Service Level Agreement (SLA)

This Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a part of the Customer Subscriber Agreement (CSA) between Customer and WalkerTek.

Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined in this SLA shall have the meaning attributed to them in the CSA.

1. SERVICE COMMITMENT.

WalkerTek is committed to providing a reliable, high-quality network to support their high-speed Internet access service (Service). As part of this commitment, WalkerTek is pleased to offer eligible Customers the following guarantees as concerns the Service in the United States and Canada:

  • Installation Guarantee
  • Network Availability
  • Network Latency Guarantee
  • Packet Delivery Guarantee

 

If WalkerTek fails to meet any of these guarantees, it will provide eligible Customers with a Service Credit, as set forth below in this Service Level Agreement.

2. GUARANTEES.

A. INSTALLATION GUARANTEE.

For Customers located within a building to which WalkerTek currently has fiber distribution, equipment deployed, and acceptable riser facilities, WalkerTek guarantees that Internet connectivity for such Customer will be installed within twenty-four (24) business days after an Order Form has been accepted and entered into WalkerTek’s provisioning system by its Account Coordination team. For Customers located within a building to which WalkerTek currently does not have fiber distribution, WalkerTek will provide an estimated installation date in a “Welcome Letter” sent to the Customer after an Order Form has been accepted and entered into WalkerTek’s provisioning system by its Account Coordination team. Once fiber connectivity from such Customer’s building to WalkerTek’s Network has been successfully completed, WalkerTek guarantees that Internet connectivity for such Customer will be installed within twenty-four (24) business days. An order will not be accepted until WalkerTek has received a signed CSA, signed price quotation or authorized Order Form, and (if requested by WalkerTek) a completed credit application.

If WalkerTek fails to meet these commitments, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, one (1) month’s Service Credit. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month’s Service Credit for any given month. WalkerTek’s Installation Guarantee is subject to the following conditions:

  • Customer or its representative must cooperate with WalkerTek in the installation process, which includes accurate completion of an Order Form containing detailed demarcation information and other on-site contact listings. Changes in an Order Form made by or on behalf of Customer or the occurrence of events outside the reasonable control of WalkerTek, such as Force Majeure (as defined in the CSA), may result in delays for which WalkerTek is not responsible hereunder.
  • Customer or its representative must be physically present at the time of installation and must provide access to the designated building’s phone closet(s) on the date(s) agreed to by WalkerTek’s Installation Coordination Department. Such building access and escort must also be provided to other necessary personnel to perform the installation of the Internet connection.
  • This Installation Guarantee applies to the interval between the original order date and original Installation Guarantee date. If Customer requests a change to an order date during implementation of Service, the Installation Guarantee date shall, at WalkerTek’s sole discretion, begin again upon change acceptance.
  • The Service Credit for failure to meet the Installation Guarantee is not available to Customers for whom installation charges have been waived or reduced.

B. NETWORK AVAILABILITY AND NOTIFICATION GUARANTEE.

WalkerTek guarantees Network Availability of the Service of 99.99% across its facilities-based nationwide backbone and metropolitan Network. If the WalkerTek Network experiences Network Unavailability for more than 15 consecutive minutes, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, one (1) day’s Service Credit for each cumulative hour of Network Unavailability in any calendar month. Provided the WalkerTek Network experiences at least one (1) hour of Network Unavailability in any given calendar month, additional Network Unavailability of less than one (1) hour will result in a proportional Service Credit (example: 2 hours, 15 minutes of Network Unavailability will result in 2.25 day’s Service Credits). Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month’s Service Credit for any given month.

C. NETWORK LATENCY GUARANTEE.

The WalkerTek Network carries packets with an average Network Latency over a one-month period of 80 milliseconds or less. WalkerTek monitors aggregate latency within the WalkerTek Network by monitoring round-trip times between a sample of backbone Hubs on an ongoing basis. Network Latency (or round-trip time) is defined as the average time taken for an IP packet to make a round-trip between backbone Hubs on the WalkerTek Network.

After being notified by Customer of Network Latency in excess of 80 milliseconds, WalkerTek will use commercially reasonable efforts to determine the source of such excess Network Latency and to correct such problem to the extent that the source of the problem is on the WalkerTek Network.

If WalkerTek fails to remedy such Network Latency within two (2) hours of being notified of any excess Network Latency and average Network Latency for the preceding 30 days has exceeded 80 milliseconds, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, a Service Credit for the period from the time of notification by the Customer until the average Network Latency for the preceding 30 days is less than 80 milliseconds. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month’s Service Credit for any given month.

