Unstable Video Calls - Webcam & Wifi Are Not The Problem

Just like millions of other people, I’ve recently begun working completely remote and I’m involved in daily video conference calls via Zoom. I had some co-workers tell me that my video and audio was cutting in and out.

My first thought was maybe I didn’t have enough bandwidth. I thought that was strange because I didn’t have any other internet issues. However, I upgraded my wifi service to 500 up/down. Unfortunately, I still experienced problems.

My next thought was that it was my computers built-in webcam or microphone, so I tested a zoom call on my iPad and it came in crystal clear audio and video. This led me to believe that if I plug in a new webcam and mic to my laptop, I could do calls through that and have no problem. I went to the office and picked up my external Mac monitor which has it’s own built in camera and microphone. Unfortunately, when using the external display/cam/mic, I began to experience the issues again.

Now I’m at a loss. Even with an external webcam and mic, my computer is still having issues with video calls and it’s specific to this device. My Zoom application is up-to-date and I have no other issues with the computer. I’m currently in process of turn-it off and back on… deleting and reinstalling zoom.. etc. Is there any chance a hardware component could be creating these issues?