video conferencing

[moonlight burner]

hi all, is broadband good enough for a decent video conferencing ?

moonlight burner

[audiyoda]

Depends on what you call broadband. Most residential dsl connections are ADSL -- asymetrical. Downloads are a ton faster than uploads. Video conferancing is dependant on both. So you'd need SDSL or symetrical dsl so up/down are equal. Usually SDSL costs around twice as much as ADSL.

Cable is an option but when your hub gets congested, your bandwidth will be depleted.

If you can afford it, you can always get a T1 line installed

I've got 768/128 dsl and I've tried video. Not really an option for me due to hte low upload speed. I had 1.5/368 when Northpoint was still around and streaming video uploads went great -- usually because I got around 500k up rather than the advertised 368.

-Craig

[moonlight burner]

hi, how about the audio performance ?

moonlight burner

[audiyoda]

Audio requires a lot less bandwidth, but 128up is bare minimum for any quality.

-Craig

[moonlight burner]

hi , you were saying T1 line, so we can actually subscribe a such a line for serivce provider ? Approx. how much we need to pay for it. Currently , we have a dedicated ISDN line link , don't think ISDN is UP enough for a decent video conferencing, right ?


moonlight burner

[glc]

I have no idea what things are like in Singapore, but a T1 line in the US costs about $1000 a month. DSL should do the job you need as long as it has sufficient UPLOAD speeds. Residential ADSL is not any faster up than ISDN - you would need business grade SDSL to do it right.

[moonlight burner]

hi,a thousand bucks for T1 line a month, is way beyond budget for small business like us, for our currency , it's 1.8++ times a US dollar . BTW, what's SDSL ? I'm out of date with these technologies.

moonlight burner

[audiyoda]

Dang glc, where you getting your T1s? Average cost around this area is $600/month with 10 static IPs and 25 e-mail accounts.

Beyond that, for decent audio networking, you'll need 128k uploads and very low ping times. For video, 768k will give you good video quality, 512k is acceptable. Most business DSL packages (SDSL) start around 512 up/down (at least here in the states).

-Craig

[glc]

I'm talking about a full T1, not a fractional.

SDSL - Synchronous DSL on a dedicated line - same speed up and down.

ADSL - Asynchronous DSL piggybacked onto a voice line - much faster down than up.

768 SDSL business packages run around $300 here.

[moonlight burner]

MY god , wonder what's next, probably a " Super Synthronous DSL "
A 768 SDSL business packages of $300 , sounds reasonably priced, at least , it's less than a couple of travelling bills . Have not seen or heard of such business packages over here, mmm ...probably infrastructure over here is not yet availale...

Thanks !

moonlight burner

[audiyoda]

Originally posted by glc I'm talking about a full T1, not a fractional.

So am I. Friend's office just installed one -- full T1. They've got something like 50+ computers on it and they all fly. It's fun after hours -- we downloaded Mandrake 8.0 (both iso's) in about 4 minutes each.

-Craig

[glc]

I seem to remember a few years ago - my sister was given a free 1 hour video conference certificate by her Sprint rep. We went over to Kinko's to use it - and it seemed to work very nicely. The video was not very high resolution and a bit choppy, but it was very usable. I asked on my way out how they were connected (this was before DSL and cable) and they told me ISDN direct dial to the other Kinko's. This leads me to believe that with the right equipment and software, you might be able to get acceptable bandwidth for a one-on-one conference off a dual ISDN line - 128k.

[moonlight burner]

Hi GLC , it sounds encouraging, as I've not " been there " .My bossess keeps asking me but I'm scared of the results and the humiliation if it failed.mmmmm now the problem is how to get the "right equipment".

moonlight burner