D. PACKET DELIVERY GUARANTEE.

The WalkerTek Network has an average monthly Packet Loss of 0.1% (or successful delivery of 99.9% of packets). WalkerTek monitors aggregate Packet Loss within the WalkerTek Network on an ongoing basis and compiles the collected data into a monthly average Packet Loss measurement for the WalkerTek Network. Packet Loss is defined as the percentage of packets that are dropped within the WalkerTek Network. After being notified by Customer of Packet Loss in excess of 0.1%, WalkerTek will use commercially reasonable efforts to determine the source of such excess Packet Loss and to correct such problem to the extent that the source of the problem is on the WalkerTek Network. If WalkerTek fails to remedy such excess Packet Loss within two (2) hours of being notified of any excess Packet Loss on the WalkerTek Network and average Packet Loss for the preceding 30 days exceeds 0.1%, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, a Service Credit for the period from the time of notification by the Customer until the average Packet Loss for the preceding 30 days is less than 0.1%. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month’s Service Credit for any given month.

3. ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.

WalkerTek Network means the telecommunications/data communications network and network components owned, operated, or controlled by WalkerTek, including WalkerTek’s national fiber backbone; its metropolitan fiber networks; any equipment connected to such fiber; and the software, data, and know-how used by WalkerTek in the provision of the Services. Where WalkerTek provides Service to a building through its own facilities, the WalkerTek Network includes those facilities. The WalkerTek Network does not include Customer premises’ equipment, Customer-ordered telephony circuits, and any networks or network equipment not operated and controlled by WalkerTek.

Network Unavailability means the number of minutes that the WalkerTek Network was not available to Customer, including the number of minutes that the WalkerTek Network was not available associated with any non-Scheduled Maintenance to the WalkerTek Network. Network Unavailability will not include Scheduled Maintenance or any unavailability resulting from (a) problems with or maintenance on Customer’s applications, equipment, or facilities; (b) acts or omissions of Customer or an authorized user; (c) unavailability caused by companies other than WalkerTek, except WalkerTek-ordered telephony circuits; or (d) Force Majeure.

Scheduled Maintenance means any maintenance of the WalkerTek Network (or portion thereof) to which Customer’s router is connected that is performed during a standard maintenance window from 3:00 AM to 7:00 AM (local time of the WalkerTek Hub to which Customer’s circuit is connected). Customer will be notified via email one (1) business day in advance of any Scheduled Maintenance that is likely to effect service. In most cases, maintenance performed will not take the full configuration window; however, WalkerTek will inform Customer as to anticipated duration in the maintenance notification email.

Service Credit means

  • One (1) day’s Service Credit = 1/30th of Customer’s Monthly Recurring Charges
  • One (1) week’s Service Credit = 7/30ths of Customer’s Monthly Recurring Charges.
  • One (1) month’s Service Credit = Full amount of Customer’s Monthly Recurring Charges.

If WalkerTek approves a claim for Service Credit for failure to comply with the Installation Guarantee, Service Credit shall mean WalkerTek’s charge for Customer’s first full month of the Service, not including installation charges or other start-up fees.

4. SERVICE CREDIT CLAIM PROCESS.

In order to initiate a claim for Service Credit, Customer must contact WalkerTek’s customer service group within seven (7) business days after the end of the month for which credit is requested. The Service Credit request must provide (a) the Customer name and contact information; (b) the date and beginning/end time of the claimed outage or failed metric; and (c) a brief description of the characteristics of the claimed outage or failed metric.

Customer will be notified via email upon resolution of the request. If rejected, the notification will specify the basis for rejection. If approved, WalkerTek will issue Service Credit to Customer’s account, appearing on the next invoice issued. Multiple Service Credits will not be given for the same period of time, i.e., failure to meet multiple criteria during a period of time generates only a single Service Credit. The total number of all Service Credits for all failures to meet Guarantees occurring in a given month may not exceed the total Monthly Recurring Charge actually paid by Customer for Service during that month. Service Credits will be credited against Customer’s monthly payment for Monthly Recurring Charges and may not be received in the form of a refund.

The Guarantees and Service Credits provided for in this SLA assume compliance by Customer with the terms and conditions of its CSA with WalkerTek, and the failure of Customer to comply with those terms and conditions may invalidate WalkerTek’s guarantees provided herein. No credit is available for Customer (a) that is blocking WalkerTek from monitoring Customer’s premises router; (b) that does not provide the necessary access to personnel and facilities at the Customer’s premises to enable WalkerTek to perform comprehensive troubleshooting; or (c) whose account is not in good financial standing with WalkerTek. WalkerTek is not liable for failure to fulfill its obligations hereunder if such failure is due to Customer’s use of bandwidth in excess of the amount specified in Customer’s CSA, Customer’s tampering with any equipment, or acts beyond WalkerTek’s reasonable control, such as Force Majeure.

All changes to the SLA must be approved in writing by WalkerTek’s legal department and WalkerTek’s CEO and CIO.