My Mercury is Running Slow!

Causes

• Slow internet connection

• Frequent drop-outs

• Intermittent latency issues (data being lost on the way to its destination).

There are a few tests listed below to see if you're affected by these issues. If any of these tests fail, you need to contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and request that they do a "line refresh" or talk to them about improving your internet connection.

Perform the tests below in the following order:

1) Wired Test

As an initial test, plug your computer directly into the modem with a cable (not wireless). Use Mercury like this for a few days, and monitor the errors. Connecting directly to the modem will improve speeds, and this test will highlight whether a weak wireless signal is causing the problem.

Wireless connections are often not as constant and reliable as you may think. This is a great way to test the reliability of your connection.

2) Ping Test

A Ping Test is a test that sends a very small piece of information to a server, and then times how long it takes for that piece of information to come back. This tells us how constant your connection is. 

This test grades your internet connection to see if it can run web-based applications effectively.

Visit the link below, and click on Begin Test to measure your connection. Please perform this test multiple times, as your internet issue may be sporadic. We recommend trying it a few times every hour, until you've tested it 10 times.

http://pingtest.net/

This will grade your internet speed from A+ to F:

• If you consistently get a grade above a B you should be able to run Mercury fine.
• If you get grades of B- or lower you should chat to your internet service provider about better performance.

The Packet Loss measurement is the main cause of data not saving in Mercury.

NOTE: Please allow Java to run. If Java does not run, this test will be inaccurate as it will not test for packet loss (the main cause of Mercury errors).

3) Continuous Ping Test

This is a more indepth way of testing the consistency of your connection. This test will send a ping (a small data package) to Google every few moments and test how long it takes to receive a response. Response times should be WELL under 100ms.

• Press the Windows key, and type in: cmd
• Open the cmd program

This will open the Command Prompt, where you can type in: ping 8.8.8.8 -t

• Press Enter
• Let this test run for three minutes, then press CTRL+C to cancel the test

• If you see regular spikes above 100ms this indicates a significant internet connection issue, which may cause  Mercury issues. In this case you should chat to your internet service provider about better performance.Me