Updated November 2026
The short version
- An SLA turns a provider's promises into measurable commitments.
- If a commitment is missed, you are usually owed a service credit, often only after you claim it.
- The definitions and exceptions matter as much as the headline percentage.
What an SLA is
An SLA is a set of conditional commitments: if the customer meets certain requirements, the provider commits to a defined level of service, and if it falls short, the customer is compensated, usually with service credits.
For a business internet connection, an SLA is how you know what the provider stands behind in writing, rather than what its marketing says.
What a telecom SLA usually covers
- Network availability: the share of time the network is up, often written as a percentage such as 99.999%
- Latency: how long data takes to make a round trip across the network
- Packet delivery: how much of your traffic arrives without being lost
- Service credits: what you receive when a commitment is missed
- A claim process: how and when to ask for a credit
- Exceptions: what the commitments do not cover
Why the definitions matter
A high percentage sounds impressive, but its value depends on what the SLA counts as downtime and what it measures. When the definition of downtime is narrow, real problems can affect your users without breaking the SLA.
Read the definitions and exceptions first, then the percentage. Check which services are covered, how performance is measured and what is excluded.
How service credits work
Credits are usually a percentage of the monthly charge for the affected service, and larger or longer misses earn larger credits. Many SLAs pay credits only when you ask for them within a set time.
A credit is compensation, not insurance. It will not cover lost sales or productivity, so plan for outages with a second connection as well as a strong SLA.
What to check before you sign
Questions about the commitments
- Which services does the SLA cover?
- What availability, latency and packet delivery commitments apply?
- How is each one measured?
Questions about the fine print
- What counts as downtime?
- What is excluded?
- How do you claim a credit, and by when?
The 5x5 Telecom SLA
For internet services covered by the SLA, 5x5 offers commitments for network availability, network latency and packet delivery. For SLA-backed services, we commit to at least 99.999% network availability, subject to the SLA.
If we miss a commitment, you can claim a service credit calculated as a percentage of the monthly recurring charge for the affected service, and approved credits appear on your next invoice. Fixed wireless services covered by an SLA carry the same availability commitment as fiber; it does not apply to 5G and 4G LTE.