SingleLink^® Unified Communications SLA

1.0                 SingleLink^® Service

SingleLink® Unified Communications Service standards apply to the Dynamic T1 (DS1 Service points of demarcation (DEMARC) which are designated from Router port located in the Consolidated Communications Telecom Data Center and Customer demarcation point which is designated as the DSX-1 jack field bay “NIU”), the SingleLink end user services (Phone Accounts, Unified Messaging, Voicemail and Calendaring), and Internet Services (a dedicated, high-speed network connection between Customer’s premise through to our Tier I Internet Protocol Backbone Consolidated Communications’s domestic network and routing services, based upon the TCP/IP. The specific bandwidth and, therefore, the speed or rate at which Customer may transmit and receive data via its Internet connection, is specified by the selected port speed set forth in this Agreement).

2.0                 Availability

Availability is a percentage of total time that service is operative when measured over a 365 consecutive day (8,760 hour) period.

DS1 service is considered inoperative when there has been a loss of signal or when two consecutive 15 second loop-back tests confirm the observation of any Severely Error Seconds (SES) or a bit error rate less than or equal to 1 x 10^-6.

SingleLink service is considered inoperative when there has been a loss of SingleLink features and functionality (Phone Service/Accounts, Unified Messaging/Voicemail or Contact Center Services).

Internet service is considered inoperative when a particular Customer circuit is unable to transmit data. The network is considered “down” if there is a loss of signal that affects the ability of Customer to access that network, or, if packet loss on Consolidated Communications’s network becomes 0.7% or higher, as measured using measurement procedures by Consolidated Communications.

Specification	SingleLink
DS1 Availability	At least 99.99%
SingleLink Availability	At least 99.99%
Internet Availability	At least 99.99%

 

3.0                 Repair and Scheduled Maintenance

Repair efforts will be undertaken upon notification of trouble by internal network surveillance and performance systems or by notification of trouble and release of DS1, SingleLink or Internet service by Customer for testing. Consolidated Communications will perform emergency maintenance on an as-needed basis and will give notice to Customer of such emergency maintenance only if and to the extent commercially practicable. Customer will be notified a minimum of five (5) business days in advance of any scheduled maintenance and Customer may re-schedule any scheduled maintenance. Customer and Consolidated Communications must agree on the duration of scheduled maintenance services and any time in excess of the agreed-upon scheduled maintenance duration will be subject to the performance and availability standards within the Agreement. Scheduled maintenance will be performed in a manner that minimizes any system interruption. If within the Consolidated Communications’s control, all non-emergency service interruptions should take place during non-peak operation hours (i.e. between 12 am and 6 am). Subject to the foregoing, performance and availability standards shall not apply during scheduled maintenance periods.

 

1.0                 Customer shall operate all equipment and systems interconnected to Consolidated Communications Telecom’s network in a manner consistent and compliant with the Technical Standards presented in Exhibit A.

2.0                 In the event of a Customer-initiated trouble report or service interruption, Customer shall contact Consolidated Communications Telecom, Inc. via the Consolidated Communications Telecom Escalation List.

The following information will be exchanged at the time of notification by Consolidated Communications Telecom or in the event of a Customer-initiated trouble report.

–      The name and telephone number of the person who is reporting the trouble event.

–      The date and time of the trouble report.

–      Consolidated Communications Telecom circuit identification numbers.

–      Customer circuit identification number.

–      The specifics relating to the trouble report.

 

Consolidated Communications Telecom will maintain communication with Customer throughout the status of the trouble resolution. In the event higher level communication is desired by Customer, the following personnel escalation should be followed:

(To be updated from time to time by Consolidated Communications effective upon receipt of notice by Customer.)

 

Level	Title	Name	Normal Working Hours	After Hours
Level 1	Customer Care Ctr / NOC	Support Technicians	763-577-3963 888-258-5986	763-577-3963 888-258-5986
Level 2	Manager of Hosted VoIPEng.	Noel Krebs	763-577-3962	763-442-2367
Level 3	Director of Data Services	Troy Johnson	218-336-4100	218-393-4245

 

 

Severity 1 – Critical – Network is Down: An existing network or system is down or a core piece of the network or system is down and there is a critical impact to Customer’s business operations. Consolidated Communications and Customer will commit full time resources necessary during contracted hours of coverage to resolve the situation. This may include intrusive testing and network interruptions of service to identify and resolve the problem.

Severity 2 – High - Network Significantly Degraded: An operation of an existing network or system is severely degraded and significant aspects of Customer’s business operation are being negatively impacted by unacceptable network or critical system performance. Consolidated Communications and Customer will commit full time resources during normal business hours to resolve the situation.

Severity 3 – Medium – Degraded Operation: Operational performance of a service or system component is impaired while most business operations remain functional. Consolidated Communications and Customer are willing to commit resources during normal business hours to restore service to satisfactory levels.

Severity 4 – Low - Question: Customer requires information or assistance on product capabilities, user installation, SingleLink feature functionality or configuration, or an end user is experiencing a failure or a chronic failure of an SingleLink feature(s) or service(s). There is clearly little or no impact to Customer’s business operation. Consolidated Communications and Customer are willing to provide resources during normal business hours to provide information or assistance as requested.

Severity Note – These are tickets that should not be counted towards time from open to problem cleared Service Level Agreement (SLA) reports, such as scheduling an upgrade a month from now. 

Below is the escalation schedule for the trouble tickets opened by Customer.