Video conferencing tools can be extremely helpful, but are frustrating when they do not work as expected.  Many factors can impact performance, but none is greater than a robust connection to the Internet. This document outlines information to help you maximize that connection and set expectations based on your location when using the tools.

On campus is ideal as W&L has a 10 gbps connection with full redundancy if our main connection were to fail. For those who must lead conferencing from home, there can be many challenges. Some scenarios are simply not adequate for leading video conferencing successfully. 

Here are our recommendations for those video conferencing at home (regardless of tool being used like Zoom or Microsoft Teams):

Have a Plan B (and/or C)!  Applications like Zoom and others will be taxed at a high level given the increase in global usage (let alone the Internet as a whole.)  It is suggested you become familiar with at least two tools, but be prepared for interruptions that may occur depending on availability.

As mentioned above, if your situation allows, video conference from campus. The connection will likely be the most reliable and without students here, 10 gbps will go a long way.

Maximize quality and minimize disruptions:

Do you need video?  Video is the number one consuming factor of bandwidth.

• Turn off your own video. You have a friendly face, but that’s a lot of pixels to try to send over the connection, especially if it is lousy.
• Mute audience video. Yes, it’s nice to see student faces to see their level of engagement but don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Your audio, the students’ audio, and the screen sharing of content are most important.

Don’t try to share videos during your video conference. Send students the links and let them watch the videos before or after the session.

Don’t complicate the situation with technological gymnastics.

• Share a PowerPoint or a document, but don’t try to use MyVI to remote to an on-campus computer or to connect to cloud resources demonstrating a 3-D simulation of a frog dissection, or use bootcamp on your Mac to connect to anything.
• The KISS (keep it simply silly) principle applies.

If the video conference is still bad, abandon ship and regroup.

• Try your Plan B tool if live instruction is still desired.
• Otherwise, you can use YuJa on your computer to create a lecture video.
• You can upload the video to Box and share it with your students, who can then download it and watch it.
• Yes, it’s not perfect, but is perfect our goal right now?

When working at home, the more people and devices you have connected to your home network, the more your video conference will have to compete for WiFi, making disruptions more likely.

Here are some things you can do to help:

• If your TV is connected to your wireless network, unplug it, as typically it can run downloads and updates while “sleeping.” If you’re not sure if it is connected or not, just unplug it.
• If your phone is using the wireless network, turn off WiFi on your phone and use cellular data if you can. Do this for every phone in the house.
• If you have devices like Amazon Echo, or other smart devices, unplug them.
• Any online gaming during your conference will definitely drain bandwidth and impact the quality of your session.  Unplug the gaming device, as those too can update in the background
• If there are multiple laptops and computers in the house using the wireless network, turn off WiFi or just shut down those competing computers if you can.
• If you have Ring or Nest devices, or a smart refrigerator, you obviously can’t unplug them, but be aware that they are using part of your internet connection and competing with your video conference. 

Know your connection!

• Do a speed test.  Testing your speed connection to the Internet is a helpful method to gain insight and setting your expectations. Speed tests are not 100%, but do provide insight into the general range of speed you will have available.
• The free speedtest.net website (also available as an iOS/Android app) provides an end-to-end test of all the factors affecting your device’s connection: your internet provider, your home network setup, and the device you’re on.

The ideal connection results!

• 15 megabit per second (Mb/s) or better download speed
• 5 megabit per second (Mb/s) or better upload speed
• A ‘ping time’ of less than 75 milliseconds

• Each platform is going to have their own recommendations but generally, video conferencing will consume up to 3 Mbps up/down depending on quality. Also, several tools have a “test your call” option built in.
• Make a test call in Teams
• Make a test call in Zoom

Understand the capabilities of your connection type and if it is adequate.

• Best: Fiber (e.g., BARC or other RANA provider)—if you’re one of the lucky ones with a fiber connection, your experience should be better, assuming you don’t have a lot of competition from family and devices that are using wi-fi.
• Next Best: Cable (e.g., Comcast) –typically offering sufficient speeds but service can degrade quickly depending on volume of users at any given moment. Higher speeds can be requested.
• Can Be Good: Cellular (e.g., Verizon, Sprint, AT&T) –options such as MiFi’s or home cellular service can be helpful for remote areas but are costly and typically have data caps. Some providers are offering unlimited data for the next 60 days. Many smartphone devices have “hotspots” that allow sharing of cellular data with other equipment in the same way WIFI operates.
• Can Be Good: DSL (e.g., Century Link)—greatly varies in speed depending on location, some higher speeds may work well but muchof the rural connections are limited and you might experience fractured performance from the video conferencing software, especially if there are people and devices competing for WiFibandwidth in your house.
• Poor: Satellite—this will probably not be an optimal experience.