Tips for Microsoft Teams’ Best Performance

Have you ever been in a virtual meeting where someone’s image and voice froze in the middle of a sentence? Or a meeting where the speaker’s voice echoed?

Don’t let that happen to you! Here are some tips to improve Microsoft Teams’ performance so you can make the most of your meetings.

Tips for Everyone

• Test your audio and video settings before meetings. Test the microphone, speakers and camera before you join a Teams meeting to ensure your technology is working well.
   
• Turn your camera off if you experience performance issues. If your meeting has a large number of participants or someone is sharing content, turn off your camera temporarily to conserve bandwidth and improve performance. Be sure to turn your camera back on for future meetings.
   
• Answer the performance survey (star rating) at the end of each Teams meeting. This helps the support team diagnose negative experiences and make recommendations for improvement. Don’t forget to report any issues in Edison (include your name and the date, time and meeting organizer in the ticket).
   
• Have a back-up plan. Teams allows you to join meetings from any device (desktop, laptop, phone, tablet) any time during a meeting. If you experience technical issues with a device or suddenly need mobility, you have several other options to participate in a Teams meeting:
  • Download the Teams app on your Carilion mobile device.
  • Use the camera on your laptop or mobile device.
  • View and/or share content from your laptop or mobile device.
  • Use the audio on your laptop or mobile device (or desk phone if a dial-in number is provided).
  • Transfer the meeting from one device to another.
  • Join the meeting from your laptop AND mobile device at the same time. (Be sure to immediately mute the speakers on one device and the microphone on both devices.)

Additional Tips for Remote Workers

• Make sure your home network speed and bandwidth can support Teams. You’ll need the following minimum speeds:
  • 5 Mbps uplink/upload
  • 10 Mbps downlink/download
  
  To test your network speed, open a web browser, search for Speed Test, and click Run Speed Test. If your results are lower than the minimum required speed, you may be able to join a Teams meeting, but video may not work as well, and you may have other performance issues.
   
• Make sure your home wireless router can support the minimum network speeds. Many modern wireless routers offer both a 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz network. We recommend choosing a 5 GHz Wi-Fi network band if possible (i.e. NETGEAR42-5G versus NETGEAR 42).
   
• Know when to disconnect from the Carilion network during Teams meetings. Microsoft Teams is not a Carilion-hosted application; it is a cloud-based application that streams directly to Microsoft through the internet.
  
  If you are working from home and don’t need to access files on the Carilion network during your Teams meeting, we recommend you join the meeting through your home Wi-Fi network rather than connecting to the Carilion network first.
  
  But if you are working from another remote location (such as a hotel or coffee shop), you should connect to the Carilion network through the Apps portal or Citrix Gateway VPN before joining your Teams meeting. Don’t use free, unsecured Wi-Fi connections, because these can make your computer vulnerable to viruses and other attacks.

Questions?

Contact the Technology Service Center via Edison or by phone at 540-224-1599 (71599).