As our online classroom does have a lot of features, it does require a strong internet speed. Slight drops in your speed intermittently will cause issues of all kinds in the classroom. You are able to test your internet speed by performing a browser test, and this will let you know if your connection is fast enough to be able to run your lesson at the point when you run the test. It's important to note that internet speeds can fluctuate, so if the speed does drop a little bit after running the test, you may still run into issues! 


 


A poor internet speed can lead to some of the following issues:



  • The camera and microphone quality dropping in and out, or in extreme cases, it not working at all

  • Lag when using the classroom, both with the video and audio as well as the interactive whiteboard


 


If you are finding this to be an issue, we would recommend trying the following:



  1. Use a wired connection with an ethernet cable plugged directly into your router where possible (highly recommended!)

  2. If you are on WiFi, move as close to your router as possible, eliminating any obstacles (like walls!) between yourself and the router

  3. Ensure other users on your Wi-Fi are not streaming videos, music or playing online games - this can use quite a bit of bandwidth, and restrict your connection quality

  4. Make sure you aren't using a VPN, as this can affect your connection quality

  5. As a final resort, you can turn off your video, but we don’t recommend this as it results in a poorer overall experience. 


It's also important to note that the quality of your experience in the classroom can be affected if your computer starts to run a little slow - to help avoid this, you can follow the following tips:



  1. Close any applications that you have open that you don't need for the lesson 

  2. Close any tabs open on your browser that you don't need

  3. Make sure the fans on your laptop (if you have any) aren't covered, so it can cool down effectively

  4. You can also turn your device off and on again - this can help to solve a number of problems

  5. If none of the above work, it may also be useful to try accessing your lesson on another device, if you are able to