Biggest Issues Regarding Office 365 Network Connectivity

How to Fix Common Office 365 Problems

Many companies choose to use Office 365 because of the many benefits that it can offer. However, they may find they have some issues with network connectivity with the system. It is important to remove these obstacles as quickly and easily as possible to get the best experience from Office 365 for all of the users on your network.

The following are some of the most common problems that users have faced. Checking these issues and troubleshooting them will help you find the majority of issues that could be plaguing your network.

• RTT and Latency
• Proxy Authentication
• Measure DNS Performance
• Idle Time Settings
• Geo Location
• Enable Selective Acknowledgement
• Problems in the Application

RTT and Latency

RTT, or round trip time, and latency have been known to cause some issues with the usability of Office 365. Latency causes lag and issues between users and simply accessing data and information quickly and easily. Checking the round trip time to Office 365 is always a good idea, as it can help to provide you with a baseline so you can determine if things are running more slowly later.

Proxy Authentication

If there is trouble with the proxy authentication, it can cause a number of slowdowns and delays. These will typically occur during the startup or whenever switching between calendars. Anything that requires a new TCP connection has the potential to load up slowly. Check to make sure there are no issues with the proxy authentication to keep the system running smoothly.

Measure DNS Performance

Always check the DNS performance when you find any slowdowns in the system. There is a chance that it could be adding some unneeded delays with the connection to Office 365.

Idle Time Settings

This is actually a common issue. Often the settings of corporate networks are simply not set up properly for Office and Outlook users on the network, which means that there could be slowdowns when users are using the product. When this is the problem, the biggest slowdowns usually occur when switching calendars or mailboxes.

Geo Location

One of the most important things to consider is ensuring that the DNS call comes from the same location as the user. If it doesn’t, then the system will tend to be slower and have worse overall performance. It’s relatively easy to check and fix, yet it tends to be one of the last things that people consider when they are trying to improve the network performance of Office 365.

Enable Selective Acknowledgement

Make sure that selective acknowledgement is enabled under the TCP options. This is another simple fix. It allows the TCP stack to handle instances of dropped packets more easily, and this helps to improve the overall performance.

TCP Window Scaling

Make sure that you check the window scaling by performing a network trace. Making sure everything is running optimally will ensure a smoother overall performance for those who are using the network with Office 365.

Problems in the Application

In some cases, the issue might not actually stem from any network issues. It could be an issue within the application itself. Whether something is not working correctly, or employees do not know how to access certain parts of Office 365, these types of problems can cause just as many issues for the business as network connection issues.

These are some of the best areas to troubleshoot when you are trying to improve your company’s connection and network when using Office 365. It’s a fantastic product, but it does need to have a quality network on which to run.