Erratic iChats and screen sharing when using Gmail/Jabber

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Erratic iChats and screen sharing when using Gmail/Jabber

I've had sporadic results using iChat with a friend. (To be clear, I'm using Messages 7.0.1, he's using iChat 6.0.2.) We're connecting through Gmail/Jabber.

The first issue is that he can't always get iChat to login to Gmail. The same account that worked perfectly on Tuesday, on Wednesday morning won't log on, he can't become "Available". Talking on a land line, we go back and forth trying to figure out what's up. He clicks on iChat/Log In to Gmail, and nothing happens. Nor can he change his staus to Available on any of the other places that's an option. He can log in to Gmail using a browser with the same password. He gets no error message in iChat.

The one solution that works is for him to pull down the iChat/Accounts menu, UNCHECK Gmail, then check it again: suddenly he's online, available.

The second issue, once we've gotten him online, is Screen Sharing. I request Screen Sharing from him, he answers the ring, and usually we're good to go: I have control of his Mac. But several mornings, I can see his screen for a few seconds, move the cursor etc. then it fades away and we get the error message:

There was a communication error during your chat. No data has been received for the last 10 seconds.

Immediately after this message, we both go to Speedtest.net and test our speeds: it's normal (although, relatively slow on his end because he's using DSL; max upload speed .37 Mbps). But it works other times, no problem. I suspect something at Google's end.

His Mac internal firewall isn't on (it's in his modem). Nothing else is plugged into his modem. We've tried direct Ethernet connection and Wi-Fi. I looked at some old posts on this discussion board that recommend going to Google settings, but thanks to "Hangouts" these instructions are outdated.

My question: any way to make this more reliable?

And, how come Apple doesn't offer a screen sharing service via iMessage? Or is there some other service (besides trying to do it directly Mac-to-Mac and finding out his Ethernet address) we should use?

Posted on Apr 2, 2014 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 2, 2014 1:37 PM in response to Dtinen

Hi,

At his end.

Open iChat > Preferences > Accounts

Go to the Google account.

Untick the "Enable this Account" to Log out.

Go to the Server Settings tab.

Change the port to 443 and keep SSL (you may need to Disable Automatically find Port and Server)

Return to Account Info tab and Enable the account again.

If this does not solve it AND his computer is never turned off and Sleeps then either cycle the login as you describe or Untick the "Enable this Account " box and then re-enabled it which will do the same thing.

Screen Sharing is made up of two parts:-

1) the VNC part that provides the "picture" of the other end and

2) the Audio Chat.

The 10 Sec Error messages refers to the Audio Chat part which is monitored separately.

You can get this error if the Mic is muted or Off.

I have an external Logitech Mic with an On/Off Switch on the Base.

Chats have been known to fail when it is not On.

At Both ends in both apps > Preferences > Video Section > Bandwith Limit

Set it to 500kbps

This can stop a faster end "over running" a slower end.

It can smooth out Variances in the Internet service either of you have.

In some case where an ISP might slow traffic if they suspect File Sharing apps it tends to drop you "under the radar".

Video Chats, Audio Only and Screen Sharing are all Peer-to-Per connections and most ISPs will not take the trouble to find out what sort of Peer-to-Perer stuff it is.

iMessages.

The iMessages Account cannot do Video (it Invokes FaceTime)

Therefore it will not do the "iChat Style" Video and Audio Chats which form the basis of the Screen Sharing.

Router

Some features like Denial of Service "Protection" tend to be threshold based.

Basically when too much data is coming too quickly to the device with this then the one port the data is On is cut to "protect" the connection to the internet as a whole.

A lot of streaming Video sites are based on sending data at about 1.5Mbps

It tends to be when data is faster than this that a port can get cut.

This may also give your the 10 Sec error message as nothing will be coming back on that port from the Buddy who suffered the cut.

The 500kbps limit can help.

So can taking the DOS feature Off line.

SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) uses the modem or router's processor to check the stream of data is valid.

If the stream of packets of data is too fast it can't keep up. Effectively this means it is threshold based as well.

The result is the same, the port is cut.

Certain devices that have Low, Medium and High settings to a Firewall normally include them in the med and high settings.

Netgears can have either but rarely both.

Linksys include the settings in the filters listed in the Security page.

I do have logging on my Modem and have never noticed any issues with DOS or SPI Off.

9:37 pm Wednesday; April 2, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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