Is Your Internet Connection Letting You Down?

I've read of some members having trouble with videos streaming correctly, who use their Internet connection to make phone calls (VoIP calls). Some even make regular video calls using Skype or some other service over their Internet connection.

What's the problem??

Your problem may be in your your Internet connection. Upload speeds are typically a lot slower than download speeds, and latency can be nearly a second for satellite based Internet providers - since your click has to travel to a satellite 22,300 miles above the earth and back again before it's ever processed by your provider!

How can you be sure if your Internet connection is causing problems when you're trying to stream audio or video - or if you should be hunting elsewhere for a solution to your problem?

I've had good luck with a site called Visualware at http://myspeed.visualware.com/index.php - just pick your location and the type of test you'd like to have done, and the site will do the rest - for free! Note that Visualware doesn't service all countries - they work in many places in the US, in Canada, and in Brazil, as well as in much of the European Union, Japan, and Australia. If you don't find your location, look for other similar sites by searching for "sites like visualware.com".

What's this about Java?

Note that you'll have to allow the use of Java for Visualware to work its magic, since some browsers or providers restrict the operation of Java based web applications. If you aren't comfortable with it, locate a similar site by searching for (you guessed it) "sites like visualware.com".

You may not be able to isolate the problem with your audio or video stream - but you may be able to eliminate your Internet connection as one possible source of the problem!

Dennis