Microsoft Teams calls that keep dropping, cutting out, or disconnecting mid-meeting are almost always caused by network issues, outdated software, or resource problems on your PC. This guide covers every fix in order from the quickest to the most involved.
1. Check Your Network Connection
Teams calls are extremely sensitive to network quality. The first check is always your connection:
- Run a speed test at fast.com or speedtest.net during a call problem. Teams needs at least 1.5 Mbps upload and download for HD video; 600 Kbps for audio-only.
- Check your Wi-Fi signal. A weak signal causes packet loss that makes calls drop even when the speed test shows good results. Move closer to your router if possible.
- Try a wired Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi. This eliminates most network-related call drops instantly.
- Check if other people in your household or office are streaming video or downloading large files during your calls — this competes for bandwidth.
2. Restart Teams Completely
Teams can develop memory and connection issues during long sessions. A full restart often resolves intermittent dropping:
- Click your profile picture in Teams → Sign out
- Right-click the Teams icon in the system tray → Quit
- Reopen Teams and sign back in
If Teams is not in the tray, open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), find any Teams processes, and end them before reopening.
3. Update Microsoft Teams
An outdated Teams client causes connection problems, especially after Microsoft updates its calling infrastructure.
- Click the three dots (···) next to your profile picture
- Click Check for updates
- Teams downloads and installs updates in the background — you will see a refresh prompt when ready
Teams also updates automatically, but the update may be waiting for you to restart the app.
4. Clear the Teams Cache
A corrupted Teams cache causes all kinds of erratic behaviour including calls dropping.
- Fully close Teams (sign out and quit from the tray)
- Press Win + R and type
%appdata%\Microsoft\Teams - Delete the contents of these folders (not the folders themselves):
Cacheblob_storagedatabasesGPUCacheIndexedDBLocal Storagetmp
- Reopen Teams — it rebuilds the cache on first launch
5. Check Your PC’s Resource Usage During Calls
If your PC’s CPU or RAM is maxed out, calls drop because Teams cannot process audio and video fast enough.
Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) before a call. During the call, check:
- CPU: If above 85%, close other applications — browser tabs especially
- Memory: If Available is below 500 MB, close background apps
In Teams settings, you can reduce the load: click the three dots → Settings → Devices. Under Noise suppression, change from High to Low or Off. Noise suppression is CPU-intensive and dropping it reduces load significantly on older PCs.
6. Disable Hardware Acceleration in Teams
Hardware acceleration uses your GPU to process video, but on some systems it causes instability:
- Click the three dots → Settings → General
- Tick Disable GPU hardware acceleration
- Restart Teams
7. Check Your Router and DNS Settings
Teams uses specific Microsoft server addresses. If your DNS resolver is slow, connections time out:
- Try changing your DNS to Google (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1): go to Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi or Ethernet → DNS server assignment → Manual
- Restart your router. A simple restart resolves many intermittent dropping issues caused by overloaded router state tables.
- If on a business network, check with IT whether Teams traffic is being throttled or rate-limited by a firewall or QoS policy
8. Check Firewall and VPN
VPNs add latency and reduce bandwidth — both cause call drops. If you are connected to a VPN during Teams calls:
- Ask your IT team to enable split tunnelling for Teams traffic so calls go directly to Microsoft’s servers rather than through the VPN
- Microsoft publishes the IP ranges and URLs that Teams uses — your IT team can exclude these from VPN routing
If using Windows Firewall, check that Teams is not being blocked: go to Windows Security → Firewall & network protection → Allow an app through firewall and ensure Microsoft Teams is ticked for both Private and Public networks.
9. Reinstall Teams
If all else fails, a clean reinstall resolves corrupted installation issues:
- Go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps
- Find Microsoft Teams → Uninstall
- Delete the Teams data folder:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Teams - Download and reinstall Teams from microsoft.com/teams
