Understanding Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for Business Internet

There are numerous acronyms to understand when choosing your business broadband, one of the main ones being SLA. This guide explains what it is and why it might be important for your business.

What is an SLA?

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a formal agreement between a business customer and its internet service provider (ISP). For example, your broadband provider will issue an SLA agreement that defines the expected level of service, including uptime (usually 99.9%), performance speeds, and how issues will be fixed if the provider fails to meet the agreement.

The inclusion of an SLA is one of the main selling points of business broadband, as a connection can be critical for operations, and it ensures guarantees.

Why SLAs Are Crucial for Business Internet

We’ve all experienced downtime with our home broadband, and it can be an inconvenience. This is one of the leading reasons business internet plans are preferred, often accompanied by SLA agreements, as an outage can result in loss of revenue, reduced productivity, and the potential to disappoint customers.

SLA Explained

Uptime Guarantee

Uptime guarantee is displayed as a percentage, but there can be confusion around what it means. As the numbers are so close to each other, the difference may seem minor.

99% uptime = up to 3 days/ 15 hours of downtime per year.
99.9% uptime = up to 8 hours/ 45 minutes of downtime per year.
99.99% uptime = up to 52 minutes of downtime per year.
99.999% uptime = about 5 minutes of downtime per year.

Businesses that rely on a connection to function should look at providers with at least 99.9% downtime per year. Mission-critical applications will fail during downtime, and may lead to loss of revenue.

Why You Might Want A Strong SLA

Reliability: Provides reassurance that your internet connection is consistent.
Accountability: Holds the provider responsible if the connection performance falls short of the agreement.
Risk Management: Reduced the chances of downtime, which helps mitigate financial loss in the event of an outage.
Transparency: You understand the exact service you’re getting before any contracts are signed.
Competitive Advantage: Always be where your customers need you with an online service that delivers.

Understanding Connection Performance

Latency impacts the quality of video calls and VoIP phone lines.

Packet Loss impacts the quality of voice and video - this should be below 1%.

Jitter is linked directly to real-time communication stability and should be below 30ms.

Bandwidth is the link between the providers' advertised download speeds and the guaranteed minimum.

Also Included In Your SLA

Customer Service Desk - Does it support 24/7 or only business hours?

Response Time - how quickly your provider acknowledges any fault.

Resolution/Fix Time - how quickly your provider promises to restore normal service.

Symmetrical Broadband in the UK – Business-Grade Providers

Most broadband providers offer symmetrical connections, but not as standard. If your needs require a symmetrical connection, you should look for these types of deals. Leased lines are a great option for symmetrical connections, and you’ll be able to handle high data demand.

Daisy Communications offers a few options for symmetrical speeds with its leased lines. They offer a more affordable alternative to traditional leased lines, with Fibre Bright & Light connections.
Virgin Media Business, BT Business, and Vodafone Business - offer a variety of broadband plans, including high-speed connections and leased lines.

Why Symmetrical Broadband Can Only Be Delivered On Fibre Cables

Fibre-optic cables have better data transmission capabilities because they use light. This means that speed can travel in both directions with better consistency. Copper cables cannot offer the same multi-directional speed consistency.

Comparing Business SLAs

Business Broadband	Best Effort	99-99.5%	1-2 business days	Small businesses with light internet requirements
Business Fibre Broadband	Stronger SLA	99.9%	8-12 hours	Small & medium businesses that would like more stability
Dedicated Leased Line	Great SLA	99.9 - 99.99%	4 hours or less	Any business that would lose money if the connection remained down

Does A Service Level Agreement Matter?

Choosing your provider and broadband will directly impact the quality of your SLA. For some, a basic connection will be sufficient if the business can get by for a couple of days without a connection (in the worst case).

However, businesses more reliant on their connection, such as financial companies, hospitality and call centres, may want to consider investing in a leased line. Each business is different and will make a choice best suited to their requirements.