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Mitigating limited bandwidth

Some things you can try:
 
Google “internet speed test” and then click on the blue “Run Speed Test” button. This is an instantaneous measure and can change with time of day and level of internet activity by your neighbors, but it will give a first approximation of your bandwidth. For Zoom meetings, you want upload and download speeds to be above 10 Mb/sec.
 
Your internet service: check your bandwidth level on your bill or in your account settings online. If it’s not at the maximum available for your area, ask if they can elevate your service, at least temporarily. Let them know what the results of your speed test are if they are below 100 Mb/sec for download speeds.
 
House-related:
1. Quit all other applications that are not needed during your session.
2. TV and telephone service, if provided by your internet service provider, will also consume bandwidth. Minimize their use in your house, if possible, during your sessions.
3. If your router has ethernet ports, plug your computer into ethernet instead of using wifi. You will get the fastest, most stable connection that way.
4. Bribe your housemates with homemade cookies so they won’t stream videos while you are trying to get your work done. ;~)
 
In Zoom:
1. “Gallery View” consumes twice as much bandwidth as “Speaker View,” so anytime you can avoid Gallery View, do so.
2. Shrink your Zoom window to the minimum size that is acceptable.
3. In Preferences > Video, uncheck “Enable HD” and “Touch up my appearance”
4. Disable virtual backgrounds in your meetings. Log into https://washington.zoom.us > Settings > In Meeting (Basic)
5. Ask all participants to disable their video when not needed. 
6. Ask all participants to mute their mics when not needed.
7. Use the Zoom app, not the browser-based Zoom
 
About Zoom:
Zoom is a strange application in that it can function within a browser or by using a standalone application. To make matters worse, if you click on a link to a meeting, you don’t have to log into the UW Zoom site to join a meeting unless that has been set as a requirement by the meeting host (rare). And you can join from the browser or switch to the standalone app.
 
As if that wasn’t enough, Zoom also maintains some settings in the standalone application and other settings within one’s profile on their website. Changing settings in one’s profile may take effect immediately or not until after one leaves and re-enters a current meeting, depending on the setting.
 
Here’s how you can disambiguate Zoom:
 
2) Go back to the Finder (Mac) or Start (Windows) and open the Zoom application
3) In the Zoom app, I click on “Sign in with SSO.” This will open the Zoom web site in a web browser, but since I just did that I shouldn’t have to log in again.
4) Bring the Zoom app to the front (Command-tab > repeat until on Zoom (Mac) or Alt-Tab on WIndows).

Posted on

Friday, April 10, 2020 - 16:14
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