For those of you who have decided against providing realtime to your clients because of the added pressure of troubleshooting, fear no more!
By Sandy VanderPol
Don’t be overcome by the fear factor of troubleshooting your realtime connections. The good news is that with the various options now available to output your realtime, the vendors updating their receive software, and the resources now available for troubleshooting, it’s a breeze to have an almost 100 percent connection success.
Over the past few years, and certainly over the last year, our realtime vendors have created an environment that provides success in realtime connections. With the various options available to output your realtime, you get to make the choice: cables, Bluetooth, WiFi Remote (called a WAN), or WiFi Local (called a LAN).
More good news! Realtime receive vendors now make it easy to detect which COM port your realtime is feeding through to your client. The Windows Device Manager, a necessity to know and understand thoroughly, is now replaced with the smart software. Now, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to know how to maneuver your way through Windows and get to the Device Manager. It means that less often will you need to troubleshoot the COM port settings. News of this update alone should alleviate most everyone’s fear of providing realtime.
Every court reporter should now have the resources to access the information to be confident in connecting clients to realtime 100 percent of the time.
One such resource is the Realtime Troubleshooting Pocket Guide, Version 2, which has step-by-step directions to successfully hook up to any receive software, whether you are using the Windows XP, 7, or 8 operating system. You can buy this valuable resource in the NCRA Store.
Another valuable resource available to educate yourself on troubleshooting realtime: the Realtime Systems Administrators Workshop and Exam. The workshop delves into the troubleshooting basics of cable to WiFi connections and realtime setups. The workshop takes place at NCRA’s TechCon and the Annual Convention & Expo. Make the personal commitment – sign up now!
Be confident in your realtime troubleshooting skills. Take advantage of the many resources and opportunities available to you to reach your potential and become the most important person in the courtroom or deposition: a proficient realtime reporter who has the education and resources to connect 100 percent of the time!
Sandy VanderPol, RMR, CRR, who is also a Realtime Systems Administrator, is a freelance reporter in Lotus, Calif., and a member of the Realtime Systems Administrator Certificate Committee. She can be reached at realtimecsr@calweb.com.
The Realtime Systems Administrator Workshop and Exam is offered at NCRA’s TechCon and the NCRA Convention & Expo.
