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Ok this is driving me mad! We are on the pile of **** that is Vodaphone broadband. In the last couple of months, despite having typical download speeds during the day of 20-25Mb, I regularly get an awful connection on MS Teams, meaning I have to keep switching my camera off, disable everything on my laptop/close Outlook etc. Seems to have got worse since I plugged in a new external monitor and moving my laptop 2 foot to the right (!). I am at home on my own most days, no Sonos/TV etc on in the background (my phone and laptop are the only things actively using the network, though I realise the likes of Hive are running in the background). Other processes e.g. downloading documents are fine.
Ok not having the camera on is a blessing at times, but I just had a meeting with a potential new commercial partner and them not being able to see me was a bit of a nightmare (I'd even ironed my top!). (Turned camera off to be able to stop the audio breaking up).
Any suggestions how to improve this (doesn't make any difference whether I am on 2.4 or 5 GHz connection)? Ethernet cable isn't really an option - would need to be run upstairs across doorways, and the laptop doesn't have an ethernet port (realise an adaptor is possible, but experience with them in the past has been bad).
No problems here on Vodafone broadband, wife and I are often on video calls at the same time.
Homeplug/powerline things are worth a go - we use some like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-PA4010KIT-Powerline-Configuration-Required-UK/dp/B01BECPIMC/ - you'll need an ethernet port (or USB one, or docking station) though on your laptop.
If calls work OK when your laptop is close to the router, then it's down to the wifi. The other route is to use a better wifi solution - we have a Unifi UAP-AC-LR. I'd intended to buy a few more for the house but it covers all the way up to the attic absolutely fine just with one.
Does the audio crap out completely?
I've had an issue with this since my company started using Teams. Only affects a small number of windows 10 users. I get around it by joining meetings from my phone as well and using that for audio. (Same network, although I can switch to 4g if I need to).
I had the same issue with Skype for working from home. We get a reliable 25Mb or so connection & my laptop was not showing any issues, but the work Dell laptop was getting a really patchy connection.
I ended up stumping up for some Netgear powerline adaptors with a pass-through plug (£50 from Argos) and a 5m ethernet cable to run around the edge of the spare room. I know you said that ethernet cable would not be your preferred option, but my connection is now (almost) rock solid. Any drop-outs now seem to be a result of our work network, rather than anything happening at home.
Sometimes, I think the problems are not the user's bandwidth but more to do with congestion or some other problem at the Microsoft end.
This morning, I couldn't take part in a teams meeting. Video dropping out, sound garbled etc. Running an internet speed check on my laptop (same machine running Teams), I was seeing 290Mbit down, 48 (more than enough, you'd hope!). Half an hour later in my next meeting, it was all working perfectly.
Annoying but I don't think there's much I can do (or you, if it's the same problem).
We had a decent NetGear multichannel router, but when we moved from PlusNet to Vodaphone at the end of last year, we had issues with the connection and they asked us to plug their router in. We also have occasional issues watching videos on mobile devices, but this is rare compared to my MS Teams issues.
Annoyingly we got rid of all the Powerline adaptors when we got rid of the old desktop, but you are right maybe I need to try that route again, with an adaptor for the laptop.
Are you using the normal VF router for wireless? Unfortunately fault finding is very much tial and error so I don't think there is a quick fix.
Couple of things to look at, firstly, is the laptop performing okay, I've found that my laptop was underpowered, locked up with too many videos, processor through the roof on calls, unresponsive windows etc... so I've switched to a PC (Ryzen + RTX 2070 Super) which can now cope with a Teams calls properly and is totally overkill.
If that looks okay then I know you said that a ethernet cable is not really practical, but is it possible to try it for elimination purposes? If you see better performance from here it's you connectivity/wireless.
If it is a connectivity issue, you could look at powerline which uses your houses electrical circuits to create connectivity, this is pretty good and I've used it sucessfully in the past. The other option is a wireless network upgrade, maybe a mesh system (check the reviews online as they are updated frequently).
Daft question but have you tried your phone as a Hotspot?
I use my work mobile for 'work' internet requirements and it works well. Good option if you have a work phone to try as its at their cost.
I ran a ping test to the MS Teams server, and the red bars are the point I made a call to my colleague to test it. Can someone who understands these things better tells me what this means?
Are you using the normal VF router for wireless?
Yes, on their instructions. I can still go back to the NetGear though.
firstly, is the laptop performing okay,
Seems to be. It is still Windows 7, and a work machine. I have limited admin rights for it, and I dont have another option - it is the machine I have been given and until Universities recover from this mess, there won't be another one! We are on a spending freeze.
