Preparing to deploy SimChat

SimChat's voice and video simulations run in the browser and rely on real-time connections to AI services. Most problems come down to the environment (e.g. network issues, background noise, or a poor microphone). Working through the steps in this guide can help prevent most issues.

The most important step is to test SimChat on the actual network and devices your learners will use.

1. Test on the network learners will use

This is the most common cause of problems on university, hospital and corporate networks.

SimChat uses several AI providers to deliver simulations. Managed networks sometimes block these providers or the real-time audio and video traffic they depend on, even when everything works fine on a home broadband connection.

To check:

• Open a voice or video scenario on the same Wi-Fi or wired network your learners will use, ideally on a managed device too.
• Confirm you can hear the AI and that it can hear you.
• If it works at home but not on the institution's network, the network is almost certainly the cause.

If you run into blocks, ask your IT or network team to allow SimChat and its providers. Useful things to request:

• Allow traffic to simchat.ai, elevenlabs.io, anam.ai and openai.com (and their subdomains).
• Allow real-time media (WebRTC and secure WebSocket / WSS) connections, which voice and video rely on.
• Confirm no content filter or proxy is stripping out audio or video streams.

Firewall change requests can take a few days or weeks to approve, so we suggest contacting your IT department as early as you can if you encounter issues.

2. Confirm devices and browsers are ready

SimChat works best using modern browsers (e.g. Google Chrome, Safari) on a desktop or laptop.

Before the session:

• Check that learners' devices have a working microphone, and speakers or headphones.
• Make sure the browser is up to date.
• On managed devices, confirm that microphone access isn't blocked by a central policy. IT can lock this down in a way individual users can't change.
• If your IT department installs browser extensions (security, content filtering), test that they don't interfere with audio.

The step-by-step microphone permission instructions for each browser are in Microphone and audio troubleshooting, which you can share with learners.

3. Consider the environment

SimChat listens for natural pauses to decide when a learner has finished speaking. A quiet space and a decent microphone make a clear difference to how well the conversation works.

Encourage learners to:

• Use a quiet room. Background noise can confuse the AI about when someone has stopped talking.
• Use a headset or earbuds with a microphone. Built-in laptop mics can pick up too much background noise. A headset positioned close to the mouth gives much cleaner input and better results.
• Avoid shared, echoey spaces like open-plan libraries or large halls where several people are speaking at once.

If you're running a whole cohort in one room at the same time, we suggest spreading people out, using headsets, or staggering voice activities so dozens of microphones aren't open at once.

Instructions for learners

We have put together some instructions for learners that can help avoid most issues from occurring. You can copy and paste these, and send to learners.

To get the best results when practising with SimChat, we'd recommend using a modern browser (e.g. Google Chrome) on a laptop or desktop, as this gives the most reliable performance for voice and video conversations. Try to find a quiet space where you won't be interrupted, and use a headset or earbuds with a microphone wherever possible, as these capture your voice far more clearly than a laptop's built-in microphone. The first time you start a voice or video conversation, your browser will ask for permission to use your microphone, so select Allow to let the AI avatar hear you. If you run into any difficulties, whether the AI can't hear you or you can't hear it, our microphone and audio troubleshooting guide explains how to fix the most common problems: https://support.simchat.ai/en/article/microphone-and-audio-troubleshooting-1lwdiv4/

Still need help?

If you've worked through these steps and SimChat still isn't behaving as expected on your network, contact us at support@simchat.ai. For network issues, let us know whether it's a university, hospital, NHS or corporate network so we can point your IT team to the right settings.

Updated on: 24/06/2026