Live video data from cameras uses up the most bandwidth of any feature in a Teams meeting, so the most effective way to reduce your bandwidth is to keep your camera off unless you're speaking or otherwise need to be visible. Please see Configuring Your Meeting Audio and Video, or visit the Microsoft knowledgebase, for instructions on how to enable/disable your video camera in a Teams meeting.
You can also join the meeting via phone call, which will separate the meeting's audio connection from your Teams Internet connection and ensure you won't miss any meeting audio because of low bandwidth. Meetings created by faculty and staff will include a phone number and conference ID that can be found in the meeting invitation or meeting details. Please see the "Joining Meetings with a Phone" section below, or visit the Microsoft knowledgebase, for more information on the Teams call-in feature.
Beyond the options you can do within Teams, here are some general bandwidth-maximizing tips:
- Connect to your home network by Ethernet cable instead of WiFi.
- Close any unnecessary browser windows or tabs.
- Close any software application not in use.
- Disconnect other devices from the network that don't need to be online at the time (e.g. smartphones, smart TVs, tablets).
Lastly, you can contact your Internet service provider and ask them to evaluate and troubleshoot your Internet speed. They may have other service plans that would better suit your needs, but they may also be able to find issues they can resolve at no additional cost to improve your network performance.