WiFi always dropping out on Dell Laptop / MS Teams calls

[wifinoworki]

Hi,

I have had a problem with a dell laptop in my home which seems to be the only device effected. It seems to always drop out of MS Teams calls when video / screen sharing is occurring. No other device in the house seems to be problematic - phone can have FaceTime calls, stream video, same with MacBook Pro. it only seems to be this dell device. Laptop tells me that the connection is secured (ie is connected to the router) but has no connection to the internet. At the time this happens, my phone in the same room is able to connect to the internet just fine.

What is the problem here? It's driving me nuts. I tried to download the VirginMedia Connect app but it won't let me sign in, so I am unable to test/request any of these WiFi Pods I have seen talked about on the VirginMedia site.

Thanks for any advice.

[Client62]

Use a network cable for the MS Teams calls it solves so many issues.

If your laptop is of the ultra slim type that does not have a network socket,
a USB 3.0 to Gigabit network adaptor from eBay costs about £10.

[Adduxi]

Agree with cable, but I would also suspect the DELL Killer NIC software if that is installed.  This "software" was pre-installed on a DELL PC I had, and it was one of the first things I deleted ......  Not needed IMHO at all.

[wifinoworki]

Thanks for the replies; I have considered cabling from the router but it's not really feasible due to the layout of my house (running through the living room, hallway, upstairs and into office). Such an old house too, I cannot sensibly or easily run the cabling through walls/ceiling. I also could not see that the "DELL Killer NIC" was installed on the laptop. Open to any other suggestions the community or the VirginMedia support team have. I feel like it's router<->laptop connectivity issue since no other devices are effected.

[Client62 · Accepted solution]

No it is a MS Teams issue.  Teams is totally sensitive to half duplex Wi-Fi with high jitter and latency.

Have you tried a cable connection using a Powerline extender ?

[wifinoworki]

I should have been more clear about the issue; I notice the issue more often when I'm using MS Teams in a video call or screen sharing session but it can also happen while just using a VNC Viewer. The internet will drop out on the laptop and the WiFi icon will turn into a Globe icon, it will tell me the connection status is connected but no internet connection. So it's not purely a MS Teams issue.

[Client62]

Wi-Fi instability on our Hub was solved by :

1) Disable Smart -Wi-Fi aka Wireless Channel Optimisation
2) Set 2.4GHz band to Channel 6 and Set 5GHz band to Channel 44.

[wifinoworki]

Thanks for all the replies. I tried everything suggested and nothing helped. It got really bad last week (dropping three times during a 1hr MS Teams meeting) that I ended up giving in and ordering some Powerline adapters. I was very skeptical of these even working in my old house due to the unknown age/quality of the wiring but it actually works very well giving me a stable connection this morning at 70Mbps anyway. I *hope* this resolves the issue.