Teleconferencing Bandwidth Requirements

• Webcams are one device commonly used for video conferencing. video camera image by rafalwit from Fotolia.com

  Teleconferencing involves sending audio and video signals live so that two (or more) parties may communicate. This is achieved using software, hardware (camera, microphone) and a high-speed Internet connection. In order to have a connection with minimum delays and the highest quality the Internet must have sufficient speed.

High Speed

• DSL, Cable and commercial high bandwidth connections like a T-1 connections should provide adequate bandwidth for the teleconference. Traffic on the network should be minimized, close and P2P applications or download before asking to conference. At minimum, the connection should be 500Kbps. This is fast enough to facilitate a video conference. However faster is always better and with some home Internet service providers offering 50Mbps speeds the option for a faster connection is preferred.

Quality and Speed

• The bandwidth requirements are also dependent on the camera's quality and frame rate. For example, a low resolution camera of 280 by 320 at 15 frames per second requires much less bandwidth than a 1920 by 1080 at 29 frames per second. The first low-resolution camera may require 128Kp per second while the second could be as high as 25Mb per second. The bandwidth should match the quality.

Low Speed

• Anything less than a high-speed connection will result in choppy video, dropped frames and lower quality. It may also distort the audio quality significantly. While the video conferencing can be done with low speed devices it is almost not worth it because of how bad the quality is.