Aloha,
It started with taking classes and having them lock up or cut out all together. Upon listening to the some of the teacher instruction classes I remembered them speaking of band width and even telling me it could be this or that but not how to fix it. Well not knowing exactly what that was I would reboot my Mac, reset the modem and try like heck to get back into class before it ended. Being cut off a few times I called my local broadband guy to tell him I need all this fixed before I start teaching online. He had me log on to http://speedtest.oceanic.com/ to test my up & down load speed. Come to find out both were in the 400s, he did something and told me to test again. Now in the 900s the internet seems faster but still do not know if I will have issues during a class.

We will see if the new speed will be the solution. Anyone else having this kind of problem?

Amaura Delaney

Aloha Amaura!

The issue you will have with bandwidth is that there are two seperate sides to the issue. It is great if you update your computer in regards to bandwidth. However, if your student has problems in regards to super slow connection speeds or if they have several different applications open while the class is being given, their connection speed will be an issue as well.

But I really appreciate the link you posted. I will test my computer before my classes on Saturday. And perhaps it is best to remember what I spoke of in our class recently; sometimes it is best to create your class around the limitations of Adobe Connect. It is unfortunate, but depending on what you are trying to work with, not everyone of your students will have an excellent computer or super fast connection speeds.

Today is indeed a weird day. Perhaps its the network in the US? I kind of having some problem accessing websites too. And I was thinking “is my macbook getting old? Time for an upgrade?” Lost connection totally as well. Restarted my mac 3 times.

I think macs will have less problem with things running in the background than other computers. Just to be on the safe side though before I start a class I turn my computer off completely and then turn it on and only open the browser and go to edufire and log on. I don’t turn on any other programs or open any other windows. Honestly I know that macs don’t run as much stuff in the start up as most pc computers do.
I was surprised though when I saw this link though and I tried it how low my up and down speed was. I ran the test both from home and from work…. Work was super fast… home :-( at first and then a few moments later it was respectable. What changed. I turned off the PC that was running on the same router. Did that make the difference… don’t know….
I do know that if I do my best to create the best conditions possible on my computer it can’t hurt.
Thanks Amaura…

Amaura we could hook up and try and see if we can get together to troubleshoot it.

I think macs or PCs, both can have their issues really. Neither are immune. Macs don’t have as much running in the background but applications don’t close unless you manually close them. Add to that spaces and a whole bunch of other random stuff and you’re different to a PC with stuff running in the background.

I keep my PC and mac running at their optimum but as Ron rightly says, sometimes it’s out of your hands.

Always recommend to new students that they attend student orientation too.

Thank you guys, Ron & Marco for responding. It is also nice to see that I am not the only one having some issues (well at least with my computer) lol. Even though both of you have informed in your classes that if you are computer desktop sharing or have lots of faces in video it will mess with band width, I have had a few teachers do both at the same time and that is when I get so frustrated in the class. It gets hard to learn when the video feed freezes and then I miss info.

Do you know of any other reasons as to why these issues come up so I can be prepared as a teacher as to instructing others in my classes how they may fix it, rather than allowing them to wait for the recording?

These might be useful:

https://admin.na6.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

http://www.adobe.com/resources/acrobatconnect/

https://admin.na6.acrobat.com/common/help/en/connect/help.html?content=WSDCDDDC03-616B-4e0f-950B-083B4FD01260.html

Thank you Agnes! Have been testing the speed but not acrobat connection. It said everything is supported but the speed is still a big issue. I have spoken to others in my area and there is a problem in my area with this. I now have someone from the broadband company to troubleshoot. This has been a long week and I missed another class this morning, so I’m looking forward to concluding this issue. Thank all of you for you help and info.
Amaura

You’re welcome, Amaura. I hope your provider will fix the issues soon.

Yesterday evening, Acrobat took longer than expected to run that part of the test, but it reported just “LAN speed” and gave a check mark that it was okay.

I did have more than one window open, which I will risk if I’m taking a class, as opposed to teaching it, but I’m actually not sure what it means if it just reports “LAN speed”.

Well, the thingamajig on the tower has been replaced in our area. What ever that means but since then I have had little to no issues getting into classes. So as long as I close all my windows, all is well. YAH!!
MAHALO NUI to all for the help and concern.