Facebook Messenger is hurting my relationship

[Cynus]

I know this is not related to AwesomeDude, but I'm starting to get desperate. I'm in the middle of a long distance relationship right now, and the only way we can currently speak to each other is through Facebook Messenger.(Yes, we have explored all other options. For one reason or another, they don't work) However, my facebook messenger keeps on disconnecting for sometimes as much as five minutes at a time. Normally this is just a mild aggravation, but today in the middle of a very important conversation in which my boyfriend had only ten minutes to talk to me, it disconnected for the full five minutes.

I don't understand why it's disconnecting. I've checked for viruses, spyware, all of the usual suspects. My internet connection works fine, and I've tried running other things at the same time facebook is disconnected in order to see if it is an overall connection issue and everything works. Java is updated...

I'm at a loss as to what to try next, and it's really starting to frustrate me. I'm hoping that someone in the community has some insight as to how to proceed.

We would appreciate any help you can offer.

[JamesSavik]

Have you considered moving to another service like yahoo messenger?

It's more reliable and less vulnerable to inyourFacebook's network problems.

Facebook is the 5000 ton gorilla of the internets. It has umpteen zillion users posting baby pictures and stalking their ex's all at the same time.

The problem you described is caused by network loading. Everything on a service like Facebook is run by a system call SAP or Service Availability Prioritization. What SAP does is assign weights to the most common applications and provide the bandwidth too make it happen. The other side of that coin is that less used services get robbed of bandwidth. They do it this way so that most people don't see the problem.

Setting up a yahoo messenger account ==> https://messenger.yahoo.com/

[Cole Parker]

James, is there a way to prioritize their chat time so someone else is interrupted? He said they have no option other than the Facebook one, which would seem to preclude going to another service. So, is there anything that can be done to improve service within the Facebook structure?

C

[Cynus]

Although yahoo messenger is a service that we did not try, we have tried google messenger, google plus, and a number of others. I can only communicate through my computer and he through his phone. He's having a hard time getting certain apps to work on his phone, and facebook messenger is so far the only one that has, other than an app that I can't get on my computer.

[JamesSavik]

Facebook is strange. It's usage patterns are bizarre because it is international.

When Europe is going to bed, the US is waking up.

When we are finally getting quiet, Asia and Australia are lighting up.

It is difficult to predict a good time to try to chat.

Your best bet is to experiment with it and see what times work best for you.

[Graeme]

Skype is another application you can try. It's available for phones as well as computers.

Good luck!

[Steven Adamson]

https://www.whatsapp.com/

If you install an android emulator first, you can use it on your PC.

Here's a guide I googled up, though I take no responsibility for the contents.

http://www.appsforpcworld.com/whatsapp-for-pc-download-windows-78xp/

[Guest Dabeagle]

Ryan and I use Yahoo for our mind melds. It works pretty well.

[Rutabaga]

I've had best luck with Yahoo Messenger in recent years.

R

[Cynus]

Thank you everyone for the help and advice. I'll keep you posted if things don't work out.