Do door controllers decide locally when the internet goes down?
Yes, in a well-built system: the controller keeps the rules and decides at the door. What keeps working during an outage, what waits, and the questions to ask before you buy.
Yes, in a well-built cloud access control system. The controller behind the door keeps a current copy of the rules and makes the access decision locally, so doors keep working when the internet or the network goes down, and events sync when the connection returns.
It is the first objection in every meeting, and it deserves a straight answer rather than reassurance. If access decisions were made in a data centre, a broken connection would mean a building full of people standing outside. Here is where the decision is really made, what you lose during an outage, and what to ask before you buy.
Do door controllers make the access decision locally?
In a well-built system the cloud is where rules are written, not where they are enforced. The controller behind the door holds a current copy of who may pass and when, and it decides locally in a few milliseconds. The connection is used to change rules, to pull events out, and to raise alerts, none of which the door needs at the moment someone presents a credential.
So an outage means: the door keeps working with the rules it had, events queue on the controller, and everything syncs when the line returns. What you lose during the outage is the ability to make a change take effect immediately, and live visibility of who is arriving.
What happens to the gateway when the internet goes down?
Some systems put a gateway or bridge between the door controllers and the cloud. The question to ask is simple: does the gateway make the decision, or only carry messages? If the controller decides, the gateway going offline changes nothing at the door. If the gateway decides, the doors depend on it, and you want to know what happens when it reboots or loses power.
The easiest test is a real one: unplug the site’s internet connection, present a credential at a few doors, then plug it back in and check that the events arrive.
What you actually lose, and what to do about it
Two things are worth planning for. First, an urgent revocation during an outage will not reach the door until the connection is back. Sites that need a hard guarantee here put the sensitive doors on a reader with a local keypad PIN or fingerprint or face, so a credential alone is not enough. Second, live occupancy for an evacuation is only as current as the last sync, so keep a printed muster procedure that does not depend on a screen.
Questions to ask before you buy
- How long can a controller run offline, and what happens when its event buffer fills?
- Does it keep enforcing schedules offline, or does it fall back to allowing everyone with a valid credential?
- What is the failure mode of the lock itself, fail-safe or fail-secure, and does that match the fire strategy for that door?
- When the connection returns, are queued events preserved with their original timestamps?
That last one matters more than it sounds. If offline events come back stamped with the sync time rather than the tap time, every access record from the outage is wrong, and the audit trail cannot be used as evidence.
How teamzPass handles an outage
teamzPass controllers cache the rules and keep deciding offline when the internet drops, then sync. Access decisions at the door take under a second, online or offline. Credentials are still issued and revoked from one cloud platform, and a revoke reaches every connected door at once. See how teamzPass works and the Complete solution, which includes the door access terminal, wallet-ready readers and the cloud platform.
The honest summary
Cloud access control is not less resilient than an on-premise panel, because the panel is still there: what changed is where the rules are authored. Ask the four questions above, check the answers against a real outage rather than a datasheet, and the objection stops being an objection.
Frequently asked questions
Do door controllers make the access decision locally if the network goes down?
teamzPass controllers do. They cache the current rules and keep granting and denying access on their own when the internet or network drops, then sync when the connection returns.
What happens to cloud door access when the internet goes down?
teamzPass doors keep working with the rules they already have. What waits is anything that needs the cloud: rule changes reaching the door, live event views and remote alerts, which catch up when the line is back.
What happens to the gateway if my internet goes down?
teamzPass makes the access decision at the door, not in the cloud. The link between the site and the internet only carries rule changes and events, so when it goes down the doors keep deciding and queued events are sent once it reconnects.
Can you revoke access during an internet outage?
teamzPass revokes a credential in one click, but a door that is offline only receives the change when its connection returns. For doors that need a hard guarantee, add a keypad PIN or fingerprint or face at that door.
Is cloud access control less reliable than an on-premise system?
teamzPass keeps the decision on the controller at the door, so the cloud is where rules are written, not where they are enforced. The panel is still there; what changed is where the rules are managed.
Want to see how your doors would behave in an outage? Schedule a call and we will walk through it with your floor plan. More answers are in the teamzPass FAQ.