Diagnostic Strategy

Now that you how to get access the details of a past conference, we’ll consider some strategy for interpreting what you might find.

Complaints will generally fall into different categories. “One-off” complaints are often just that; they happen once. This might be choppy or noisy audio in a particular meeting, or inability to access a specific meeting, or getting unexpectedly disconnected. With these situations, it is unlikely that there is anything that can be “fixed” or other corrective action to take.

But if these situations are recurring for a particular participant (difficulty accessing multiple meetings, or repeated disconnects on several occasions) that bears more investigation to try to determine (and correct) the root cause.

If it is only a particular participant that is affected, it is probably something specific to their situation, so it will be helpful to know more detail about them:

• Where are they?
• What kind of phone are they using?
• Who is their phone provider?
• What access number are they dialing?

Corrective action might be to try changing one of these:

• Connect via a landline if they are using a mobile;
• Dial a different access number (toll vs. toll-free) or in a nearby country, if possible.
• Try connecting using the web phone (VoIP) or having ZipDX dial TO them.

Disconnects

Disconnects are by far the most common reported issue, and there are a few things to be considered:

• Was the participant on a fixed line or mobile phone?
• Which access number did they use to connect?
• Where others using that same access number also impacted?
• Where there are other conferences similarly impacted at the same time?
• Was there an obvious pattern, like several participants disconnected at the very same time?
• Or a less obvious pattern, like a connection being lost after exactly 20, 30, 45 or 60 minutes?
• Did a host using the conference dashboard accidentally disconnect a participant?

Network Quality

The QA report details issues of network quality. This tells us about the performance of the network from the point where the inbound call reaches the access line. A substantial number of reported “hits” may result in choppy sound.

If the trouble was between a speaker and ZipDX, it would be heard by everyone connected. If between ZipDX and a participant, it would only impact what that one participant heard.

Audio Quality

Sound quality may suffer for reasons other than network transit. Poor quality sound passed over a perfect network still results in a poor experience.

Here are a few examples:

Problem #1: A poor-quality speakerphone, or mobile phone in speakerphone mode may suffer poor volume and/or excessive ambient room noise, making it difficult to understand the speaker.

Solution #1: Avoid speakerphones. Get the microphone as close to the speaker as possible. A headset is ideal to ensure adequate volume and minimize background noise.

Problem #2: A participant using a laptop’s internal microphone to connect via Web Phone sounds distant, with excessive background noise.

Solution #2: Ensure that the participant is in a quiet location. If possible, the participant should use a headset to provide more direct pickup of their voice.

Problem #3: A microphone at a podium may be overdriven, resulting in distorted sound.

Solution #3: Make sure to use the correct type of microphone for the use case.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones are a special case both in the manner of their use and the wireless network itself.

Audio quality issues may arise from the way the participant is using their handset (poor headset, speakerphone mode, noisy location, moving) or the wireless link itself.

The wireless link between the handset and the mobile carrier can be variable, resulting in bad sound or a dropped connection. Most especially as call duration gets longer or if the participant is moving. We offer further guidance on this here.

Further, the wireless carrier’s core network is typically very good, so the connection from them to ZipDX, as shown in a QA report, is very good. This despite the very real possibility of an unstable wireless link.

Access Issues

If the specific case involves a participant not able to join the conference at all, they won’t appear in the conference records. In such a case, we can search access logs for their telephone number. We can often see if they entered the wrong code or dialed in at the wrong time.

For example, if they dialed in but were unable to enter the conference code ZipDX would not know which conference they were attempting to join. Further, if we find no record of anyone from their telephone number trying to join a conference, they may have misdialed number for the access line.

These access logs are not available to clients. Such investigation must be requested via support@zipdx.com.

Support

We encourage clients to know more about our system and hopefully diagnose the most common issues troubles on their own. That said, we’re here to help. You can always use this handy form to each out to our support team.