General Network Guidance

This guide is created to help stores to investigate internet issues and understand what can cause them.

Common Signs of Internet Issues:

• White screen when opening the user interface or a slow loading user experience.
• Scanner unable to connect to the internet.
• Scans not being uploaded to Volumental Cloud.
• Customers not receiving their emails.
• Profiles not being able to be created, and/or red error messages.

Basic Tips to Increase Connectivity

• Use an Ethernet connection
  • Ethernet connections transmit your data in a much more efficient way than wireless ones. Therefore, you should consider attaching an Ethernet cable to your device as this can significantly increase your bandwidth. Don’t forget to run a test afterwards to see if there’s any improvement
  • In case everything remains the same, contact your ISP to figure things out.
• Turn off background apps
  • The apps you leave running in the background can slow down your system or even consume some extra bandwidth.
  • Therefore, you might want to manually close such apps.
  • Not only will this improve the overall performance of your system, but it will also improve the throughput capacity of your network.

• Move your router off the floor

  • Walls, floors, and metal objects can interfere and weaken your router's wireless signals. Relocate your router to avoid these kinds of obstructions as best as possible. 

• Update your firmware or network adapter driver

  • Router manufacturers regularly offer free updates. Sometimes, these updates can increase your router’s performance. To receive the latest firmware updates for your router, visit your router manufacturer's website. An example of an update guide for NETGEAR routers: https://kb.netgear.com/23442/How-do-I-update-the-firmware-on-my-NETGEAR-router-with-a-web-browser

• Add a wireless repeater

  • Wireless repeaters are handy devices that rebroadcast a wireless signal, strengthening the signal from your router to other floors or the opposite side of a building. You can place one anywhere there's an outlet, but look for locations that are halfway between your router, modem, or access point and your device. Research these products before investing in one. Some wireless repeaters can be difficult to configure and can drag down your network's performance. Some examples of recommended wireless repeaters: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-wi-fi-extender/

• Upgrade your obsolete hardware

  • It's a good idea to get the most out of your existing equipment, but if you’re running old hardware (such as routers), you can't expect the best performance. We have a tendency to subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality with back-end devices, especially networking gear. However, if you bought your router years ago, you might still be using the older, slower 802.11n standard (or God forbid, 802.11g). We recommend upgrading the equipment (router/cables/extenders) for a smoother and more reliable connection. For more information regarding obsolete hardware, please look at: https://www.consumerreports.org/wireless-routers/how-to-tell-when-its-time-to-replace-your-router/

WiFi vs Ethernet (Hardwired)

The Volumental solution is designed to use either Wifi or ethernet to function. WiFi is obviously more convenient than wired Ethernet cables, but Ethernet still offers significant advantages. Ethernet is just plain faster than WiFi—there’s no getting around that fact. It is considered a more stable solution and regarding the scanners services, it is a more reliable option because you don't have to worry about the environment surrounding the scanner. 

How to Get More Bandwidth From Your ISP (Internet Service Provider)

Your Internet Service Provider could be another reason why you get limited bandwidth.  Sometimes, this can be a problem with your ISP, or you just need to change your current Internet plan to get enough bandwidth, but now it happens more often that your ISP can deliberately throttle your Internet speed.

• Contact your ISP
  • In case there is a technical problem on the side of your ISP, contacting your ISP may be the only thing you need to solve your bandwidth issue. 
  • In certain circumstances, it takes a longer time for things to get back to normal, but usually all issues are fixed within a day or two.  So, you just need to confirm that your ISP knows about the problem and wait for a while until it’s solved.
• Upgrade your Internet plan
  • If your bandwidth is almost the same as advertised by your ISP, the only thing you can do is to get yourself a better Internet package or use another provider.  Different providers offer different options, so often you won’t even need to pay more as currently there exist lots of flexible Internet plans.

Connected via Vandra-Hotspot vs In-Store Network

The biggest difference between the two is that the vandra hotspot does not itself have an active internet connection. The hotspot's main function is to create a link between the iPad and the scanner. It can be seen as a remote control to a TV. For you to be able to watch your channels, you still have to connect the TV via cable. You can still control and change things on the TV but not watch actual content.  It's the same idea regarding the Volumental Scanner. The scanner still needs to be connected to an active network for the device to communicate with the outside world.  

With all this being said, we recommend that you connect the iPads to your store’s network rather than the vandra hotspot. You can see how this is done here: How to Connect Your Tablet to Your Scanner

SWITCH TO A DIFFERENT WIFI CHANNEL

Just like lanes on the highway, there are multiple WiFi channels on which a WiFi router can broadcast. Even though most countries have multiple non-overlapping channels many users leave their router set on the default channel, which is usually either Channel 1 or Channel 6.

This results in a WiFi traffic jam as too many packets are trying to drive on the same line. The solution is simple: find out which channel is occupied the least and switch to it. 

1. Log in to your router as admin.
2. Go to Settings and look for Wireless Settings.
3. You should see an option called Channel. The chances are that it will be set to Auto.
4. Select the desired channel.
5. Save the new settings and wait for your router to restart.