Abstract: Described herein is a system and method for using a satellite mesh network to provide backup for a land-based communication network. According to various embodiments, the system includes a failover device for detecting the outage of the land-based network and switching the communications from the land-based network to the satellite mesh network. In addition, the failover device provides synchronizations that are required by the communications between the land-based network routers. The system further includes a satellite-based network router and protocols for routing the communications through the satellite-based network, when the network traffic is switched onto the satellite network.