To ensure a smooth experience with Talkdesk, you can find below a list of requirements and best practices that you need to keep in mind when setting up your hardware, software, and network.
✔️ Getting Started: Checklist
- Review the operating environments that the agents will use;
- Make sure everyone is using a wired headset with the best configuration;
- Connect via Ethernet and read the recommendations below for VPN/VDI usage;
- Where will the Agents work? Depending on whether it's home or the office:
- Make the necessary changes in the Firewall and QoS;
- Follow our alternatives to Wi-Fi when Working from Home.
- Test your connectivity using our Network Test Tool.
Please continue reading for more details.
💻 Supported Operating Environments
When setting up the operating environment to work with Talkdesk, please review these requirements:
- Operating System (OS): Windows 10 / OSX 10.14+ / Linux 64bit (Debian 9 or Red Hat 8 based distros) / Chrome OS;
- RAM: Recommended 8 GB of RAM;
- CPU: Intel i5 / AMD Ryzen 5;
- Browser: Google Chrome configured as the default browser and updated to the latest version;
- Security: If you use any software or Proxy that can block applications, please include Callbar in the allowlist.
- Virtualization: avoid using the Callbar usage inside a VDI and read the recommendations below for VDI usage;
🎧 Headsets
When choosing headsets to handle calls with Talkdesk, please consider the following:
- We recommend using a wired headset with a 3.5 mm jack (analog) port;
- You can use a USB headset but this option will consume resources from your computer;
- We also do not recommend Bluetooth/Wireless headsets for professional long-term usage:
- The battery level is a factor on these devices (the lower the battery, the lower the range);
- Being a wireless device, it suffers from interference from other wireless devices in the area;
- Bad reception or increased latency is common, which could falsely point to a network issue.
- If you use Windows OS, follow the recommended settings for Callbar.
📎 Learn more about the headsets that we recommend here.
🌐 Network
Internet Bandwidth
Make sure that enough bandwidth is reserved to work with Talkdesk:
- A good rule of thumb is a 1Mbps symmetrical connection per device;
- Avoid having other people using/sharing your bandwidth while you are on a call, especially if it involves activities that consume a considerable amount of bandwidth, such as:
- Streaming multimedia content (4K/HD/Full HD Movies);
- Online gaming;
- Downloading large content (such as torrents).
- Disable recordings on any DVR / Set-top boxes, as these can consume bandwidth.
Connection best practices
Make sure to follow these guidelines regarding the type of connection:
- Ethernet is the preferred connection type. Use a Cat 5E cable, or above;
- Set the following DNS servers (if possible):
- Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8
- Secondary DNS: 1.1.1.1
- Avoid using VPN (Virtual Private Network). If you do need to use a VPN, split tunneling must be configured in order to ensure that all traffic from Callbar is routed directly to the internet instead of through the VPN;
- Avoid VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) or Remote environments.
Although practical from a systems administration perspective, virtual/remote desktop environments are still a suboptimal solution when it comes to real-time voice as users are much more prone to suffer call quality constraints. From a network perspective, it is something we advise against.
For best results, Talkdesk recommends that customers:
- Move the agents from the VDI environment / thin clients to local dedicated desktop machines;
- Configure Callbar to "Connect to External Device" and:
2.1. Receive the calls on an External Phone, for example, the agent cell phone (possible call costs associated with this setup);
2.2. Receive the calls on a SIP Phone.
Successful usage of Talkdesk's Callbar in a VDI environment may require significant tuning and additional testing at scale to be carried out by the customer's system administrator(s) / VDI provider(s).
Office and Home
If you and your agents are:
- Working from the Office: Make sure to implement the required Firewall and QoS configurations.
- Working from Home: If you can't use Ethernet, please follow our Alternatives to Wi-Fi.
Using Wi-Fi as a Temporary Solution
⚠️ While Wi-Fi offers convenience, it can lack reliability for voice communications as it's influenced by many factors:
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As you can see in the above image, Wi-Fi is prone to packet loss, latency variation, and jitter.
If you are waiting for an Ethernet or PLC (powerline) adaptor and need to use Wi-Fi temporarily, please follow these guidelines:
- Use the latest standards (> Wi-Fi 5 IEEE 802.11ac) with MU-MIMO support and the 5 GHz band, as opposed to the 2.4 GHz. This will reduce the range but decrease the probability of environmental interference;
- Connect as few devices as possible to the same AP, to better concentrate and serve your own;
- Upgrade to a mesh AP network. It allows reachability from several points in the home and repeats the traffic between the cells. This way, the packets are not lost if a specific area is affected.
📎 Learn more about why we recommend Ethernet here.
🎛️ Final Step: Testing your Network Connection
Finally, you can test the quality of your network connection by using the Talkdesk Network Test Tool.
Metric | Required | Recommended |
---|---|---|
MOS Score | > 4.2 | > 4.3 |
Jitter | < 30 ms | < 10 ms |
Packet Loss | < 3 % | < 1 % |
Round Trip | < 200 ms | < 100 ms |
If you face any call quality issues or the test results are not as expected, you can reach out to our support team, by submitting a request here.