Issue Date: 01/03 1 Service Assurance Warranty (SAW) Customer Billing Education Package

Issue Date: 01/031

Service Assurance Warranty (SAW)

Customer Billing Education Package

Private/Proprietary: Not for Use or Disclosure Outside BellSouth Except Under Written Agreement

InterconnectionServices

Issue Date: 01/03

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Purpose

• To provide customers with an understanding of Service Assurance Warranty (SAW) credits, how they are applied and how they will appear on the customer’s bill

• FCC tariff section 2.4.4



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Service Interruption Defined

• A service is considered interrupted when:– it becomes unusable due to failure of a facility

component used to furnish service–the protective controls applied by BellSouth

result in the complete loss of use of the service by the customer



Issue Date: 01/03

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Intent

• This commitment by BellSouth enables customers who experience service interruptions in access transport services to receive a credit for a percentage of their monthly recurring charges



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When does a Service Interruption Begin and End

• The start of a service interruption period begins the moment the customer reports the service interruption to BellSouth– The customer is responsible for isolation of the

trouble and BellSouth is in cooperative testing until the correct circuit ID is provided

• The interruption period ends once the service is operative

• Tickets put in a delayed maintenance state for issues such as no access have the service interruption period reduced by the amount of time the ticket was in delayed maintenance



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Applicable Products

• SMARTRing® Systems

• SMARTRing® Interfaces

• LightGate® Service

• SMARTPath® Service

• SPA DS1 Service

• SPA DS0 Service

• DDAS Service

• Analog

• Video

• Telegraph



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How Credit Allowances are AppliedA credit allowance applies on these

products and servicesWhen an outage exceeds Credit as a percentage of monthly

recurring charge (MRC)

OC3, OC12, OC48 and OC192 SMARTRing Systems

1 Second 100% after 1 second outage

OC3, OC12, OC48, OC192 SMARTRing Channel Interfaces

LightGate Service

SMARTPath Service

SPA DS1 (Zone 1)*

1 Minute 100% after 1 minute outage

SPA DS1 (Zone 2 and 3)* 30 Minutes 25% for 31 – 150 minute outage

50% for 151 – 210 minute outage

100% for outages of 211 minutes or more

SPA DS0

Analog

Telegraph

Video

30 Minutes 1/1440% after 30 minute outage for each 30 minutes of outage

* Serving Wire Center Zones can be found in the FCC Tariff, Section 2.4.4 (B) (10)



Issue Date: 01/03

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How Credits are Applied

• In no case shall the credit allowance for an interruption or for a series of interruptions exceed the monthly rates or the assumed minutes of use charge for the service interrupted in any one monthly billing period



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SMARTRing® System Outages

• The credit shall equal the total of all the monthly charges for the service provided, however, no more than one credit shall apply per any given rate element for any given month regardless of the number of interruptions occurring during that month



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SMARTRing® Outage Credits

• For service interruptions of individual channel interfaces on SMARTRing service which do no constitute a total ring failure, credit shall be allowed for interruptions of one minute or more.

• For service interruptions of services connecting to SMARTRing service, credit shall be allowed for an interruption of 30 minutes or more

• Credit allowances will not apply if service is interrupted during customer requested upgrades and/or additions to the SMARTRing service



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DS1 Service Outages

• Credit allowances for service interruptions on DS1 service are based on the zone of the wire center* and are credited as billed

– Zone 1: Credit allowance after 1 minute outage– Zone 2 and 3: Credit allowance after 30 minute outage* Serving Wire Center Zones can be found in the FCC Tariff, Section 2.4.4 (B) (10)

• If a circuit crosses 2 zones, SAW is credited at the higher rate, as it is billed.



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LightGate® Service Outages

• Credits will be applied to the monthly rate associated with each activated interface affected after ratcheting adjustments where service interruptions are greater than one minute.



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Data Service Outages

• For Exchange Access Frame Relay, Exchange Access Connectionless Data Service and Exchange Access ATM service, no credit shall be allowed for an interruption of less than 30 minutes

• For Managed Shared Frame Relay Service and Managed Shared ATM Service, credits will apply as follows

Duration of Outage

(Per Ticket)

Credit Percentage of MRC

0 –240 Minutes 0%

241 – 360 Minutes 33%

361 – 480 Minutes 66%

Over 480 Minutes 100%



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When Credit Allowances do not apply

• SIG does not apply when:– Interruptions are caused by the negligence of the customer– Interruptions of service are due to the failure of equipment

provided by the customer or others– Interruptions of service during any period when the customer

is not afforded access to the premises– Interruptions of service when the customer has released the

service to BellSouth for maintenance, rearrangements or for changes in service

– Credit amount is less than $1– Interruptions due to commercial power failure– Interruptions due to labor difficulties, governmental orders,

civil commotions, criminal action against BellSouth, acts of God, acts of war, or circumstances beyond BellSouth’s control

– Orders with advanced service intervals



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How SAW Credits will appear on your billOCT 16 02 SO ZXXXXXX0028 This circuit is a DS1 in Zone 2 with 2 local channels.

CIRCUIT NUMBER 38.HCFS.XXXXXX..SB PIU 0 The circuit was out of service for 38 minutes on 09/17/02.

CIRCUIT LOCATION 0001 The outage of 31 – 150 minutes allows for credits of 25%

ONE TIME CREDIT FOR SERVICE ASSURANCE of the monthly recurring charges of $130.00 for each local

WARRANTY channel. 25% of each local channel is 0.25 * $130.00 =

SERVICE INTERUPTION DATE - 02/09/17 $32.50 credit for each local channel.

DURATION OF INTERUPTION - 0000 HRS 38 MIN

TMECS 1 CHANNEL TERMINATION-PER POINT OF TERMINATION

PIU 0

INTRASTATE - GA - EC 5192 32.50CR

CIRCUIT LOCATION 0002 PIU 0

ONE TIME CREDIT FOR SERVICE ASSURANCE

WARRANTY

SERVICE INTERUPTION DATE - 02/09/17

DURATION OF INTERUPTION - 0000 HRS 38 MIN

TMECS 1 CHANNEL TERMINATION-PER POINT OF TERMINATION

PIU 0

INTRASTATE - GA - EC 5192 32.50CR

NET EFFECT OF SO ZXXXXXX0028

PER MONTH FRACTIONAL ONE-TIME BILLED AMOUNT

TOTAL - GA - EC 5192

0.00 0.00 65.00CR 65.00CR



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• Where can I find SAW Information in the tariff?– SAW can be found in the FCC Tariff, Section 2.4.4

• My OC48 SMARTRing service was out of service twice this month, but I only received 1 set of SAW credits.– No more than one credit shall apply per any given rate element on a circuit

for any given month regardless of the number of interruptions occurring during the month

• I had 2 DS1 circuits in Atlanta and Mobile out of service for 5 minutes, but I only received SAW credits for the Atlanta circuit, why?– DS1 outages are based on the zone of the wire center*. Atlanta is in Zone

1 and credit allowances are given for outages exceeding 1 minute. Mobile is in Zone 2 and credit allowances are only given for outages exceeding 30 minutes.

* Serving Wire Center Zones can be found in the FCC Tariff 1, Section 2.4.4 (B) (10)

Frequently Asked Questions

Documents

Issue Date: 01/03 1 Service Assurance Warranty (SAW) Customer Billing Education Package