Troubleshooting for Virtual+ Services

Troubleshooting for Virtual+ Services

Having issues connecting to a Virtual+ meeting?

Follow these quick troubleshooting steps to resolve!


1. Are you using a supported device and browser? 

 

Chrome

Firefox

Safari

Edge (Chromium)

*version 79 or above

AndroidYesYes--
iOS--Yes-
LinuxYesYes--
macOSYesYesYesYes
WindowsYesYes-Yes

When using a mobile phone to connect to Virtual+ experience is best when there are 3-5 or less participants on the Virtual+ meeting and when using a newer phone. Due to limited CPU power the experience degrades significantly with each added participant. 

2. Have you allowed access to your camera and microphone? 

This only applies if you are trying to connect with video/audio and do not see your video stream in your self view and/or others cannot hear you. To ensure this access, answer Allow  when the access prompts come up to allow access to your camera and microphone. 





If you did not see the access prompts come up you may need to go to your browser settings and make sure it is not set to automatically deny camera/microphone access to websites requesting it. Below is an example of these settings on an iPhone:


If you have multiple cameras connected to your device and are having trouble getting your video stream to show up, try selecting the Switch camera button from your self view controls to see if switching to another camera resolve it. 



If you have multiple microphones connected to your device and are having trouble getting your outgoing audio to work, try checking your browser's microphone settings to make sure the correct microphone is selected. From Chrome browser, click on the camera icon in your url bar, then Manage, then Microphone and you'll see a drop down with microphone options. 

3. Do you have a good network strength? 

Your network strength meter is available in your self view.



Each participant will have a network strength meter visible on their video stream, which shows how strong their network connection is. 5/5 bars is the strongest and if you have no strength or the strength is still being assessed you'll see a slash through all bars. If there is a dip in network strength you may experience reduced video quality. The good news is that your bandwidth will automatically adjust to improve quality when this occurs (more on that below). 

4. Have you tried running this diagnostic test from Twilio?

Virtual + Services uses Twilio to connect participants. If you've answered "Yes" to the above three questions and are still having issues, please try this running this test.

Here's what a successful connection will look like: 



If the test website is not available please check this page for Twilio's current service status.
 

5. Have you sent us the browser console log? 

If you've tried everything in steps 1-4 and still can't figure it out, we will need more info to further investigate the issue. To send the console log to us please do the following:

While the issue is occurring/error message is on screen:

For PC users: hit Shift + Alt + D

For Mac users: hit Shift + Option + D

Alternatively, you can type "/sad" into the chat bar and select Send. 



You should see this message come up after doing this: 



Once you have sent the console log, please email support@usked.com letting us know so we can check the log to investigate.

Seeing an Error Message?

Below are the most common error messages:



1V+ meetings are made available 10 minutes before the scheduled start time. Wait until then and try again.
2V+ meetings are available only up to one hour past the scheduled end time of the request. Contact your organization if need for extension arises.
3The request would need to be converted to a V+ request to make this V+ meeting accessible. 
4
The request would need to be confirmed in order for the V+ meeting to be accessible.
5The request is now canceled and this V+ meeting will no longer be available. 
6If you are the only participant in the V+ meeting for over 15 minutes you'll see this error message. 
7
The request has been locked by another participant. A participant already in the meeting would need to unlock the room in order for you to join.

Known Issues

As we make changes to Virtual+ to adapt to customer feedback and needs, there are a few issues we are still working to resolve. Below is a list of what we are actively investigating:


DeviceBrowser(s)Description
iPhoneSafariSome iPhone users may see a pause and play icon come up on video streams when joining a V+ meeting or when a video stream is changed (muted/unmuted), switching cameras, etc.) 
iPhoneSafariSome iPhone users may experience a very low frame rate when video stream is coming from rear camera.
Android PhoneN/ASome Android users may see the screen sharing icon in their self view controls, but screen sharing is not available from mobile devices.
AllAllPosting a URL hyperlink in the V+ chat may cause the V+ meeting to crash upon reentry. Please avoid posting links in the chat to avoid this issue.

 

Additional Information

For your IT Team:

Trying to figure out how to configure your firewall or set up QoS to let clients through to Twilio and ensure a better experience? 

See this page from Twilio. 

We use Signaling Communication and Media Servers (both for region ID us1) from this page. Also look at the Additional Connectivity Requirements section on this page as well.

About bandwidth usage and limits:

Bandwidth Usage

Video and audio streams are encoded using variable bit rate codecs for all communication. This means that the quality of each stream will be dynamically adjusted to adapt to changing network conditions, and therefore the bandwidth usage will vary throughout the duration of the call.

Each full streaming (video + audio) connection consumes up to 540 Kilobits per second.  Each audio-only connection consumes up to 40 Kilobits per second.  Actual bandwidth consumed will vary based on network conditions.

  • The upstream bandwidth will be independent on the number of participants,.
  • The downstream bandwidth will grow proportionally to the number of participants, up to 8,000 Kbps - the upper limit.

Limits

There is a maximum limit of 8,000 Kilobits per second per participant.  This means each participant can watch approximately 14 other participants before hitting this limit.  When watching 15, 16, or 17 other participants, the video of each participant will be degraded slightly so the whole thing fits within the 8,000 Kbps limit.  For each participant, there is an absolute maximum of watching 17 other participants.  This means, for an 18 person meeting, everybody can see everybody else.  There is a limit of 50 participants in a single meeting.



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