intermittent, regular disconnect

[#1]

Hi 

I'm using my Plusnet router in passthrough mode to a Netgear Orbi.  

A few days ago I attended an online Zoom presentation which went on for three hours. But the audio kept dropping out. I realised it was very regular and I set a timer, finding that the audio dropped out for about three seconds, and it did it Every 3 minutes and 3 seconds. I timed it for 20 minutes and it was constant. Every 3 mins and 3 seconds.

I contacted Plusnet engineering and was supposed to get a call back on Saturday but that didn't happen. Does anyone have any ideas?

thanks in advance

Paul

[#2]

I have no idea what would cause such a regular dropout, however Zoom and other video conferencing connections are susceptible to dropouts if your connection suffers from bufferbloat.

You can test your connection using this tool - Waveform : bufferbloat test 

Check if the "YOUR CONNECTION" box shows a warning sign against "Video Conferencing" due to bufferbloat ?

In general you should aim to have a "BUFFERBLOAT GRADE" of "A+", "A", or "B".

If you get "C" or worse then you would probably benefit by following the recommendations shown in the "Frequently Asked Questions" to improve your connection's latency and jitter.

.

[#3]

@paul1958 

What is the speed of your connection?

The Ookla speedtest app (android or IOS) can test video streaming performance as well as general speed for a given device. although it might not be testing the device you are using Zoom on it will give you an overall picture of your connection performance.

With Zoom it would be recommended where possible to use wired rather than wireless. You could try dropping the video resolution to see if that helps

Dan. 

[#4]

@paul1958 , regarding the periodic drops, do you have any "SMART" devices, such as thermostats, boiler, kitchen appliances, or other "IoT" connected gadgets, that might be polling the internet, or phoning home ?

There was a case on this forum a few months ago, where someone's heating boiler was causing regular broadband latency spikes, each time it polled the internet to read a weather reporting website to discover the outdoor temperature at their location, so as to adjust the required time that the heating came on.