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:

 

1. 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
      
2. Turn off other computers that aren’t actively in use,
   • or at least disable their WiFi or wired connection temporarily.
      
3. 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.
      
4. 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.