Zoom / WiFi Problems
August 28, 2020 9:33 AM Subscribe
What should I do to reduce Zoom lag/freezing problems?
I am frequently running into problems on Zoom where I "freeze" or, occasionally, the whole app glitches out and crashes. I've traveled a little bit this summer and I have found that these problems are reduced when I am not in my house, which makes me think that there is something uniquely bad about my home set-up.
I have a basement home office with the computer on a WiFi connection to a cable modem upstairs. The Internet plan I have is 300Mbs down and 25Mbs up. When I do a "speed test" on the computer in the basement, I achieve, generally, higher than 100Mbs down and 10Mbs up. I have a good router - Synology - and I have a mesh hub in the basement next to the computer. The mesh hub in the basement says it is has average transmission and receiving rates to the main router of higher than 600Mbs and is otherwise "healthy."
When I am on a Zoom call, I sometimes check the bandwidth "statistics" in the settings menu. The one thing that jumps out at me is occasionally, there will be a very high "lost packets" reading -- like 50% or 80% of lost packets on the transmission side -- which will appear for a few seconds but then disappear.
The main problem I experience on Zoom is that I "freeze" for the other participants and/or I get the "your connection is unstable" message. I sometimes use my phone to dial into the audio part of the call, so that I can still participate when the video dies, but this is annoying and produces bad audio much of the time.
I tried to run an ethernet line from the upstairs main router down to the basement office, working with CAT-5 that is in the walls of the house. I haven't quite gotten the line to the office yet - I got it down to the panel in the basement where all the cables terminate. But, probably because of my amateur cable crimping, I am getting only about 70Mbs throughput on the CAT5. But maybe if I got this cable into the office, even with not great speed, it would be better than the WiFi?
The one part of this that is very frustrating is that I haven't experienced the same freezing problems when I am somewhere else, even where the WiFi isn't fantastic. I have been in places using WiFi where the "speed test" readings on the computer are lower than what I get at home, but the Zoom connection is more reliable. It's like there is something specific about my house or set-up that is causing the problems.
Anyway, any thoughts on what I should do to try to fix this? Thanks
I am frequently running into problems on Zoom where I "freeze" or, occasionally, the whole app glitches out and crashes. I've traveled a little bit this summer and I have found that these problems are reduced when I am not in my house, which makes me think that there is something uniquely bad about my home set-up.
I have a basement home office with the computer on a WiFi connection to a cable modem upstairs. The Internet plan I have is 300Mbs down and 25Mbs up. When I do a "speed test" on the computer in the basement, I achieve, generally, higher than 100Mbs down and 10Mbs up. I have a good router - Synology - and I have a mesh hub in the basement next to the computer. The mesh hub in the basement says it is has average transmission and receiving rates to the main router of higher than 600Mbs and is otherwise "healthy."
When I am on a Zoom call, I sometimes check the bandwidth "statistics" in the settings menu. The one thing that jumps out at me is occasionally, there will be a very high "lost packets" reading -- like 50% or 80% of lost packets on the transmission side -- which will appear for a few seconds but then disappear.
The main problem I experience on Zoom is that I "freeze" for the other participants and/or I get the "your connection is unstable" message. I sometimes use my phone to dial into the audio part of the call, so that I can still participate when the video dies, but this is annoying and produces bad audio much of the time.
I tried to run an ethernet line from the upstairs main router down to the basement office, working with CAT-5 that is in the walls of the house. I haven't quite gotten the line to the office yet - I got it down to the panel in the basement where all the cables terminate. But, probably because of my amateur cable crimping, I am getting only about 70Mbs throughput on the CAT5. But maybe if I got this cable into the office, even with not great speed, it would be better than the WiFi?
The one part of this that is very frustrating is that I haven't experienced the same freezing problems when I am somewhere else, even where the WiFi isn't fantastic. I have been in places using WiFi where the "speed test" readings on the computer are lower than what I get at home, but the Zoom connection is more reliable. It's like there is something specific about my house or set-up that is causing the problems.
Anyway, any thoughts on what I should do to try to fix this? Thanks
Zoom claims you only need 3 Mbps (up/down) for HD-quality group calling w/gallery view, so the plugged in ethernet, even at the reduced rate, should be more than sufficient and would be my next priority in terms of testing.
posted by 10ch at 10:07 AM on August 28, 2020
posted by 10ch at 10:07 AM on August 28, 2020
Do you turn off/reboot your computer more often when you're traveling?
I use an old computer and have started not just quitting cpu/memory intensive apps before important zoom sessions but restarting the computer altogether, and it seems like it's made a difference. (Either that or zoom or my internet service have coincidentally improved over the same timeframe - regardless, I have very few disruptions now where I had a fair amount before.)
