What happens to your POS when the internet goes down?

When the internet goes down, a cloud POS keeps working only for the features its vendor built to run offline. Depending on the system, staff may be able to keep taking orders and running tabs on the devices in the room, with the changes syncing when the connection returns. Card payments are the hard part. Without a connection the card issuer cannot approve a payment, so a card payment taken offline is stored and only authorised later, and the venue carries the risk if it is declined.

POS offline mode is worth understanding before a busy Saturday, so that staff know which parts of the system still work and what to do about payments.

What stops working when the internet goes down?

A cloud POS keeps its master data online: menus, prices, bookings, customer records and reports. During an outage, anything that needs the venue's devices to talk to that cloud has to wait. Orders and bookings that guests place on their own phones cannot reach the devices in the venue, managers cannot see live figures from elsewhere, and integrations with accounting or marketing tools catch up later.

What carries on depends on what the devices can do between themselves. If each till only talks to the cloud, a tab opened on one device may not be visible on another. If devices share state over the local network, staff can keep moving between them. Kitchen tickets depend on how the printers or screens are connected.

How do offline card payments work?

Stripe Terminal can take card payments offline under conditions set out in its documentation. The reader collects the card details at the time of sale and stores them securely, and authorisation is only attempted once connectivity returns and the payment is forwarded to Stripe. Stripe's documentation states that the business assumes all decline and tamper-related risks, and that if the issuer declines the payment there is no way to recover the funds.

Stripe also sets rules on how an offline payment is taken:

• Swiped cards are not accepted offline.
• Contactless taps are not supported offline in markets where Strong Customer Authentication is required, and Stripe says customers in the EEA must insert their card and enter a PIN. The UK has its own SCA rules, which apply when a customer initiates an electronic payment unless an exemption applies, so plan for offline card payments to need chip and PIN and confirm the details with your provider.
• Stripe caps each offline payment at US$10,000 or the equivalent in your currency, and the POS integration can require a connection above a lower amount or once stored offline payments pass a set total.
• A smart reader can only work offline if it has recently connected online at the same location, on the same local network, so connect any reader that has been sitting in a drawer before you rely on it.

Because authorisation happens later, a declined offline payment usually comes to light after the guest has gone. For large bills taken offline, a phone number or booking reference gives staff a way to follow up.

Stripe's documentation lists the S700 and S710 among the smart readers that support offline payments, and Tap to Pay is not among the supported readers, so a UK venue on Stripe should leave phones out of its outage plan for card payments.

How can a POS keep working without the internet?

The first thing to protect is the local network, so devices can still reach each other and the card readers when the internet line fails. Stripe notes that a POS device working with a separate smart reader still needs a functioning local network to reach it while offline, so the router and switches need power even when the broadband is down. A small uninterruptible power supply covers short power cuts and belongs on the same equipment checklist as the tills.

A backup connection is the other safeguard. A 4G or 5G router can take over from the main line, and cellular readers such as the S710 can move between wifi, cellular and offline mode. In July 2026 Stripe charges £7 per reader per month for cellular connectivity in the UK.

How does Tiquo keep service running during an outage?

Tiquo POS supports offline mesh workflows across supported iPhone and iPad devices and S700 and S710 terminals. When those devices share the venue's local network, they discover each other automatically over wifi and form an encrypted mesh that keeps supported order and tab workflows running while the internet is down.

Tabs, orders and tables stay in sync across the devices on the mesh, so a tab opened on one till can be added to from another and closed at a third. Changes made offline are queued and reconciled with Tiquo when the connection returns. Offline card payments remain subject to Stripe Terminal, device and risk eligibility, so Stripe's offline rules above still govern card payments taken during the outage.

The mesh relies on the local network, so the advice on routers and backup power applies to a Tiquo venue as well. For a cellular fallback, the S710 on Tiquo's hardware page has built-in 4G/LTE and is listed at £229 plus VAT, the same as the S700.

What should be in your POS outage plan?

• Write down which devices and readers are on the local network, and keep the router and switches on backup power.
• Set a limit for a single offline payment and a total you are willing to hold before asking guests for another payment method.
• Agree who can approve a large offline payment, and when staff should ask for a different card.
• Test the backup internet connection or cellular reader before you need it.
• Keep readers powered and connected after the outage until stored payments have been forwarded. Stripe warns that powering off a reader too soon can stop them being sent.
• Check forwarded payments for declines the next day and follow up with the guests concerned.
• Run a short drill so that staff see offline mode before the first real outage.

Payments forwarded after an outage are processed later than the sales they belong to, so they can settle in a later payout. Allow for that when you next reconcile.