Overview
Overall meeting quality is dependent on a number of factors such as the quality of the network connection, network speed, computer-processing capabilities, and peripherals (speakers, microphone, and camera) of each attendee. The more people in a meeting who are sharing audio, video, and screens at once, the more resources are required of each attendee's computer and network. This article describes the different factors that can impact meeting quality in Sococo. It also provides some suggestions meeting attendees can follow to improve it.
Information
Network Connection Quality and Speed
- Internet connections can drop in quality, and when that happens your ability to share voice, screens, and video can be impacted. You can do a Network Speed Test to get a general idea of your connection quality and speed.
- The application does not allow updating HD settings on your camera, but you can always update the default camera settings to turn off HD and save the bandwidth.
- Sococo shares your internet connection with other applications on your computer. During a Sococo meeting, we recommend turning off other applications that consume internet bandwidth, such as streaming videos, music streaming services, and other voice-over-internet (VoIP) applications.
- Even when you have a fast broadband connection, the quality of the connection can still degrade. If your connection is poor even with a wired connection, contact your IT department or your internet service provider to fix the problem. Share with them the details from your speed test.
- If you are experiencing poor meeting quality, you can manage the consumption of your available bandwidth by limiting or turning off high bandwidth features, such as videos and/or screen shares, to free up bandwidth for better audio. You do this by clicking on the gear icon in the top navbar, then limiting the number of media streams to a lower value through the dropdown menu next to Maximum media streams per page.
WiFi and Ethernet
- Public WiFi connections such as those at coffee shops, hotel lobbies, and schools are often shared by many users and have a wide range of quality. When these connections get overused, your connection can get worse, often quickly. If public WiFi is your only option, you can disable your media streams to improve your experience.
- Even home or office WiFi connections can become poor due to distance, power fluctuations, interference from other networks and appliances, and router antenna placement. One way to test if WiFi congestion is a factor is to try a few meetings while connected via hardwired Ethernet to see if there is an improvement in meeting quality.
Antivirus and Other Security Software
A firewall can keep Sococo from streaming over UDP (which is preferred over TCP, as UDP is much more resilient to network variability and performs better for audio and video traffic). If you have an antivirus or another security software installed, look for an option to allow the Sococo desktop client and also the domains sococo.net, sococo.com, and vidyo.io If your security software is managed by your company, you can forward our Network Configuration for Sococo Usage guide to your network administrator.
Processing Load
It is possible that your processor is under strain if you have a lot of applications open on your computer at the same time. If you can close some that are not in use, this will free up more processing capability for your Sococo meeting.
Device Quality
If you are experiencing echo or feedback in a meeting, please note that a common reason for this is a meeting attendee's built-in speakers re-broadcasting audio over their built-in microphone. For this reason, we recommend that meeting attendees use headsets. Also, to help minimize background noise, meeting attendees can turn off their microphones when not speaking.