A session is choppy or blurry
Read Network Stats to tell a congested connection from a lossy one, and what to change for each.
- For
- Everyone
- Applies to
- Billet 1.0
- Updated
Billet adjusts each session's picture to the connection all the time. When a session still looks wrong, Network Stats says why. Turn it on with Ctrl + Alt + N (on a Mac, Control + Option + N), or from the View menu.
Reading it
It shows three lines, like this:
FPS 60 DEC 60
NET 8.4 MBIT RTT 24 MS
LINK LOSSY LOSS 2.1% FLOOR 20 MS x1.20| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
FPS, DEC |
Frames shown and frames decoded each second |
NET |
Bandwidth the session is using |
RTT |
Round-trip time to the desktop |
LINK |
The verdict on the connection: OK, LOSSY or CONGESTED |
LOSS |
Packets lost in the last moment, as a percentage |
FLOOR |
The lowest round-trip time seen recently: roughly the distance to the desktop |
x1.20 |
Round-trip time now, divided by the floor. x1.00 means no queue. A rising number means a queue is filling somewhere on the path. |
The third line appears once there is enough to judge by, a few seconds into the session.
A high floor is not a fault. A desktop on another continent has a high floor and can still be perfectly smooth. What matters is the multiplier beside it.
What the verdict means
LINK |
What is happening | What helps |
|---|---|---|
OK |
The connection is carrying the session. | If it still looks wrong, see below. |
CONGESTED |
More is being sent than the path carries. Round-trip time climbs, then packets drop. | Billet lowers quality by itself. Stop other large downloads or uploads on the same connection, or cap the frame rate at 30. |
LOSSY |
Packets vanish with no rise in round-trip time: Wi-Fi interference, a weak signal, a bad cable. | Move closer to the Wi-Fi access point, or use a cable. Lowering quality does not fix this kind of loss. |
The picture is sharp but jerky
- Check
FPS. If it is low whileLINKisOK, the desktop may be slow: something on it is using the whole GPU or processor. - Slow down in the background drops to one frame a second when the session window is not in front. That is expected.
The picture is smooth but soft
- At the same bandwidth, fewer frames each give a sharper picture. For text and drawings, choose Frame rate: 30 in the View menu or the app's settings.
- Reduce Colour Detail saves bandwidth by spending less on colour. Turn it off for photos, video or exact colours.
- Make sure Full Resolution is on in the View menu.
Sound crackles or drops
Sound has its own lane and survives most congestion. If it drops with LINK LOSSY, the cause is the connection, as above.
When to call your IT team
If LINK reads OK, the frame rate is low and nothing on the desktop is busy, tell your IT team the time, the desktop's name, and a screenshot of Network Stats. They can see the same session from the portal's side.