Slow System Response¶
There are a number of variables that affect the speed at which Volgistics pages refresh in your web browser. The most significant is the speed of your Internet connection. For comparison purposes, here is an estimate of the amount of time required for your web browser to receive a list of 500 volunteers on the Volgistics Volunteers page at various connection speeds:
- 1.54 Mbps full T1, cable modem or DSL: 1 second
- 512 Kbps fractional T1: 3 seconds
- 128 Kbps ISDN: 12 seconds
- 56 Kbps dial-up: 29 seconds
As you can see, faster Internet connections dramatically improve performance. Volgistics recommends that you have a broadband connection (a connection faster than 56 Kbps dial-up) at the computers where you use Volgistics most often.
Keep in mind that if you share your Internet connection with other people, your actual bandwidth may be less than the overall speed of your connection. For example, if your office has a full T1 connection but it's shared among 20 computers on your network, the amount of bandwidth available to you will depend on what your co-workers are doing online at any given time.
Internet traffic between your computer and other computers on the Internet travels across many different networks, switches, and service providers. Occasionally bottlenecks along the way may reduce your connection speed further.
The Volgistics system can generally always process your requests for information very quickly (usually in milliseconds), although an additional factor affecting speed is the current workload at Volgistics. During peak periods - mid day for example - some activities like generating a PDF report file may take a bit longer than at other times.
There are several web sites that can show your approximate connection speed. One of these is located at https://www.speedtest.net. Click the GO button to start the test.
For accuracy, perform the bandwidth test from your computer at a time when you notice slower performance and at a time when performance seems normal. If you submit an inquiry about slow response times, please let the Support Team know the results of your tests.