diff --git a/src/lotus/lotusActions.ts b/src/lotus/lotusActions.ts
index b19e9f37..44cb4339 100644
--- a/src/lotus/lotusActions.ts
+++ b/src/lotus/lotusActions.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,13 @@ Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
  * a circular dependency.
  */
 export enum LotusWidgetActions {
-  /** fromWidget: in-call per-participant speaking / mute state. */
+  /**
+   * fromWidget: in-call per-participant speaking / mute state.
+   * NOTE: matrix-widget-api `transport.send` is request/response — the host
+   * MUST reply/ack each one (cinny's `listenAction` does, replying `{}`),
+   * otherwise every send sits pending for the 10s transport timeout and then
+   * rejects, producing continuous churn + log noise for the whole call.
+   */
   CallState = "io.lotus.call_state",
   /** toWidget: pin/spotlight (or clear, with userId=null) a participant. */
   FocusParticipant = "io.lotus.focus_participant",
diff --git a/src/lotus/lotusCallState.ts b/src/lotus/lotusCallState.ts
index ee60d38e..86c7ea88 100644
--- a/src/lotus/lotusCallState.ts
+++ b/src/lotus/lotusCallState.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import { type CallViewModel } from "../state/CallViewModel/CallViewModel";
 import { LotusWidgetActions, lotusFlag, lotusSendToHost } from "./lotusWidget";
 
 interface ParticipantState {
-  /** Opaque media id (stable per tile). */
+  /** EC media id (`${userId}:${deviceId}`), stable per participant device. */
   id: string;
   /** Matrix user id this media belongs to. */
   userId: string;
@@ -59,7 +59,9 @@ export function startLotusCallState(vm: CallViewModel): () => void {
             ),
       ),
       // `speaking` flips rapidly; cap the send rate and drop no-op repeats.
-      throttleTime(150, undefined, { leading: true, trailing: true }),
+      // 250ms is plenty for speaking rings / mute badges and keeps the
+      // request/response widget traffic modest.
+      throttleTime(250, undefined, { leading: true, trailing: true }),
       distinctUntilChanged((a, b) => JSON.stringify(a) === JSON.stringify(b)),
     )
     .subscribe((participants) => {
diff --git a/src/lotus/lotusWidget.ts b/src/lotus/lotusWidget.ts
index 4144b315..77d7d7ba 100644
--- a/src/lotus/lotusWidget.ts
+++ b/src/lotus/lotusWidget.ts
@@ -30,10 +30,12 @@ let cachedParams: URLSearchParams | undefined;
  */
 export function lotusParam(name: string): string | null {
   if (!cachedParams) {
-    cachedParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
+    // Match EC's own ParamParser precedence: the hash fragment wins over the
+    // query string. So seed from the fragment first, then fill gaps from query.
     const hash = window.location.hash.replace(/^#\/?/, "");
     const hashQuery = hash.includes("?") ? hash.slice(hash.indexOf("?") + 1) : "";
-    for (const [k, v] of new URLSearchParams(hashQuery)) {
+    cachedParams = new URLSearchParams(hashQuery);
+    for (const [k, v] of new URLSearchParams(window.location.search)) {
       if (!cachedParams.has(k)) cachedParams.append(k, v);
     }
   }