Dropping off meetings with one particular group

[Phillipson70]

I've been using Zoom meetings for almost 3 years without problems.  Recently I have begun hosting regular meetings with a new group of clients. In each of our 3 meetings I have lost my connection to the internet (though the router light suggests that the internet is still on). This may be a coincidence (I'm considering a dedicated access point),  but it has only ever happened with this group. Is there a possible explanation?

[Ray_Harwood]

Hey, @Phillipson70 --

Internet connectivity issues are hard to diagnose and troubleshoot -- that's probably no news to you. 🤓

It's certainly possible - but I'd say unlikely - that "who you're Zooming with" can affect your Internet connectivity.  I'll drop a few points here to ponder, based on my experience:

• Did the Zoom window disappear, followed by the square "Joining a meeting" window, and then the Zoom window came back?  That's a clear indication that the Zoom client on your device has lost connectivity with the Zoom host system.  I'm assuming this is probably what you're experiencing.  Your router may appear to still be "connected to the Internet", when in fact most routers only indicate connectivity to the next device upstream -- often a modem with connectivity to a cable provider, satellite system, or other communication provider.  A momentary-but-significant break in any connection from your router to the Zoom host system will result in this behavior.  Unlikely -- to me -- that this particular customer connection is the issue.
• If your Zoom session is not terminating and reconnecting, but your audio and video to and from the other client goes away and comes back, then I assume some sort of connectivity issue with the connection from their devices to the Zoom Host.
• Not that you need "one more thing to do" during a meeting, but keep an eye on the various statistics that the Zoom app will display in the Statistics tab of the Settings Window:
  

  See details at this Zoom Support article:
  https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/202920719-Accessing-meeting-and-phone-statistics

• Occasionally I know the appearance of a connectivity issue is actually a bandwidth issue.  As an example, let's say you work in a regular in-persons office, and usually you Zoom with a client on your own... but this client is "very important" and so your boss and two other people also join in the meetings with this client.  Now there is 4 times as much bandwidth needed... but you're sure your little network connection can handle it, because it always has.  But then in the Statistics window one meeting you see that the Screen sharing is showing a 4K monitor is throwing 60fps video to you -- and all of your company's attendees.  That's now phenomenally more bandwidth than you normally get... and your router chokes just a little, now and then.
• Or maybe it's your boss with the 4K monitor... now his screen sharing is going out the network and then back to your other coworker's Zoom connections.  I'm sure you see the point by now.

I think we've all probably seen the little bar graph symbol in a user's camera video that goes yellow, then red, and their video starts to screech to a halt, and the audio slows down... then speeds up and the video comes back.  Congestion anywhere can do that for individual attendees, but especially if there are 10 people on their corporate network meeting with 8 people on your corporate network.

So probably more than you wanted to know... and not really a cut-and-dry answer to your question.  But hopefully it gives you something to look at to help narrow down what's happening.

If you find something, come back and let us know!  People visiting the Zoom Community often find solutions in other people's posts, especially when the follow up with reliable information.

[Phillipson70]

Many thanks for this detailed response, @Ray_Harwood - very much appreciated.  As I remember the problem, I see that others' video and audio has frozen, then I get the message that Zoom is trying to connect to the meeting - it fails to do so until I reboot my router.  Assuming that this is a connectivity issue, would a dedicated access point (e.g. Aruba Instant On AP11 2x2 WiFi Access Point) be a solution?  (I have to say that having had many similar meetings with other groups over two years, it seems improbable that it's a coincidence that I lose connectivity with this group - it happened three times in my last meeting with them and has happened at least once on each occasion that I have met with them.)