[asterisk-users] Building the Perfect Box

[Tim Panton]

On 29 Sep 2006, at 19:40, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 29, 2006 at 09:37:06AM +0100, Conrad Wood wrote:
>>>> 7. Relationship with provider. What is their SLA? Is it the
>>>> incumbent or the clec? An incumbent will be more expensive
>>>> and more difficult to deal with but they will tend to be more
>>>> reliable. A clec will be cheaper and they will be way more
>>>> accomodating but you will most likely not get five 9's from them.
>>>> A VoIP provider should never be trusted, period. You will not get
>>>> five nines from them, ever. Plan failover situations accordingly.
>>>
>>> "SLA? What's a 'SLA'?" :-)
>>
>> Service Level Agreement. Normally it means if your line fails you
>> get £50 or so. Maybe £100. But *never* enough to compensate for the
>> trouble. You have to have a backup plan.
>
> I'm sorry.  You seem to have fallen into the sar-chasm.
>
> And I thought the smiley would be enough hint.  :-)

Just to amplify this point. I've tried to claim on an SLA. Our
internet connection was down for a week due to a fire in
BT's exchange. My provider  refused to do
anything (despite the premium SLA) on the basis that
fires weren't covered. I switched providers to a cheaper one
who didn't pretend to offer uptime :-)

SLA's are good for waving at management and for hiding behind
but when it comes to the crunch, they mean very little.


Tim Panton (Catching up after a busy week...)

www.mexuar.com