Video conferencing is an internet-based communication tool.  But having a “good” internet connection doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s best for the job.  Video conferencing is a two-way interaction and the upload (sending) of video and audio is just as important as the download (receiving).   Ideally, the bandwidth should be symmetrical, which means equal upload and download speeds. ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is not recommended.  While fine for the majority of internet-based activities, the much higher download vs upload speed means that at least one participant is likely to see out-of-sync, blocky images – the other having perfect sound and picture, making it difficult to locate the problem.

The bandwidth requirement for video conference calls can range from approx. 128 Kbps for a desktop-based system up to 20 Mbps or even 30 Mbps for a full telepresence solution. Depending on your specific video conferencing needs, we can calculate your bandwidth requirements. However, unless you have a dedicated line for video conferencing purposes only, it is also important to assess the actual available bandwidth during your office’s peak usage hours. In other words, we need to ensure that there is sufficient bandwidth available for your video conferencing calls, without impacting on your existing data services or vice versa.

With normal internet surfing, e-mails and many other internet-based services, things like line “jitter” (an actual technical term), packet loss and latency might go unnoticed.  But video conferencing has a much lower tolerance for connectivity issues.  Depending on the severity, you might experience blocky images, jerky movements, frozen pictures, loss of audio, or sound and pictures that are out of sync. Unless you want your video calls to resemble a badly dubbed movie via a scrambled TV satellite connection, we’d recommend switching away from an ISP that cannot offer a suitable connection.

We’ve seen some rather impressive corporate networks, running some pretty intensive business applications.  Even though these networks might be perfectly installed and perfectly configured, they might not be entirely ready for video conferencing. The real-time traffic streaming requirements of video conferencing are quite different from those of most data applications.  No matter how impressive your internal network, it needs to be specifically evaluated for video conferencing.   Tested, possibly reconfigured and perhaps even upgraded, to ensure acceptable quality.

Any system that connects to the internet is susceptible to hacking.  Left unsecure or partially secure, video conferencing systems are no different.  And once your security is compromised, your organisation’s information is at risk. By installing and properly configuring the proper hardware and software for your network, we can help to reduce your corporate risk.   Protecting both your live conversations, as well as those saved and stored for record purposes.