Hi Carmel and thanks for trying out Flock.
Yes it is likely to be related to the above test result. Flock disconnects when the network connection is too slow or unstable. Normally the ping time from your computer to your router should be under 1 ms. Something unusual is happening on your home network that it’s 7 times slower than normal.
You’re already on a wired connection, so if no-one is streaming video at the same time as your Flock session then the problem is either:
- Another device on your home network (computer, phone, tablet, game console, printer, etc) has a mal-functioning or mis-configured network card and is flooding your home network with data, or
- Your router could be the problem, e.g. that it’s old and slow or configured incorrectly.
As a first step, try to reboot your router (i.e. switch it off for a minute and then switch it on again). You may get lucky and that solves the problem.
If that doesn’t work, you could do the following to identify what is causing the problem:
- Disconnect all devices both wired and WiFi from your network - that includes all computers, phones, tablets, printers, game consoles, smart-tv’s, smart-watches, etc). Unplug the ethernet cables and switch-off WiFi on each device.
- Connect your computer again to the router. Try the Health Check again.
- If the ping time to your router is now normal (i.e. around 1ms) then it’s a problem with another device on your home network. Then it’s a bit laborious to figure out which device is causing the problem, but the steps are to go one-by-one with each device: connect the device to the network, run the Health Check again from your computer. Keep going while you have normal ping times to the router. When the ping time to the router hits the 7ms you’ll have found the problematic device. Make sure that device is disconnected when you run a Flock session.
- If the ping time to your router remains at 7ms, then it could be a problem with the network card on your computer or a problem with your router. To test this: disconnect your computer from the network again. Connect another computer to the network and install Flock and run the Health check. (If you’re more technically inclined you can open a command line and ping the router directly without installing Flock). If that results in a normal ping time then the problem is with the network card on your computer. Alternatively, if the second computer also shows a high ping time to the router then it’s likely there is a problem with your router. At which point it may be worth a call to your internet provider (if they gave you the router) or to upgrade the router to a newer, faster one.
Hope that helps
Paul
