{"id":3768,"date":"2024-08-06T16:26:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T14:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xn--nrttipaikalle-imb.fi\/en_gb\/?p=3768"},"modified":"2026-01-20T13:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:52:12","slug":"you-are-breaking-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norttipaikalle.fi\/fi\/you-are-breaking-up\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYou are breaking up ..\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019ve all had that experience. The appointment for the online meeting was made well advance, you\u2019ve had the necessary comfort break, your coffee is by your side, you think you\u2019ve got a great network connection, the online meeting starts .. and someone says \u201cYou\u2019re breaking up..\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan you hear me ok? You are breaking up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYe__ \u2026 _ _an hea_ _ou __st fine!\u201d, and the picture looks like it\u2019s been pushed through a Minecraft filter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember the days of dial-up when I was in university. If you were lucky you had a 56k connection. The university had what was called, if i remember correctly, a \u201cT1\u201d connection. Meaning it was \u201ctrunk connection\u201d with a 1Mb connection speed. This was blisteringly fast. A webpage would render in under 30 seconds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, many of us have great access to the internet with download speeds which were unheard of \u2018back in the day\u2019. If we use a speedtest tool (below<\/a>) and we get a measly 1Mb, we maybe feeling like the world is ending. #firstWorldProblems. Am I right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check your bandwidth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bandwidth is a term which basically means, “how much stuff you can squeeze down a pipe.\u201d. This can be your own brain or, in this case, a data connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally when we talk about bandwidth, we might think of how fast stuff arrives to our phone or computer; our connections download speed. We often neglect to think about the upload speed. A decent download speed over of healthy connection is important for the quality of the incoming video, but it’s the speed and quality of of the upload connection which affects quality of the video leaving your computer – i.e. how your video looks and sounds to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a quick look at how much bandwidth various online conferencing apps might need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/th>Microsoft Teams<\/th>Google Meet<\/th>Skype<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Video call (HD)<\/td>1,5 – 4 Mbs<\/td>3,6 Mbs<\/td>1,5 Mbs<\/td><\/tr>
Screen sharing (HD)<\/td>1,5 – 4 Mbs<\/td>4,9 – 6,1 Mbs
(Video call + 1,3 – 2,5 Mbs)<\/td>		1,5 Mbs<\/td><\/tr>
Voice call<\/td>10 – 76 Kbs<\/td>100 Kbs<\/td>100 Kbs<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How fast.com am I?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the example below using Fast.com, taken on a train in Finland as I was writing this, only the download speed of 15 Mbps is initially shown. By clicking on the [ Show more ] button, we see my upload speed is 19 Mbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Fast.com<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Fast.com<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Normally we see around a 10:1 ratio between the download and upload speeds. In this case they are both more less equal, and both are well in excess of the minimum requirements for a good video call experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too many tabs open?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Credit: listcontents.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whilst we often look to a poor network connection as the root of our online meeting woes, there other factors which can adversely affect the quality of our call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our computers and mobile devices are wonders of the modern age, they still have a long way before having infinite resources. Getting data from your microphone and webcam, and squirting it down the internet, whilst at the same time converting the incoming data stream into something which can be presented to you as smooth video with great sound; this takes some complicated maths. This often happens seamlessly in the background, so we take it for granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you \u201cone of those folks\u201d who has a lot going on in their computer? Several browser windows full of tabs open, word processor and spreadsheet files running, music playing, and maybe a movie downloading? No wonder that your computer is feeling the strain, and sometimes we find ourselves crying, \u201cYou are breaking up!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have used one of the speedtest tools below, and are getting at least 5 Mbs in both download and upload, then the next thing to check is our computer\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick and easy solution is to simply close any programs which you aren\u2019t using. Start with those which are actively using your internet connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n