ETA: sometimes I would get zoom's "your CPU usage is too high" message, but more often I would get the one about unstable internet, and I've hardly seen that message lately.
posted by trig at 10:22 AM on August 28, 2020
I use an old computer and have started not just quitting cpu/memory intensive apps before important zoom sessions but restarting the computer altogether, and it seems like it's made a difference. (Either that or zoom or my internet service have coincidentally improved over the same timeframe - regardless, I have very few disruptions now where I had a fair amount before.)
ETA: sometimes I would get zoom's "your CPU usage is too high" message, but more often I would get the one about unstable internet, and I've hardly seen that message lately.
posted by trig at 10:22 AM on August 28, 2020
2ndin trig’s suggestion that you may not be experiencing a connection problem but a processing problem. At least that’s what they told us at work. Various laptop models in use by the organisation at the moment have specs that may get pushed to their limits with video conferencing in addition to the other applications we run. They recommended not to assume the problem is our internet connection but to be diligent about restarting and about closing applications we’re not actively using in the moment, to see if that improves things. Of course if there are various users of a connection that can add to the problem.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:00 PM on August 28, 2020
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:00 PM on August 28, 2020
Counter-intuitively, you might want to try unplugging your downstairs mesh unit (since it sounds like it's connecting wirelessly to your other mesh units). If your computer is literally right next to the mesh unit, then it may actually be worse than having no mesh unit at all. The computer is establishing a connection to the mesh unit that itself needs to establish another connection with the other mesh unit.
Removing the mesh unit means that the computer can connect with the other mesh unit directly and removes a possible point of failure in the connection. Lesser mesh units only have a single 5 Ghz radio and 2.4 Ghz radio. If it's using one radio to connect to your computer, it may have to fall back to the other radio to connect to the other mesh unit during streaming, which means now you're going to have 2.4 Ghz network congestion with your neighbors.
Your computer also might be doing something stupid like switching back and forth between the two mesh units when it thinks one connection is "bad".
posted by meowzilla at 4:23 PM on August 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
Removing the mesh unit means that the computer can connect with the other mesh unit directly and removes a possible point of failure in the connection. Lesser mesh units only have a single 5 Ghz radio and 2.4 Ghz radio. If it's using one radio to connect to your computer, it may have to fall back to the other radio to connect to the other mesh unit during streaming, which means now you're going to have 2.4 Ghz network congestion with your neighbors.
Your computer also might be doing something stupid like switching back and forth between the two mesh units when it thinks one connection is "bad".
posted by meowzilla at 4:23 PM on August 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
Your speed tests strongly suggest that this is not a network speed issue. It sounds like it's either a network connectivity issue or a more basic computer issue. The fact that you report it getting better while not at home makes me suspect it's some issue with your mesh network. You should definitely try the cable. 70 Mbps should be more than adequate for Zoom. What you really want is a consistent connection; that's what a wire gets you that wireless sometimes does not.
posted by Betelgeuse at 9:33 PM on August 28, 2020
posted by Betelgeuse at 9:33 PM on August 28, 2020
A wired Ethernet connection is always going to be more stable than a wifi connection, so I suspect you will get a better Zoom connection with cat5 even if the overall speed is lower. Keep in mind that cat6 cable is also pretty cheap if you need a faster connection. (I recently ran 150ft of cat6 cable from the router in our landlord's garage to our back room so I could teach Zoom classes there, and I do have way fewer glitches/dropped calls.)
posted by speicus at 8:51 AM on August 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by speicus at 8:51 AM on August 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Update: I think I fixed this (knock wood). I connected the macbook to the mesh router with an ethernet cable (which was a little bit of pain because the macbook does not have an ethernet jack, so I am using a USB adapter). The mesh router connects wirelessly to the main router upstairs, which connects by ethernet to the cable modem. So, the only wireless link is between the two routers. The "speedtest" results on the macbook have not changed significantly, but it seems that this connection must be more stable (or something) because Zoom hasn't had any problem since I started it this way.
It is interesting to me that this setup works better than simply having the computer connect directly to the main router by wifi. I.e., the wifi connection between the two routers must be superior to the connection between my computer and the router upstairs. Better radios/antenna, I guess? In any event, +1 to the advice of trying to replace wireless portions of your network with ethernet.
posted by Mid at 6:34 AM on November 10, 2020
It is interesting to me that this setup works better than simply having the computer connect directly to the main router by wifi. I.e., the wifi connection between the two routers must be superior to the connection between my computer and the router upstairs. Better radios/antenna, I guess? In any event, +1 to the advice of trying to replace wireless portions of your network with ethernet.
posted by Mid at 6:34 AM on November 10, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by matcha action at 9:48 AM on August 28, 2020