(Visit this page again easily -- http://go.middlebury.edu/homenetwork)
In most cases your home network works just fine for you and your family. When trying to participate in a video conference call or a class, however, you may run into bandwidth constraints. In those cases you may experience choppy audio or video. Zoom may notice and send you a message along the lines of “Your Internet Connection is Unstable”.
Here are some steps you can take that may address those stability issues, listed in priority of effectiveness:
- Turn off your Zoom video. Zoom audio uses far less bandwidth than video.
- Close applications on your computer that may consume bandwidth in the background unless you’re actively using them. (Don’t close Zoom while on a Zoom call!)
- Microsoft OneDrive
- Google Drive File Stream
- MS Teams
- DropBox
- Make sure your laptop screen is open even if working with external monitors.
- The wireless antenna in a laptop is located in the screen. If your laptop is now at home and you are using a docking station, the laptop may be closed if you have external monitors and this greatly reduces the range you can be from your wireless access point.
- Turn off other computers that aren’t actively in use,
- or at least disable their WiFi or wired connection temporarily.
- Ask family members to stay offline temporarily while you’re in an online meeting, conference, or class.
- No Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, multi-player gaming, or streaming music.
- Temporarily turn off devices that use the network, including:
- TELEVISION DEVICES: Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, etc.
- MOBILE PHONES
- PERSONAL ASSISTANTS: Siri, Alexa, Google Home, etc.
- VIDEO CAMERAS: Ring doorbell, Nest Hello, any video camera that uses the network and can upload video to cloud storage
- GAMING SYSTEMS: XBOX, Playstation, Nintendo Switch, etc.
- SMART TELEVISIONS
- MUSIC STREAMING: Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, etc.
- Close other browser tabs that aren’t in use, like Facebook or other pages that may auto-refresh.
- Try an Ethernet cable rather than WiFi.
- An Ethernet cable is often “faster” than WiFi, but it can also bypass a problematic WiFi configuration.
- If the Ethernet cable works better than WiFi, it may be worth seeking assistance in the setup of the WiFi router.