He threw his beer down and said he was going home and never drinking again. Mark Halper is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. W hile videoconferencing quality has made great strides during the last couple of years, buyer beware. Even some of the fastest connections can fail to deliver a broadcast-quality video, generally considered to be 30 frames per second. The Ohio prison system uses videoconferencing to examine inmates and even at the partial T1 speed of 768Kbps tolerates minor latency.
Latency worsens as bandwidth declines.
On a 28.8Kbps modem, Microsoft's NetMeeting software delivers a small picture between three and seven frames per second, says Lead Product Manager for NetMeeting Brent Ethington. Conn. Picture quality aside, connections can falter. Most users keep technicians on hand to make sure video links work smoothly. Many users experience difficulty purchasing ISDN lines. And now for the good news.