What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA)?

A Service Level Agreement, or SLA, is a formal commitment between you and your broadband provider that sets out exactly what level of service you can expect, and what happens if that standard isn’t met.

Think of it as a promise backed by measurable guarantees. Rather than vague assurances about “reliable broadband,” an SLA spells out specific, trackable commitments such as:

• Uptime guarantees – the percentage of time your connection is guaranteed to be up and running, often 99.9% or higher for business-grade services
• Response times – how quickly we’ll acknowledge a fault once it’s reported
• Resolution times – how quickly we aim to fix an issue once it’s identified
• Speed guarantees – minimum guaranteed download and upload speeds, not just an “up to” figure
• Compensation or service credits – what you’re entitled to if we fall short of these commitments

Why does this matter? For home broadband, downtime is frustrating. For businesses, it can mean lost revenue, missed deadlines, and disrupted operations. An SLA gives you a clear, contractual benchmark to hold your provider accountable to, rather than relying on best-effort promises.