Tips for Improving a Home Network

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:

• Close applications on your computer that may consume bandwidth in the background. (unless you’re using it! Don’t close Zoom while on a Zoom call.)
  • Microsoft OneDrive
  • Google Drive File Stream
  • MS Teams
  • DropBox

 

• 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, 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.