'Best Effort'

[skybounder]

In many of the domestic ISPs Terms & Conditions, there is this clause indicating that their services are on a 'Best Effort' basis.

Two questions I have on this:

• Is there a definition of this term or is it subjective with applying a reasonable man test?
• In today's world, is best effort still acceptable or should there be better defined terms and perhaps even an SLA?

The second point is that many of us are now building smart homes, and when the connectivity goes out the window, homes become very dumb, very quickly. Much of our entertainment/ kids education/telecommuting is also dependant on connectivity. Connectivity used to be a luxury, but perhaps today this is no longer the case and is almost as important as electricity and running water.

 

[pinball wizard]

1. A best-effort service refers to an Internet delivery service where the provider does not give any guarantees on when the data will be delivered or the quality of that data when it is delivered.

2. Sure. Have all the SLA with guaranteed QoS and uptime etc, you just have to pay for it.

There is a reason a business pays R5k for a 10mbps uncapped service and a home user pays R600 for the same.

 

[skybounder]

Absolutely agree on cost of a business SLAs and not suggesting that we try match those at domestic level. Best effort , in my view, is just too loose a term.