Improving Your Zoom Connection

Below are a number of steps you can take if you are having connection issues when using Zoom:

1. Use the best internet connection you can. In general wired connections are better than wireless connections and wifi connections are better than cellular connections. Also try to move as close to your wifi router as possible for the strongest signal.

2. If you are sharing an internet connection with other household members make sure they are not using up your internet bandwidth by streaming HD video or downloading large files from the internet during the meeting time – this includes using media devices like Roku or Amazon Fire.

3. Mute your microphone when you’re not speaking. When your microphone is on Zoom will devote part of your connection to an audio stream for you, even if you are not speaking.

4. Stop your webcam video when you don’t need it. Obviously Zoom is primarily a video tool but if there are too many connection issues really try to limit the amount of video data being transferred between attendees so at least the audio will be clear

5. Disable HD webcam video. In the Zoom app’s preferences you can disable HD video to reduce the amount of data being transferred over your connection:

6. Close unneeded applications on your computer – including Chrome tabs! Zoom meetings can demand significant memory and processing power from your computer. Closing other applications will help Zoom run better.

7. Avoid other activities that will take-up bandwidth. Don’t start other bandwidth-intensive activities just before, or during a Zoom meeting. This includes: 

– large downloads
– large uploads
– streaming video
– cloud backups (including Time Machine)
– cloud file synchronizations (including apps like Photos on the Mac)

As more and more people work/study from home on their consumer internet connections we will unfortunately start to see more and more connection issues and slower internet speeds overall.

This entry was posted in Office Updates. Bookmark the permalink.