The desire to have glitch-free online teaching and business meetings at home has driven me to do some infrastructure improvements I should have done years ago: extending the Ethernet backbone of the home network. Connecting the jacks (ethernet connectors) is a tad fiddly (but trivial), but the results are worthwhile!
In particular, it is far better (than being connected to WiFi) to have the computer connected via ethernet (had to get the appropriate dongle for my mac) when teaching via Zoom. It gives a more robust setup than you can get WiFi (unless you’re right on top of one of your WiFi transponders). Since I’ve switched to ethernet for such sessions I’ve never had even the hint of a loss of quality in my zoom session, which is important when trying to focus on the teaching subject matter, and not technology issues. I even did a radio/podcast interview the other day (online), reasonably confident that the quality was strong throughout.
There’s an ethernet connected repeater station far from the main base station, so that when it now broadcasts the network wirelessly, I there is stronger network coverage all over the house than when it was just connected over WiFi. Should have done this years ago.
-cvj
