HughesNet Business Internet Provides Reliable Communications to a Public Safety Consultant

HughesNet Business Internet Provides Reliable Communications to a Public Safety Consultant

Nick Tusa relies on being connected to operate his business. Nick runs Tusa Consulting Services, a national public safety communications firm, from an office on his 10-acre property in Covington, LA. The office is the central hub of a network of consultants that stretches across the US designing radio communication systems for local and state fire and police departments.

Reliable Internet communication is essential to keeping Nick in touch with clients and his consultants in Florida, Kansas City, Atlanta, Nashville, and Lancaster. He also needs it for access to the firm's technology library and customer files, which are stored at two secure remote locations. 

Long Internet outages would be a serious handicap for Tusa Consulting, which must be able to quickly contact clients during natural disasters and other emergencies. His own location, however, can be a disadvantage. Covington is located 40 miles north of New Orleans, which puts Nick in one of the world's most active hurricane zones. When Nick was researching Internet services, durability and reliability weighed heavily in his consideration.

Nick describes his area of Covington as "not well served by the local Internet or cable company." When he learned HughesNet^® Business Internet service from Hughes was an option, he contacted people who had the service and like it.

"When Hurricane Katrina hit, the flooding destroyed the underground cable and fiber equipment and it took months to rebuild. The wired Internet services can be down for weeks. My business can't tolerate that," he said. "When there's a problem in public safety, people expect a response immediately, 24x7, 365 days a year. A lot of our work is pre-planned, but sometimes I have to push a vendor to correct a situation in the moment. I have customers up and down the Gulf Coast, from Western Louisiana into Florida. When a hurricane hits, our people have to be in the field to respond to issues. We need reliable Internet access."

Though no communication system is completely disaster-resistant, living through Hurricane Katrina revealed to Nick how vulnerable ground-based networks are to extended outages. Satellite Internet bypasses the ground-based infrastructure altogether. Turnaround time to restore service is usually much quicker compared to land-land solutions.

"The upload and download speeds were significantly better than what I could get out here," he said. "HughesNet also gives me an added measure of insurance. With HughesNet, most of the time I can be back in business in as little as a few hours after a storm. It's been so reliable that sometimes I forget it's there because I never have to do anything to it," Nick said. 

HughesNet Business Internet enables Nick to live in a choice location near New Orleans, where he grew up. Covington is a growing bedroom community in St. Tammany Parish on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Nick moved to St. Tammany in 1993 and bought his 10 acres outside Covington in 2010. The landscape is punctuated by horse farms and stands of tung oil  and pine trees up to 120 feet tall. Concerts, art shows, antique festivals and vintage car shows take place regularly. A vineyard up to road from Nick's office hosts a music series. With HughesNet providing connectivity. Nick can run his business amid Covington's amenities.