Teleconferencing

Video teleconferencing is an attractive and often touted aspect of Internet connectivity. However, for most users such teleconferencing as a serious communication tool will leave much to be desired in the present environment. The basic difficulty is that video teleconferencing requires the transmission of both video and audio data, and this requires high bandwidth to be effective: if the data cannot be transmitted fast enough, the pictures are "jerky" and the voices are out of sync. This is particularly true if one wants "realistic" video and audio corresponding to colored images, a large display area, and high-quality sound.

The bandwidth difficulties are partially alleviated by clever transmission algorithms that use fast data compression and that update only those parts of the images that change in a particular time period. However, the bottom line is still network bandwidth, and only those with large bandwidth connections are in a position to do high-quality teleconferencing. In particular, modem speeds are far too inadequate for serious teleconferencing; ISDN speeds (64-128 Kbaud) are a bare minimum for televideo that is superior to sending a picture by mail for your conferee to gaze at while you talk on the telephone.

However, K-12 networking presumably will improve rapidly, and even in the present environment useful things can be done with teleconferencing if one is willing to live with the bandwidth limitations.

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