I would like to suggest to Microsoft that simply checking internet connection viability before attempting to settle credit card transactions would save a lot of potential grief.
I did not realize that my internet connection was down when I attempted to settle a day's transactions. This resulted in a BATCH SETTLEMENT ERROR, which is unrecoverable in MS POS 2.0. After the failed attempt, and after the internet was again available, MS POS told me that there were no batches to settle, leaving the day's transactions in limbo. Fortunately, I was able to work with FirstData to manually settle the transactions, but only after many phone calls and numerous long explanations. They tried very hard to convince me that Microsoft was wrong about the safety of re-attempting a batch settlment.
In any case, it has been a very painful process that would have been avoided if MS POS had either simply checked the network viability before proceeding, or allowing me to retry after the internet connection was restored.
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