5 ways to troubleshoot a Slow Connection to BigContacts

When dealing with any web based application, there are any one of a number of potential causes for a slow connection at a given point in time. It is our goal to help you determine exactly where the issue may exist. Below are some of the issues that we see that can occur

(Your connection to our servers) - During peak traffic spikes our server could slow momentarily (which would not be the case here as this is not a peak time of day for us)

To test the entire route between your location and our servers, we offer a great troubleshooting process for this that you can run. After running this troubleshooter you can forward us the results for review as well. This troubleshooter will tell us where along the way there might be an issue. 

Below are 5 ways to troubleshoot your connection to BigContacts:

1) Check your local internet connection

There are so many connection points between you and our servers that any issue in the internet between "€œpoint A and point B" that can cause temporary slowness. The tools listed below will help you to determine if in fact there is an issue with your local internet connection. It is not unusual that you can surf websites just fine, but still experience some slowness when using BigContacts. 

Why?  With most sites you are simply "€œviewing"€ data. With BigContacts you are constantly "uploading"€ and "downloading" information between your browser and our servers. A local internet connection that is weak / slow may be able to "view"€ data just fine, but can have issues when €œuploading€ and downloading€ any significant amount of data.

To test you "local" connection to the internet, we suggest using the following site. 

 Here is the link to this testing site:  http://www.speedtest.net/

After you run the test, you can forward the results to us for review.

2) Test your connection to the BigContacts servers

MAC Users: 

In the "Dock", "Programs folder", or by searching in"Finder" you will look for the "Terminal Window" 
link and the follow the same steps as listed below.

PC Users: 

Get a command prompt window open

• • In the lower left hand corner of your window program, click on the "start"€ button. In the search box that opens type "CMD"
  • At the top of the popup window that is open you will see an icon with "CMD"€ on it.  Click on this icon to open the command window

    

Once the "CMD" window opens he first thing you'll do is type:   ping app.bigcontacts.com

(This checks your connection to our servers)

If you see lines similar to whats shown below, it means the command went through:

• Reply from 184.106.29.4: bytes=32  time=42ms  TTL=48 

  (you will see 4 (lines) packets of this in total)

• When it’s done, it'll tell you the statistics

  (it does 4 packets by default)

• Here you're looking for the (#) of packets received, and packet loss (%) [Ideally, you want to see (4 packets received) and (Lost = 0%)]

  

If the first ping DOES NOT respond, then you will enter this in the CMD window:   tracert app.bigcontacts.com

(This command tests each hop between you and our servers)

• It's only successful if the last line has an IP address of  184.106.29.41

• If it ends with *s instead and never gets there, then it's not working

*** If you DO NOT get the results we identify above, 

please send us a screenshot of these tests to support@bigcontacts.com. This will help us to identify how we can further troubleshoot for you.

3)  Test your browser

At any given moment your browser could cause you to experience slowness in processing the data between you and our system. The best way to test your browser would be to go into your settings of your browser and turnoff your plug-ins/ add-ons. We also suggest uninstalling any plug-ins that you are not using. Anything you can eliminate that is literally hanging off of the browser will help to improve overall performance.

SPECIAL NOTE:  If you are not using Firefox already, please download it for free and login to see if the issue persists.  If the connection is fine using FireFox then we can confirm there is an issue with your specific browser and browser settings that needs further investigation. While we support ()Internet Explorer 8 or later, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Mozilla FireFox) we always suggest FireFox for best web browsing results on ANY web application of website.

CLICK HERE for a FREE Download of Mozilla FireFox

4)  Reset your modem and router

Occasionally, we see that resetting your modem and/or router can help to improve overall performance. This is a good option to try if you are experiencing slowness in general over the internet.  Because some Cable Internet service providers have automated safeguards in place to detect if a certain site is being accessed (downloading and uploading activity) what they consider to be often or "too much" we have seen certain Cable Internet services actually block the BigContacts domain.  Resetting your modem usually clears the history so you can get back onto the BigContacts server, but to avoid further trouble you will want to contact your Internet provider and make sure they know you are using "https://app.bigcontacts.com" for you CRM service so they can add it to the safe list or white list and not block it in the future.

- If you have a router, unplug main Ethernet Internet cable from router first, then the power to router

- Unplug power to modem, wait 30 seconds

- Plug Modem power back in, then router power back in

- Wait until all light are on and connect the main Ethernet Internet cable back into router

 5)  Test your connection to the Internet in General:

The next time you experience any slowness please test these things and let us know what you discover on your end as this will help us to better advise you on to improve the overall performance of your connection to BigContacts.

Clearing Cache
Sometimes all you need it to clear your cache so you can get a fresh instance from the server.  We are listing directions for each browser (browsers are listed in order of most recommended to least recommended)

Mozilla Firefox:  http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How to clear the cache

Google Chrome :

• Look in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and select the "wrench" icon or 3 horizontal lines icon
• In here select the "tools" link
• Finally, select the "clear browsing history" link
• Do not check off anything else you do not want to reset, but as a minimum check "Empty the cache".  Finally, click on the "Clear Browsing data" button. 

 Apple Safari

• Gear Icon in the upper right corner.
• Click on "Reset Safari"
• Make sure "Clear History" is selected and uncheck anything else you would like.
• Click "Reset"

Microsoft Internet Explorer:  http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser%27s-Cache#Internet_Explorer