VC FAQs

How do I join a conference by telephone?

You can find the telephone details in this Help Center article. This list is frequently updated as new locations become available to us. IF you are an Enterprise customer, this list can also be found in our VC Connect application, via the VMR ‘Settings’ screen, under ‘Telephone Numbers’. It’s in this ‘Settings’ screen where you can also find the ‘Conference ID’ and PIN numbers that you would require. 

How do I register to your video platform?

If you want to be able to receive calls on our service, you must first register with our cloud video platform using an alias, username, and password provided either by your system administrator or the sign-up process. These credentials must match a registration entry on our system in order for the registration to be accepted.

Using VC Connect (software client)

If you don’t already have the software, you can download it from here.

To register your VC Connect desktop client to receive calls:

1. Go to the Settings screen (from the top right of the VC Connect home screen, select Settings  – the cog).
2. In the Registration section of the Settings screen, enter the Alias (your video address) and Password provided to you by your sign-up process. Be aware that the username and password are case-sensitive, and some devices will default to uppercase for the first character of the user name.
3. Select Remember password.
4. Select Register.

When you have successfully registered, the button will change to Unregister, and when you return to the home screen (by selecting left arrow) there will be a green icon next to your name and your registered alias will be shown underneath:

The notification icon for VC Connect will also have a green dot on it. This dot will change to red if you become unregistered.

Now, when someone calls your endpoint by dialing the Alias you have registered with, you will get an incoming call alert at the bottom right of your screen showing the name and address of the person or meeting room who is calling you:

For the VC Connect desktop client, you can disable the sound of the incoming call alert by going to Settings and selecting a Ringtone of None.

Using a hardware endpoint

Given the number of variations of video hardware endpoints, the following instructions are provided for you as a generic guide. Please see you manufacture user guides for further information on registrations to a video service.

On signing up to our cloud video platform, you will have been provided with the following details:

• Video Address – this is your SIP video address (or SIP URI), i.e. the address you can be called from another video user
• Username – your registration username (case-sensitive)
• Password – your registration password (case-sensitive)
• Registration Server (sometimes referred to as a SIP proxy or gateway server) – pex1.dial.vc

On your video endpoint, you should enable the SIP protocol with the values provided in the relevant fields on your system. If successful, you’ll get a system status of, “Registered” or “Connected”.

How to bypass the pin entry screen?

Including the pin in the dial string to bypass the pin entry screen

SIP and H.323 endpoints and Lync / Skype for Business clients that dial into PIN-protected conferences can bypass the PIN entry screen by including the PIN in the dialed alias.

They can do this by including the relevant PIN (either the Host PIN or the Guest PIN as appropriate) in their dial string when dialling the Virtual Meeting Room or Virtual Auditorium. The dial string should be in the format: **@dial.vc.

For example, if the alias of the Virtual Meeting Room is vmr.alice@dial.vc and the PIN is 1234, then the endpoint can dial vmr.alice**1234@dial.vc to go straight into the VMR.

Note that H.323 devices can also use the dial format #@dial.vc

What firewall changes do I need to make to use this service?

VC Connect Endpoint Firewall Requirements

Due to the implementation of our secure video network, there are a few firewall rules that may be required depending on your network configuration to allow communication with the VC Connect infrastructure. This is to provide our customers with the best technology on the market.

What this means to you

In order to take full advantage of our service, we MAY require you to make some changes to your firewall to allow communication from your current hardware/software to our Firewall Traversal Servers. Please note that many firewalls work without any modification at all.

If you wish to test your firewall before deploying our managed video service, then call test@dial.vc  and you’ll be prompted to speak “1…2…3” and this recording will loop back to you. If you can see and hear this then you’re good to go.

What addresses and ports does video conferencing use?

Please see below firewall port requirements. In order to provide resiliency, we will require you to open ports to multiple addresses.

Complete Firewall Port List

To enable the VC Connect service a complete list of the ports required is below. Should, you require information on the individual protocol requirements then please see the next section for a breakdown of services.

Inbound (to VC Connect)

Outbound (from VC Connect)

Defined Services Firewall List
SIP Proxies

Please ensure that the correct ports are open depending on the video conferencing system you are using. There are different port requirements for SIP depending on what signaling method your system is using. The media requirements are the same regardless of the signaling method. Note these outbound exceptions are required to establish a UDP/TCP session. There are absolutely no inbound pinholes required.

H323: Using Assent Firewall Traversal

If your video conference system supports Assent traversal, you MAY need to open the ports below in order to register to our firewall traversal server.

