In the case of the (idle) chat exit, if there is a general network connectivity issue on the customer’s end, something with which neither we nor any other provider would have control, our system will try for 30 seconds to continuously reconnect with the visitor. If after 30 seconds we can receive no detection from them, the system will display the TIMEOUT message.
When this happens, they are still able to chat if their connection comes back, however, if their connection is compromised they may not be able to see the agent’s responses. Although this rarely happens, it’s a case where, with any other technology, the chat would simply be dropped and state that the customer exited the session. We could configure your account to just immediately drop the connection but we feel this would not be the correct route to take, and instead we choose as default to alert the agent and visitor that the network connection is being compromised. We do everything we can to try and keep the chat going despite the network connection the visitor has. If you ever see the (idle) next to a visitor exit please let your staff know that the visitor may not have left the chat, they are most likely having network issues on their end and Velaro is trying to reach them.