Telecommuting has become a common practice since the pandemic, and video conferencing tools have become essential to help us organize remote meetings and maintain conversations with our colleagues.
How much Internet speed is required for all this video? Follow along with us. We’ll explain how much bandwidth you need for your video calls.
There are several factors that influence the quality of your video calls, here they are:
- The download speed determines the quality of the video reception of other participants in the call.
- The upload speed affects the ability of your connection to send your video stream to other participants.
- Latency affects the timing of your connections. High latency can distort calls and cause lag.
The speeds that are required to use video conferencing apps such as Zoom are not very fast. Most homes already have a sufficient Internet connection to use these apps at home.
Here are the Internet speeds we recommend for uninterrupted video calls:
- At least 10 Mb/s download speed per call
- At least 1 Mbps of upload speed per call
The number of people and devices using your home internet at the same time is also an important factor in determining the speed you need.
What is the minimum Internet speed required to use my video conferencing apps?
Here are the Internet speeds you need based on video conferencing apps:
| Apps | Minimum upload speed | Minimum download speed | Recommended upload speed | Recommended download speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom | 800 Kbps | 1 Mb/s | 3 Mb/s | 2.5 Mb/s |
| Google Hangouts et Google Meet | 3.2 Mb/s | 1.8 Mb/s | 3.2 Mb/s | 3.2 Mb/s |
| Slack | 600 Kbps | 600 Kbps | 600 Kbps | 2 Mb/s |
| Microsoft Teams | 500 Kbps | 1 Mb/s | 1 Mb/s | 2 Mb/s |
What are the tips to improve the quality of my video calls if I don’t have the minimum speed?
Disable the video option
To free up bandwidth, you can turn off the video option to improve the quality of the audio during a video call.
Close your other apps
If you’re on a call in a video conferencing app, multitasking can slow down your connection. Close your web browser tabs and other apps to optimize your conferences meetings as much as possible.
If you have other computers, phones or game consols on your network, think about closing them too, as they may clog up your bandwidth to download updates or share pictures and videos to cloud services.
Restart your modem and router
An easy way is to restart your modem and router. Sometimes a reboot is all that is needed to fix Internet connection problems.
Move your router
To improve your Wi-Fi signal, you can also move your router to a central location in your home. You can place it on a table or shelf, away from metal objects, microwave ovens and other obstacles that could block your signal.
Connect an Ethernet cable
Instead of connecting to a Wi-Fi signal, you can plug your computer directly into your router with an Ethernet cable for a faster, more powerfull connection.