The following information was distributed in a Fact Sheet in October, and as we move into preparing live returns, we wanted to highlight some troubleshooting tips when preparers at your site are experiencing slowness (i.e. taking a long time between page refreshes, your browser title displaying the words “not responding” in parenthesis, the screen freezing, etc.)
Note: Check the blog or message center to see if we have a post regarding maintenance, a system wide issue, or an issue that is effecting many users. These would typically be the Summary/Print page not displaying a calculation, a PDF not generating, or something very specific not loading.
- Make sure you are running the latest version of your preferred internet browser
- If you have access to a different browser, close your current browser and try the same thing in a different browser. Support will recommend that you try the same action in Chrome, or if you are already using Chrome, to log out of the application and close all instances of your browser (not just the browser tab).
- Try a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5) to clear your active cache.
There are several variables that can create slowness at a local level:
- Is your internet service shared connectivity in the host location?
- This is common among internet provided by cable companies
- DSL is a more direct type of connectivity but speed is controlled by the level of the subscribed provider plan. A lot of internet providers will slow down connectivity speed if usage exceeds the allotted plan.
- Host site employees and people other than those preparing taxes may be using the shared internet, thus decreasing available bandwidth.
- Is your internet connection wired or wireless?
- Wired internet connection is typically faster and more stable
- Is your internet connection via a hot spot?
- A hot spot uses cellular service, so connectivity is going to depend on how many bars of service are available and how many active users are accessing the same hot spot.
- How many workstations are connected to the internet router and active at one time?
- What else is happening on the workstation
- Are there multiple browsers open (i.e. Chrome and Internet Explorer)
- How many other active internet sites are open
- Some sites are dynamic and are running advertisements and notifications
- Most state and government agency sites that are used for research are static
It is to note that if we detect any type of interruption, we terminate the session. This is an enforced security protocol to ensure the integrity of taxpayer data. For example: If your connection is slow and taking a long time to exchange data packets, we will terminate the session.
For sites experiencing slowness, send the following information with the Subject line “Speed Test” to [email protected]
- SIDN
- City/State
- Time of Test
- Internet Provider
- Connectivity — Wired, Wireless, Hot Spot at the site experiencing the slowness
- Number of computers at the site accessing the internet connection (including those accessing the internet, but not necessarily using the application)
- Internet download/upload speed from the site, this enables us to create a database of this information Click here for speedtest
- Go to a command prompt and type or copy: “tracert vita.taxslayerpro.com”
- Copy and paste results into the email or use a screen capture function to gather the information