by Todd Goatley-Seals on Apr 17, 2020
As we’re
dealing with this pandemic you
may have experienced
connectivity inconsistencies
with
the internet. All
of the recent streaming,
videoing, high business
use,
& students streaming
online classes
can cause
the internet to
slow at times.
Here’s some common
information you may find helpful:
Internet
speed comes down to a combination of bandwidth
and latency. A
good internet speed is at or above 25 Mbps. These speeds will support
most online activity like streaming, gaming, regular browsing and
downloads. Fast internet speeds, those in the 100+ Mbps range, are
often better, especially if you want your internet connection to
support multiple devices and users at once.
Latency = delay. It's the amount of delay (or time) it takes
to send information from one point to the next. Latency is usually
measured in milliseconds or ms. It's also referred to as a ping rate. (http://www.plugthingsin.com/internet/speed/latency/)
Bandwidth
describes the maximum data transfer rate of a network or Internet
connection. It measures how much data can be sent over a specific
connection in a given amount of time. For example, a gigabit Ethernet
connection has a bandwidth
of 1,000 Mbps or 125 megabytes per second. (https://techterms.com/definition/bandwidth)
Ever been slowed or
stopped while using the internet? Maybe you found yourself looking at
one of those HTTP(S) browser error messages? Here’s
what those error messages
mean.
- 400 Bad Request: This is basically an error message from the web server telling you that the application you are using (e.g., your web browser) accessed it incorrectly or that the request was somehow corrupted on the way.
- 401 Unauthorized: This error happens when a website visitor tries to access a restricted web page but isn’t authorized to do so, usually because of a failed login attempt.
- 403 Forbidden: You’re not allowed to access this page. Check the address and try again.
- 404 Page Not Found: The page you’re trying to access no longer exists. Check the address and try again. This could mean the webmaster has moved the page, or something has broken.
- 500 Internal Server Error (Most common): The description of this error pretty much says it all. It’s a general-purpose error message for when a web server encounters some form of internal error. For example, the web server could be overloaded and therefore unable to handle requests properly. (https://royal.pingdom.com/the-5-most-common-http-errors-according-to-google/)
Now, if you should ever experience an error message when connecting to Koha first refresh the page then check your URL and try to connect again. If you are still get an error message please contact us at: 888-900-8944 and we'll check on your Koha to get you connected straight away!
But, lets say you’re experiencing sluggish browsing/connectivity
to websites in general? We've all been there and believe it or not
there are a number of reasons you might be slow especially right now.
Depending on your network the slowness can originate from your desktop processor, hard drive, graphics accelerator, RAM, network interface card (NIC), cables, all the way to your ISP (internet service provider). Your home and/or institutions routers, service providers modems, gateways, switches, and firewalls, can all have an impact depending on how old the technology is, how it’s maintained and configured. Then, moving outside of your internal network, your ISP may have older equipment, might be performing upgrades or, doing external construction work by adding to or upgrading services/equipment. And don't forget those network operations center (NOC) and intermediary centers that packets must travel (make hops) from your PC/device and then back to resolve down to the browsing experience you expect. This just sounds exhausting!
How to check for
latency issue(s)?
To begin, check your network connection. Try turning off/on (renew) your wireless connection at your laptop/desktop/PC. Wireless connections can be flaky and drop out or drop data packets causing slowness so be sure you’re connection is good and you’re using the proper URL. Next, try rebooting your router and your cable providers modem. Rebooting your home router and cable providers modem every so often can be very helpful and at times necessary. Is your router firmware and cable providers modem up-to-date? Routers and cable providers modems require firmware/software updates/upgrades too. You can check with your cable providers to see if they’ll update your providers modem. Doing any or all of this can be helpful to a sluggish system.
Testing
An easy way to test
if your connected and your connection is good is to visit a popular
website, like Google or
Facebook. If it loads,
chances are very good that you’re connected! If it’s an issue
with your Koha site, you can check to see if your site is having an
issue by using one of the following 3 links and entering the
OPAC/Staff side web address (URL). It'll let you know if it's the
site or you! And really, if you can’t get to one of the 3 sites
offered below then it’s definitely something to do with your
connection.
Next, run a speed
test. This is to make sure you have sufficient internet speed. As a
general rule, average speeds lower than 50ms are ideal for
most purposes and speeds higher than 100ms will cause problems
and frustration. You can run an internet speed test by going to:
I hope this helps. It’s great to have a few tools to determine why you might be experiencing internet latency/slowness. And my last recommendation is (it's probably your go to move) restart everything including your computer!
Read more by Todd Goatley-Seals