Behind the Screens is a video series where we sit down with people from inside Airtame to work through the questions we hear most. For episode three, we asked David Butler, Senior Sales Engineer and network specialist, to explain what good network hygiene actually looks like — and what tends to get skipped during setup that causes problems later.
Good news: most network problems are easily preventable
A poorly configured network has a way of creeping up on IT rather than making a big announcement. It shows up as lag, a dropped screen share, or a call cutting out mid-presentation. Many won’t think of it as network problems at first, but there’s a great chance your network is the actual culprit.
David’s checklist for getting ahead of it:
- Monitor proactively. If you only find out something’s wrong when users call in, you’re already behind. A network monitoring system tells you what’s happening before they do.
- Don’t skip QoS. Quality of Service determines how urgently different traffic gets treated. Screen sharing is time-sensitive. Configure your network — and your wired switches — to treat it that way. The specific setting to look for: DSCP, or Differentiated Services Code Point. One or two configuration lines on a switch. Frequently skipped. Frequently the culprit.
- Segment your network. Teachers, students, guests, AV equipment — separate groups, separate networks. More work upfront, far less troubleshooting later.
- Avoid DFS channels if you’re near an airport, military base, or weather station. External signals can force access points to temporarily shut down mid-presentation. Switching to non-DFS channels often resolves it immediately.
The field story David shares in the full episode is worth watching for alone. It involves a school, a misconfigured spanning tree, a lot of blinking access points, and a very relieved front office staff on the way out.
Watch the full conversation right here:
Interested? Let’s talk.
