Almost every business internet provider will tell you their connection is “SLA-backed.” Far fewer will show you what that actually means in writing before you sign. An SLA — Service Level Agreement — is a specific, measurable contractual commitment, not a marketing phrase, and the difference matters most exactly when something goes wrong and you need to know what you’re actually owed.
What an SLA Actually Is
A real SLA is a section of your contract that defines: a measurable uptime commitment, how downtime is measured, a target time to fix a fault, and what happens (usually a service credit) if the commitment isn’t met. If a provider can’t point to that section in writing, “SLA-backed” is a description, not a guarantee.
The Terms That Actually Matter
Uptime %
The percentage of time, in a billing period, the connection is expected to be available. This is the headline number, but it’s meaningless without knowing how it’s measured and what’s excluded (below).
Downtime
Continuous unavailability of the service — typically measured from the provider’s own monitoring systems, sometimes cross-checked against a customer-reported ticket. Ask how downtime is measured and by whom before you need to dispute a figure.
MTTR — Mean Time to Restore
The target time from when a fault is reported (or detected) to when service is restored. This is arguably more operationally relevant than the uptime percentage itself — a connection with a 4-hour MTTR target behaves very differently during an incident than one with no defined restoration target at all.
Service Credits
The compensation — almost always a credit against a future invoice, not a cash refund — owed if the uptime commitment isn’t met in a billing period. Ask exactly how the credit is calculated and whether you need to formally request it or it’s applied automatically.
Exclusions
What doesn’t count against the uptime commitment. Reasonable exclusions include scheduled maintenance windows (with advance notice), force majeure events, and faults in equipment outside the provider’s network boundary. Unreasonable exclusions — vague catch-all language that could cover almost anything — are a red flag.
What 99.9% Actually Means in Real Minutes
| Uptime commitment | Allowed downtime / month | Allowed downtime / year |
|---|---|---|
| 99% | ~7.3 hours | ~3.65 days |
| 99.5% | ~3.6 hours | ~1.83 days |
| 99.9% | ~43 minutes | ~8.7 hours |
| 99.99% | ~4.3 minutes | ~52 minutes |
The jump from 99% to 99.9% looks small on paper — less than one percentage point — but it’s the difference between roughly 3.65 days of allowed downtime a year and roughly 8.7 hours. That’s the number worth actually comparing between providers, not the headline percentage alone.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Sign
- Is the uptime commitment contractual, with a defined credit mechanism — or a “target” with no consequence if it’s missed?
- What’s the MTTR target, and does it differ for different fault types (on-site vs. off-net)?
- How is downtime measured, and can you see that data yourself?
- What exactly is excluded from the uptime calculation?
- Do you have to request a credit, or is it applied automatically once a shortfall is confirmed?
Red Flags to Watch For
- “Best-effort” described as an SLA. Best-effort means no contractual commitment at all — it’s a target, not an SLA, regardless of what marketing material calls it.
- No defined MTTR. An uptime percentage without a restoration-time target tells you little about how a real incident will actually go.
- No stated credit mechanism. If a provider can’t tell you exactly how a credit is calculated, there likely isn’t a real one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does corporate broadband come with an SLA?
Business broadband typically comes with a best-effort target rather than a contractual SLA with credits — that’s part of what makes it less expensive than a dedicated leased line. If a guaranteed uptime commitment matters for your operation, that’s the signal to look at a leased line instead.
What SLA does Navneet offer?
Our Dedicated Leased Line tier carries a 99.9% contractual uptime commitment with defined service credits — full terms are on our SLA Disclosures page.
Is a higher percentage always worth paying for?
Not necessarily — it depends on what an outage actually costs your specific operation. 99.9% is a strong, realistic commitment for most business-critical connectivity; 99.99% is usually reserved for genuinely mission-critical infrastructure where even a few minutes of downtime a year has a serious cost.
To see exactly what’s covered on a Navneet connection, read our full SLA Disclosures, or talk to our team about the right tier for your operation.
