This brief guide will provide troubleshooting instructions if you experience connection, audio, or video issues, these issues can be linked to your network or firewall configuration.
Firewalls and VPNs
Discuss uses cloud technology to maintain a low-barrier, almost zero configuration service across clients.
Sometimes, networks limit this traffic. VPNs might reduce speed due to rerouting, while firewalls can block certain site elements.
If you experience connection, audio, or video issues, follow the troubleshooting steps below to clarify and resolve your network configuration.
- Test that your network meets the minimum requirements by running the following tests:
If you are on a corporate network and the video and audio will not work, it is possible that video traffic is being intentionally blocked by the firewall whilst allowing other TCP (transmission control protocol) traffic over port 443 (HTTPS). If you believe this is the case, try the following:
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If your office has a guest network for visitors, try joining that network and accessing the Discuss.io meeting room.
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If that fails, try accessing the Discuss.io meeting room on your home internet.
If these steps address the issue, then it is likely that Corporate IT will need to whitelist the servers that Discuss.io uses for video and audio.
Turning Off Firewalls
If you are having issues with your camera and microphone being accessed by our platform it may be caused due to a corporate firewall. We recommend users turn off their firewall before joining sessions or reach out to your IT department prior to your project start date.
All users may not have the ability to turn off their corporate firewall.
Windows 10
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Go to Settings > Security > Windows Security > Firewall & network protection
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Click which firewall to disable
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Move the slider to the off position
Mac OS
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Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences
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Select Security & Privacy > Firewall
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If the firewall is on, click Turn Off Firewall
Turning Off VPNs
If you're having trouble with camera and microphone access, it could be due to a VPN. Follow these steps to disconnect your VPN on various devices:
Windows 10:
- Go to Start menu > Settings > Network & Internet
- Select VPN from the left panel
- Choose your VPN and click Disconnect
Mac OS:
- Go to System Preferences > Network
- Select your VPN and click Disconnect
Android:
- Go to Settings > Connections > More connection settings
- Tap your VPN and select Disconnect
iOS:
- Go to Settings > General
- Tap VPN and toggle it to Not Connected
Information For Network Administrators
Discuss.io sends all traffic over port 443 via HTTPS. Our video service will use other ports if they are available for an optimal experience but the service ultimately degrades gracefully to send everything over TCP on 443.
The most common issue experienced by users of our service in corporate environments is firewall software blocking video traffic. If the website renders but you cannot send and receive video and audio, try the service on an unrestricted network to verify that the user's machine's camera/microphone are not an issue.
If the service works, add rules to whitelist video served via *.tokbox.com. We do not provide IP ranges for those servers as they are distributed global
ly for higher quality and are constantly updated and expanded.
Similarly, specific domains (rather than wildcard domains) cannot be listed because those servers are specified by geographical area and node (eg mantis009-sjc.tokbox.com for server #9 in the San Jose region).
If you're attempting to access Discuss from a restricted network, such as a network with a proxy server, there are some extra considerations you will need to take into account. The decision tree outlined in Tokbox's article about Restricted Networks will help you understand the steps IT administrators need to take in order for the application to work properly.
More information can be found on Tokbox's article about network connectivity requirements.