Skype with WiFi

[Larry1231]

question from an old Luddite.....when using Skype with WiFi, I sometimes lose the audio or video of the other person. They say they can see and hear me fine.  I assume that if I "hardwire" my notebook (Lenovo Ideapad S400) with an enthernet cable to the back of the router, the problem will be fixed. 

Question:  which ethernet jack in the back of the router do I plug into?  There are 4 yellow jacks marked LAN and 1 white jack marked WAN.  Dio I have to also somehow (temporarily) disconnect my WiFi?  If yes, how do I do that?  I think --  not sure -- that's what the "Airplane Mode" switich is for?   Maybe not.  Thank you.

Old Guy

[viafax999]

Any one of the yellow lan ports.

You shouldn't have to disconnect the wifi connection.

[Larry1231]

OK, thank you.

[eljefe2]

It certainly is a good idea to connect to your router via Ethernet cable as a troubleshooting step. If that fixes your problem...great. But if it doesn't you should be aware that the problem may be at your end of the connection but it could also beat the other end of the call.

If hardwiring to your router doesn't fix the problem, I suggest you post the problem on the Skype forum:

http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/bd-p/Windows

Fellow Skype users there should be able to offer additional steps to determine where the problem lies.

[smith6612]

You can use any of the four ports labeled LAN to connect. When connecting with a Cable it's best practice to disconnect from the WiFi. This will prevent the computer from randomly picking a connection to use and provide mixed results.

For improving the wireless performance, try adjusting the wireless channel. Set it to either Channel 1, 6, or 11, instead of automatic.

[Larry1231]

Thank you Smith but you are getting too technical for this old Luddite - can you please explain how to disconnect WiFi (which is what I thought all along I had to do) and how do I change channels.

Please talk to me live I as 5 years old - I am quite serious and thank you again for your courtesy.

Old Guy

[smith6612]

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@Larry123 wrote:

Thank you Smith but you are getting too technical for this old Luddite - can you please explain how to disconnect WiFi (which is what I thought all along I had to do) and how do I change channels.

Please talk to me live I as 5 years old - I am quite serious and thank you again for your courtesy.

Old Guy

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Understandable! 🙂

To turn off the Wi-Fi, in most cases, computers will have a menu to do this. If you run Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, or 10, locate the Wi-Fi icon at the bottom of your screen. This will usually show bars when Wi-Fi is connected. Click on this, then click on the name of your WI-Fi network, and then click "Disconnect."

To re-connect, you can follow the same steps, except that you will find a "Connect" button when you select your network instead.

If you are on a Mac/Apple Computer, click on the Wi-Fi bars at the top of your screen on the menu bar, and then click "Turn off." The same process can be used to turn Wi-Fi back on.

For changing the Wireless channel, I'll explain how to do that once we've figured out if you have an improvement with a wired connection.