If a course is buffering, freezing, or taking forever to load, your internet connection is the most likely culprit — but not always in the way you'd expect. The steps below isolate the cause in about five minutes.
What "fast enough" looks like for the LMS
For most coursework, a steady connection matters more than a fast one. Use the table below as a rough guide:
- 3 Mbps — minimum for text-and-image lessons and quizzes.
- 5 Mbps — recommended for most courses, including standard-definition video.
- 10 Mbps or more — best for HD video, simulations, and live virtual classroom sessions.
If you're sharing the connection with other people or devices, plan for some headroom on top of those numbers.
Step 1 — Run a quick speed test
- Open fast.com in a new tab. It loads instantly, has no ads, and gives a clear Mbps result in about 10 seconds.
- Note your download speed and compare it to the table above.
- If you can, run the test twice — once now and once at a different time of day. Speeds vary with neighborhood usage.
Step 2 — Decide which path to follow
If your speed test result is well above the recommended number but the LMS is still slow
You have plenty of bandwidth — something else is in the way. The common 2026 causes, in order of likelihood:
- VPN or corporate proxy. If you're connected to a work VPN, every byte of your course is routed through your employer's network first. Disconnect the VPN, retest, and try the LMS again. If that fixes it, ask your IT team to whitelist
*.tortal.learning.netso it bypasses the VPN. - Wi-Fi interference or weak signal. Move closer to your router, or — if possible — connect by Ethernet cable. Wired connections eliminate the most common cause of streaming hiccups.
- Browser tabs and extensions. Close any tabs you don't need, then try the course again. Privacy and ad-blocker extensions occasionally interfere with course delivery — pause them on the LMS site to test.
- Background uploads. Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Time Machine, and similar tools can saturate your upload channel even when download speed looks fine. Pause them while you take a course.
- Browser restart. Long-running browser sessions occasionally accumulate memory issues. A fresh restart resolves these instantly.
If your speed test result is below the recommended number
The bottleneck is between you and your internet provider. To narrow it down:
- Restart your modem and router. Unplug both for 30 seconds, then plug the modem back in first, wait for it to fully boot (about a minute), then plug in the router. Run the speed test again.
- Test on a wired connection if you can. A noticeable jump from Wi-Fi to Ethernet means the issue is your wireless setup, not your internet service.
- Test at a different time of day. Evening peak hours (roughly 7-11 PM local time) are when most home connections slow down.
- If speeds are still well below what you pay for, contact your internet provider. They can run diagnostics on the line and dispatch a technician if needed.
If you've tried everything and the LMS is still slow
Open a support request and include:
- Your fast.com result (a screenshot is ideal).
- Whether you're on Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
- Whether a VPN or corporate proxy is active.
- The course you're trying to take and the step that's slow (loading, video playback, quiz submission, etc.).
- Your browser and version — see Keep Your Browser Up to Date if you're not sure.
That information lets us identify the cause and respond with a fix in a single reply.