H323: Using H.460.18/19 Firewall Traversal (used by all Polycom/Lifesize devices)

If your video conference system is not a Cisco Telepresence device and supports H.460.18/19 firewall traversal, you will need to open the ports below in order to register to our firewall traversal server.

Browser-based Video Calling (a.k.a. WebRTC)

We offer browser-based video calling – all major browsers are supported. This is typically known as WebRTC but we offer more than that as WebRTC is limited to Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera. We also provide service to any browser that also supports Adobe Flash. To allow this feature to work, the following ports will need to be opened:

Key

Please see below explanations of the direction column (where applicable):

Getting the best from videoconferencing

You and your video account

• Keep your video account login details to hand – these will have been emailed to you
• You can download our video software here (select Pexip Infinity Connect App section)
• Make sure your video client is set to start up and sign in at your system login
• If you’ve purchased support, contact them at: support@videovmr.com

Getting the best video experience

• Use a high definition webcam – 720p or better
• Use a headset with a microphone where possible as they help to eliminate background noise
• Adjust your video bandwidth to suit your connection speed. A good connection should use 768kbps (connection of > 5mbps), a slow connection should use as low as 256kbps (connection < 1mbps)
• Avoid fabrics with complicated patterns such as checks, tight/close stripes, herringbones, tweeds, and loud plaids. Fabrics of this design tend to strobe on camera.
• Avoid extremes of lighting – low light or direct sunlight. These tend to silhouette or washout your displayed video.
• If you’re not going to be speaking for a long time, it’s good etiquette to mute your audio to remove any background noises.
• Implement QoS on your local network – the first outbound link is the slowest. If you get video out of this link with top priority, the remaining hops are usually no problem.

Extending your video reach

• Add your video address to your email signature
• Let your customers and colleagues know you’re on video and we’ll arrange them a 2 week free trial
• Add your video address to your business card
• Let people know on your social media sites that you’re now available via video

Technical jargon – get the knowledge

VC Connect – this is the software video client that is installed on a computer or mobile device to enable video conferencing
VMR – a virtual meeting room. Where you and two or more persons can collaborate together
QoS – Quality of Service. Further info here
Conference PIN – a four or five digit number used to allow access to a virtual meeting room
Service Plan – think of it like a mobile phone contract, except for video
On-net – using the VC Connect network to call other people on the VC-Connect network
Off-net – using the VC Connect network to call people off the VC-Connect network, i.e. going over the public internet
High Definition – a high quality resolution picture
720p – the minimum resolution for a video call to be classed as high definition. Also used is 1080p, this is a better resolution than 720p
Firewall – a hardware device that protects your network from bad people
Ports – an application specific number that allows internal and external systems or software to talk to each other.
SIP – a video protocol, typically looks like an email address
H.323 – a video protocol, usually used on older systems. Can look like a bunch of numbers, e.g. 321@125.222.21.67
E.164 – is an international numbering plan for public telephone systems. Your own phone number is an E.164 number – did you know that?
IP address – a unique network address assigned to a computer or video system

How to solve Polycom HDX Endpoint Packet Loss?

You may check the Dynamic Bandwidth option.

Please see below screen capture for your reference.

Troubleshooting tips

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan and having a poor video session can be a real frustration, but there are ways to help resolve some of those issues.

Blocky video quality? Lower your bandwidth and try again.
Bad audio quality? Lower your bandwidth and try again.
Can’t sign in or register? Check your registration details. Does the SIP status say ‘Registered’. If the details are correct, then see ‘Firewalls’ section below.

Place a test call

If you’re registered to our service but you’re experiencing video connectivity issues (people can’t see or hear you, etc), call our test call service at test@dial.vc (or via a browser). This is what people will experience and see when you call them. If this doesn’t work correctly, then it’ll be time to check your firewall settings…

Firewalls

The most common problem (by quite a large margin) for our customers is company firewalls. Some companies have very locked down firewalls, and as such will need to open up specific access for our service (the same applies for all video service providers – it’s not unique to us). You can find our firewall guide here, and this should be passed onto your network administrator or IT team to set up.

Network issues

Between you and our service there can be dozens of bits of network infrastructure passing the video traffic back and forth (a.k.a. the internet). Sometimes there can be issues. Clearly this something that is outside of our control, although should you want to ping test or trace route our service, you can use the address: pex1.dial.vc and see if you’re getting packet loss.

Local country telephone dialing numbers

VC Connect offers a wide range of local in-country telephone numbers for those times when using video isn’t an option or convenient. Simply:

1. Call the applicable country number
2. At the message, enter the Conference ID
3. At the PIN prompt, enter the PIN (if PIN enabled)

We may be able to offer numbers not listed here, contact support with any queries, you can do so here: support@videovmr.com