Improving Wifi when speed test is "fast"

[nascent]

I know this is a rather basic question but I've become sort of desperate and none of my online searches have helped.

I have Verizon Fios. Usually a speed test from my Macbook Pro tells me I have "fast" 20+ Mbps download, but it's not consistent. What is consistent is that I cannot do a video/audio call without extreme choppiness. Often times I have to give up and use my cell phone. Since I work from home this is a big problem. I need to improve this somehow.

Some details:
- My house is not wired for internet, cable, or anything besides power
- Router: Verizon MI424WR
- The router is in the garage, my home office is a few walls away. I haven't discovered anywhere in my house which is better.

How can I better diagnose this? Do I need a better router? Should I try a power-line adaptor?

 

[dorsai]

hit speedtest.net and see what your real speed is...if you're paying for 50mb but only getting 20 I believe the Macbook is probably the limiting factor as 20mbps was tops for a lot of older built in wifi. You can pick up a cheap usb wifi adapter to get past the 20mbps limit...but honestly even 20mbps should be plenty for a video conference.

The more likely possibility is the Macbook itself may have dated graphics hardware or old graphics drivers which can cause choppy video...try updating the graphics drivers...if its still no good then lowering the resolution and bit rate you use for the conferencing may help...if things improve by lowering the resolution and your internet speed checks out it may be time for a newer laptop.

 

[USAFRet]

I know this is a rather basic question but I've become sort of desperate and none of my online searches have helped.

I have Verizon Fios. Usually a speed test from my Macbook Pro tells me I have "fast" 20+ Mbps download, but it's not consistent. What is consistent is that I cannot do a video/audio call without extreme choppiness. Often times I have to give up and use my cell phone. Since I work from home this is a big problem. I need to improve this somehow.

Some details:
- My house is not wired for internet, cable, or anything besides power
- Router: Verizon MI424WR
- The router is in the garage, my home office is a few walls away. I haven't discovered anywhere in my house which is better.

How can I better diagnose this? Do I need a better router? Should I try a power-line adaptor?

Upgrade your router.
Some of the models of the MI424WR were actually limited to 20mbps from the factory.
I had one, and it was exactly like that.
I upgraded to the G1100 Quantum from Verizon, and poof....that restriction is absolutely gone.
I got mine for $100 from Verizon, and they just spread the payment over the following 3 monthly bills @ $33 each.

 

[nascent]

Thanks for replies.

hit speedtest.net and see what your real speed is...

Definitely seeing some odd results... speed result is not consistent at all. Each run can be anywhere between 10 and 20 Mbps, and there can be dips for long periods of time down to 1-5 Mbps... that definitely explains the choppy videos. What's the most likely source of these dips? Wifi signal interference? Crappy router?

The more likely possibility is the Macbook itself may have dated graphics hardware or old graphics drivers which can cause choppy video...

I have a NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB and apparently drivers up to date (no updates show in OSX Software Updates).

Upgrade your router.

I'll definitely explore this... the Verizon tech who installed said it would be "really fast" but I think he was just avoiding trouble. Looking at the logs on the router it seems to be 10 years old?!