Discord Speed

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dobberhd
Posts: 543
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:45 am

Discord Speed

Post by dobberhd »

I am the coach of a high school Knowledge Bowl team. Many of our meets this year are being forced to a virtual setting using Discord. I've used Discord, but haven't coordinated multiple groups using it before. My school has six teams, so I need to set up a computer in six different rooms with a team of four sitting around each computer. One student, the spokesperson, has a microphone.

Does anyone here have enough Discord experience to answer these questions?

1. Is it faster to use the software than the browser? I'm really hoping there isn't much difference, since I'd have to get the school's tech director involved.

2. Do you think a wired connection offers a significant advantage over wireless? Our wireless seems to be pretty good, but once again I'm not in charge of technology.

Thanks for any help.
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Blackhawk
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Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Discord Speed

Post by Blackhawk »

Honest question: define 'faster'. Are you talking about latency between when the speaker says something and the listener hears it?
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dobberhd
Posts: 543
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:45 am

Re: Discord Speed

Post by dobberhd »

Yes. There will be three teams in three separate cities buzzing in remotely. Speed of buzzing in is important.
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Blackhawk
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Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Discord Speed

Post by Blackhawk »

Ah, buzzing. That was the missing factor to answer the question. I take it you aren't managing the back end, just connecting? If so, then your school's internet connection is a much, much bigger factor, as is location (if the guy running it sets the server to US West, then teams in California will have an advantage over teams from New York.)

As a general rule, wired is faster than wireless, and the difference between the app and the web service is (from what I've read) minimal, provided that your browser isn't slowing it down (a hundred security programs, another hundred tabs open.) The good news is that, of the things you are in control of, the difference between ideal and non-ideal is likely fractions of a second. The bad news is that the things you aren't in control of can add substantial delay for one team over another. As an option, try https://www.speedtest.net/ and change the server to wherever it's being run from (or someplace halfway across the country.) It will show you your ping, which will give you an idea of how quick your school's connection is (and if you can try it on both wired and wireless, you can get a comparison.)


/edit - and if you are in charge, a better option might be for each team to type a word into the text chat ("BUZZ!") and use the enter key as a buzzer. This will also give a definitive time as to whose buzz got in first.
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dobberhd
Posts: 543
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:45 am

Re: Discord Speed

Post by dobberhd »

Great. Thanks for the info.
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