Daft question but have you tried your phone as a Hotspot?
Currently very low on data until I can change to a new contract (which is thankfully tomorrow!)
I'll go and order a powerline now - might be able to pick something up from Amazon or Argos quickly.
Upload speed can be more important than download - and is often a lot lower.
Might be worth logging into your router and checking settings (my password is on the bottom of the router).
Had issues over the weekend and spent 2.5hrs on chat with Vodafone. Resorted to a hard reset (15s pushing the pin hole next to the power button) and power cycles - all good now. Think the initial problem was caused by power problems to the BT Openreach socket.
Resorted to a hard reset
Yes we ended up doing the same - which helped with the video streaming on the ipads. However, the MS Teams issue continues!
Upload speeds are ~15Mb.
Nothing much to add except I also think Vodafone broadband is sh*t. We are in an almost entirely uncongested wifi area - only one other AP visible, the sync speed is good and a speedtest shows a healthy 60+mbps download and 18ish up. Video craps out a lot, buffering on Netflix and Prime, drop outs on SONOS etc. We are already on our second router (only installed in Feb) but only after a tortuous round of "try this, try that" from their first and second line support.
I think their router is crap so that's the first thing I'll be replacing now that the kids are back at school and not needing to be online all day, every day! Then I'll be back to Plusnet once the contract is up, absolutely faultless service from them but I saw a chance to save a few quid so switch to VF. <facepalm>
I'd run a cable temporarily - if the issues go away, sort your wifi, if they don't look further.
It wouldn't surprise me a lot if it wasn't Teams being exceptionally resource hungry.
I think their router is crap so that’s the first thing I’ll be replacing now that the kids are back at school and not needing to be online all day, every day! Then I’ll be back to Plusnet once the contract is up, absolutely faultless service from them but I saw a chance to save a few quid so switch to VF. <facepalm>
I switched from plusnet to vodafone, but kept my kit (vodafone will give you the pppoe credentials if you ask for them). It's all been fine.
I was using a BT homehub on my Plusnet account, they are firmware locked to only allow BT and affiliated accounts, wouldn't accept my Voda credentials. First thing I tried 🙂
Moved in March from Plusnet to VF.
Find the router to be far superior - and get a lot less issues and drop outs.
Even the kids have stopped complaining.
Everyone is different!
How old is the laptop and what spec is it?
Might be worth looking into the task manager to see if teams is taking all your resources when trying to use video calls.
Do you use a VPN for work, as that could be throttling the bandwidth?
Part of the issue might be how your company has deployed Teams. If you're using a VPN to get into work systems, sending the voice/video traffic down that can cause issues due to congestion at the VPN endpoints. The recommended setting is split-tunneling, so the voice/video data is sent outside of the VPN (it's still encrypted end to end), so directly over the internet. Everything else stays over the VPN.
And that's how we do it ourselves
https://www.microsoft.com/itshowcase/blog/running-on-vpn-how-microsoft-is-keeping-its-remote-workforce-connected/
How long have you been with them? The new Vodafone router is fine but the old one was terrible. Could be worth asking for a replacement if so.
I think it's actually network congestion at Vodafone, because I've noticed my own (Vodafone FTTC) connection being quite unreliable of late. When a download gets going it's fine, but sometimes web browsing or music streaming falls over.
Tried using the Cloudflare DNS but it didn't make any difference.
Not using a VPN as the Uni only had a limited number of access points so we have been asked to not use it unless critical. Just downloaded Teams locally from the Uni Office 365 suite. It has just got worse in the last 2 months or so. Zoom calls don’t have the same issues, so some of the suggestions on Teams usage on the computer seem sensible - I’ll have a look at that now.
Think we have been with VF for about 8 months. Unfortunately an 18 month contract which we will change as quickly as we can. I’ll check with p20 re putting the Netgear router back in when he’s home - despite me being named on the account they won’t ever talk to me!!
Laptop is 4 year old Ultrabook with i7 processor. I can do things like Illustrator etc with no problems.
I sorted my VF issues by bypassing the WiFi.
The broadband was ok, but the WiFi got congested.
LAN cable to one laptop, another LAN cable to a Netgear WiFi box (technically a set of Orbi as it’s a big house) problem sorted.
Three concurrent video calls including some in Teams albeit on a 60Mb connection (upload only 17Mb though).
Windows 7 and no admin rights? I'd be formatting the bastard. (-:
I've not much to add to the above, some good advice here. You've too many variables so you need to start ruling things out. Take the faceplate off the NTE5 master socket and plug into the test socket to rule out home wiring issues. Try Ethernet cable as someone else suggested to rule out Wi-Fi issues. Look at Task Manager when you're on a call and see if anything is particularly maxed out, rule out laptop issues. Then see where we're at.
