Cheat Sheet: Conference Calls

Does reliable broadband mean reliable conference calls?

In a word: yes. Having enough bandwidth to handle your calls, and a reliable service with little downtime, means that your video conferencing experience is likely to be smoother and more pleasant.

Our top tips for ensuring quality conference calls:

Whether you're catching up with a hybrid team at work or ringing granny in Australia, video calls have become an important part of day-to-day life. No matter who you're chatting to, call reliability is super important. There's nothing more frustrating than glitchy video and missing audio.

If you find your video and audio calls keep dropping out over WiFi, it could be your broadband connection that's to blame. Here's what to investigate.

Check your internet speed

Conference calling relies heavily on bandwidth, especially when video is involved. If you want to enjoy smooth video conferencing, you should check your internet for the following things:

  • Minimum speed: a minimum download speed of 1.5 Mbps is generally recommended for basic audio calls. For video calls, a minimum download speed of 3 Mbps is suggested.
  • Consistent speed: a stable internet connection doesn't experience frequent fluctuations or drops, which can cut your calls short

Pro tip: You can check your broadband speed using a speed test website like Which? Broadband test, Fast.com, or SpeedTest.net.

Get rid of network congestion to speed up video conferences

The easiest way to visualise why bandwidth is important for video conferencing is to try and imagine your internet connection as a motorway. The bandwidth is the amount of lanes, and the data you're sharing is the cars. 

Small jobs, like replying to an email, are like one car. But bigger jobs

 If there are lots of cars on the road, traffic can grind to a halt.

  • Avoid peak hours: Schedule your conference calls for quieter parts of the day. If the whole family is home, streaming films and playing games, you'll have less bandwidth for video conferencing.
  • Prioritise bandwidth: You can free up some "lanes" by closing unnecessary applications or websites that might be sharing data and eating up your bandwidth.

Ask your internet provider for a new router

Using an old modem or router can sometimes result in slow broadband speeds, as they don't have the capacity to handle fast internet.

To check whether you need to upgrade your router:

  1. Run a speed test over Wi-Fi
  2. Plug your laptop or computer into the router using an ethernet cable
  3. Run another speed test.

If your results are different at each stage, then it's likely to be an issue with your equipment.

At this point, you can do a few things to see what's affecting your speed (and video conferencing experience).

  1. Log in to your router's interface by typing its IP address into your browser. If you don’t know it, you can find it by:
  2. Windows PC: opening Command Prompt and typing ‘ipconfig /all’
  3. Mac: Navigating to System Settings, then Wi-Fi, and clicking ‘Details’ next to the router.
  4. Log in using the default admin login details
  5. Check for software or firmware updates, and apply them if any are available.
  6. If not, factory reset your router and see if that speeds things up.

If you're still getting nowhere near the speeds you expect from your internet service, it's time to get a new router.

Upgrade to a better broadband package

Speak to your internet provider to see if they have any faster packages available. Your bad internet connection might just be down to not having enough bandwidth or speed.

As a guideline, your ideal internet speed for different things should be:

  • Basic tasks (browsing, email): 10-25 Mbps
  • Streaming (HD video): 25-50 Mbps
  • Best speed for video conferencing and online gaming: 50-100 Mbps
  • Heavy downloads and 4K streaming: 100 Mbps or higher.

If you live in a multi-person household, where your family members or housemates are likely to be using the internet while you're video conferencing, it might be worth going for a faster package.

Future Connected Fibre - video conference cheat sheet

With reliable broadband, you can enjoy the benefit of video conferencing without the frustrations

Future Connected Fibre is committed to consistently deliver fast, stable and uninterrupted fibre broadband so your video calls will run smoothly. Our broadband internet connection uses a full fibre network, which is more reliable than traditional copper cables. This means less downtime, and the best video and audio conferencing experience around.