatically when a primary path failure is detected.

Scalable Bandwidth

Start small. Scale when you need to.

High bandwidth is table stakes. The real value is elasticity - the ability to turn bandwidth up or down as your workloads demand, without a new installation, a new contract, or a call to a provisioning team that takes three weeks to respond.

On-demand bandwidth scaling

Bandwidth can be turned up or down on demand. Start at 10 Mbps and scale to 100 Mbps or higher without a new install or contract renegotiation. Your bandwidth adjusts to your business, not the other way around.

100 Mbps to 1 Gbps+ port speeds

High-speed Ethernet ports from 100 Mbps through to 1000 Mbps are available for fast, stable connectivity. Port speed is the ceiling - your committed bandwidth sits beneath it and scales within it.

No provisioning delays

Bandwidth adjustments do not require a new circuit, a new install, or a waiting period. Because Qu manages the network end-to-end within its own facilities, bandwidth changes are operational - not infrastructure projects.

Who It Is For

Mission-critical connectivity for Canada's most demanding organizations

If a connectivity interruption has a consequence - a financial, operational, regulatory, or reputational one - this is the connectivity layer you need.

Organizations that need this

Financial services - transaction processing, trading platforms, payment infrastructure
Healthcare - patient-facing systems, clinical applications, regulated data environments
Government and public sector - service delivery platforms, citizen-facing applications
E-commerce and SaaS - customer-facing platforms where downtime equals revenue loss
MSPs - reselling connectivity to their own clients and requiring a reliable upstream
Enterprise IT teams that have outgrown single-carrier internet and cannot afford the complexity of managing BGP themselves

The Canadian sovereignty advantage

Qu's connectivity is delivered from Canadian data centres, operated by Canadians, under Canadian law. For regulated organizations where data residency and sovereign infrastructure are requirements - not preferences - Qu's connectivity offer is the only option that delivers high-availability internet without compromising that posture.

Foreign-owned connectivity providers operating in Canada remain subject to foreign legal authority. Qu is 100% Canadian-owned. That is not a claim that can be replicated by contract.

FAQ

Connectivity questions - answered

The questions network architects, IT managers, and compliance teams ask before committing to a connectivity provider.

Standard dedicated internet from a single carrier is a single point of failure. Qu's multi-homed architecture connects to 3-4 independent Tier 1 carriers simultaneously, runs through a redundant core with no single point of failure, and delivers two physically separate links to your equipment. A single carrier outage or component failure does not take you down.
Failover is near-instantaneous and automatic. Core switches continuously monitor link health and invoke HSRP failover the moment a primary path failure is detected. No customer action is required and no ticket needs to be raised. The network reconverges at the infrastructure layer.
No. Qu manages the multi-homing, the BGP routing, and the IP address space at the network level. You connect to Qu's network and inherit the redundancy without needing the in-house network engineering expertise that self-managed multi-homing requires.
Qu customers on multi-homed connectivity stayed online. The July 2022 outage affected single-carrier customers whose upstream path ran exclusively through one carrier's infrastructure. Qu's multi-carrier architecture automatically routed traffic through the remaining Tier 1 upstream providers with no customer action required.
Yes. Bandwidth adjustments are operational, not infrastructure projects. You can scale from 10 Mbps up to 100 Mbps or higher without a new installation or contract renegotiation. Because Qu manages the network end-to-end within its own facilities, bandwidth changes do not require a new circuit or a provisioning lead time.
Qu's multi-homed high-availability connectivity is delivered to customers colocated within Qu facilities. It layers onto your existing colocation agreement and is available across all nine Qu data centres in five Canadian markets.

Build on Your Connectivity

Connectivity is the foundation. Here is what layers on top.

High-availability internet connectivity is the network layer. Qu's interconnection, colocation, and managed services sit alongside it to complete the infrastructure picture.

Interconnection

Direct connections to cloud providers via Megaport, cross connects between customer environments, carrier-neutral meet-me rooms, and structured cabling. The physical layer beneath your connectivity.

See Interconnection

Colocation

Enterprise-grade, carrier-neutral colocation across 9 Canadian data centres. Cabinet, cage, and private suite options. The physical home for the infrastructure your connectivity serves.

See Colocation

Managed Network and Security

Managed firewall, switching, and network security for your colocated environment. Qu manages the network layer so your team focuses on your applications.

See Managed Services

Ready for connectivity that doesn't fail?

Our network specialists will assess your current connectivity setup and show you exactly where your single points of failure are. Then we will show you what it takes to eliminate them.

Talk to a Network Specialist Request the network architecture overview