Aside, when you're using your camera, download speed is irrelevant.
I had this in the early stages of lockdown. I was with Plusnet and normally my download/upload was 80/20mbps. However teams calls would randomly have awful connectivity. So temporarily I ran a Cat5 cable from the router to the laptop. That fixed the issue. Purchased a couple of TP link power-line adaptors and that fixed the issue, even though the router is on the downstairs ring and laptop is on the upstairs ring. I was "only" getting around 30/10 mbps down/up it was much more stable. Checked the router and there wasn't any QOS or network shaping.
Oddly enough since changing ISP and getting a new router and a new laptop, (so basically everything has changed), I can now connect over WiFi and it's all good.
When you screen share try just sharing the app window you want to share not the entire screen
Right, taking on board Cougar's comment of too many variables, I tried running a call from my laptop with my colleague (who is very patient) and it was rubbish - and with only Teams and Outlook open was taking >80% of the computer memory. Even with Teams in effect idle, it was using >800,000k of memory in the process list. So I switched the same call to Teams on my iPad and apart from one small blip, had a perfect 1.5 hour video-based call! So I am now thinking is something with recent updates of Teams on my laptop! I have emailed the Uni IT Desk with numerous screenshots to see if they can take a look.
I don't really use Teams, but have had to use it once or twice to have conference calls with suppliers who don't use Skype.
I understand it can run in the Teams app, or a browser window. I wonder if the browser window option would be less 'intensive' but give you the same functionality?
I don't know how you would choose which method to run it under, i just remember when I first used it, it asked if I wanted to install Teams or access via my browser.
This looks quite useful?
Sometimes removing and installing Teams is needed to make everything work smoothly again. I’ve had to do it twice over two years of heavy use so it is not that bad.
Also audio in Teams seems to be more sensitive to latency than it is to bandwidth.
I am chairing an international conference tomorrow (amidated on Zoom) and after todays mess with commercial partners, I just can't risk the stress of this going wrong. I walked down to Currys and bought a TP Link Powerline set and an ethernet adaptor (the latter which was eye wateringly expensive but at least I now have extra USB port....) and have done some speed test (I am not forcing colleagues to test Teams at 6 pm!).
- 2.4 GHz wifi all over the place between 20 - 0.2 Mb download!!!
- 5 GHz wifi 50 Mb!! But the signal on this is a bit weak.
- Powerline ethernet connection 40 Mb and 19 Mb upload, but I'm thinking importantly steady.
The wifi from the router might be a bit **** so swapping back to the NetGear might be worth a try and I wonder if the wifi receiver in my laptop is getting a bit tired, considering I was getting 20Mb on my phone on the 2.4Ghz earlier today.
I am still going to ask IT to look at how much processor Teams is using, but worth trying a reinstall. There is a lot of memory of chats etc in there from the last 6 months!
Do a (Teams or SfB) video call to testcall@videosrv.net if you want to test - it relays what it gets back to you on a delay so you can see and hear what you look/sound like.
Oh, and drivers can be the cause of a lot of WiFi woes. So common for corporate laptops to have a build created soon after a model is launched, then they want to control updates, will push out security stuff but drivers don't get a look in unless there's a burning issue with them. Often WiFi drivers get monthly releases and fix all kinds of issues.
Re the suggestion to use a browser instead of the app, AFAIK Teams is an electron app (on windows) which effectively means that it uses a dedicated chromium engine instance. I.e it is the same code running on browser or app, just that the app is it’s own browser.
Which sucks a bit IMO because chrome can suck the life out of anything if you are not careful.
Running teams on my work (old) laptop with other resource intensive applications is an exercise in freezing. I now close any chrome sessions, outlook and share documents via share point rather than screen sharing large excel docs for example.
Try selecting Disable GPU acceleration in settings. I read that helps with slow down, seems counter intuitive but I read it on the internet...
If your wifi strength isn't good you can drop speed massively - might be great near the router, but add walls and other kit it can be bad. An extender works, but Mesh is the way to go - you can add it on.
See what performance is like when the laptop is near the router. Most routers aren't optimally placed because the bloody phone socket is in a corner somewhere, and power.
I've got BT Total Wifi with three mesh extenders in a 3 bedroom house (I Zwift in the detached garage, and work in a shed at the far end of the garden) and despite what BT say about sheds/garages (we don't cover it), they will send you more discs - I've got the lot - just added the third this week given the current situations.
You can get a mesh kit for about £100 - someone here can recommend one.