ISP Service levels

The reliability of your Internet connection will be absolutely critical to your business. Think of the chaos that can be caused by loss of e-mail, faulty internet connection and disappearance of your web site.
The reliability of the services is defined in a service level agreement which is part of the contract on offer by the ISP.

Uptime

Uptime is usually described by ISP as a percentage and will usually be contained with in a service level agreement or SLA. This figure is the percentage that the ISP will guarantee that your services will run properly. It is important to find out what this figure is and exactly what it covers. 

More help and assistance

This is the percentage of time the Internet service provider's (ISP's) service is running properly. Establish what uptime figure the ISP claims for its services. Will it guarantee this uptime and discount your account if it fails?

Redundancy

Redundancy refers to the number of connections that an ISP has to the Internet. High redundancy means more connections, which means if part of its system fails the ISP will simply be able to switch over without your connection being affected.

Disaster recovery

It is important to find out what the ISP has put in place to avoid disasters. This will usually include back ups and safety features with the servers and hosting network.

The physical nature of the hosting centre is important and it needs to be able to resist fire, flood or other disaster.

Specialist support

The specialist support provided by the (ISP), together with the level and quality of the ongoing support it offers are factors to take into account when choosing an ISP.

Type of company

ISP services tend to be bought either directly as a service from an ISP or as part of a package from a web designer acting as an agent for larger company.
Larger companies can be impersonal and difficult to get good support from. A remote call centre can be a real problem in an emergency.

Smaller specialist companies provide a more personalised service, and often may spend more time working closely with you to develop tailor-made solutions.
If you can it may be a good idea to speak in detail to the ISP and even make a visit to their offices to meet them.

Level of support

Some companies only provide support via e-mail. It is best to check that telephone support is available. Also check what the support costs and what response times are in the service level agreement. 

Portability of services between ISPs

You might want to transfer your services to another ISP in the future so it is sensible to check if there are any notice periods or lock in clauses in the contract.

Make sure that any domain names are registered in your name and not the name of the ISP so that you have ultimate control over your services.
Make sure that the ISP will be helpful if you want to change and that the process can be complete smoothly with minimum amount of down time.

Help and assistance

For more help or information please contact EMNET on 0115 9568260 or e-mail sales@emnet.co.uk