What is video conferencing?
Video conferencing (also known as videotelephony or teleconferencing), allows users at different locations to meet face-to-face for live virtual meetings and can consist of two or more connections.
Anyone who works as part of a team or a large organisation will likely have spent many meetings sat around a large table looking at a whiteboard or projector screen discussing stats and strategies but with the advent of superfast broadband internet connections and affordable technology, video conferencing has taken over from the physical meeting room.
Video conferencing has long been used by corporations to allow for communication between central offices with remote branches or to hold virtual meetings with colleagues on the other side of the world. As the cost of technology has reduced, ready access to a computer with a video camera (or a connected device such as a smartphone or tablet), has seen more widespread adoption of video conferencing in place of traditional physical meetings and has most recently been used to facilitate home schooling, home working and eLearning. During the COVID-19 pandemic, video conferencing has become part of popular culture across the globe, with many speculating that working behaviours have now permanently changed to offer employers and employees the greater flexibility it offers.
WHAT DO I NEED TO USE VIDEO CONFERENCING?
All you need to support video conferencing is a computer, a video camera, a microphone, speakers, and a broadband internet connection. Most laptops, smart phones and tablets will contain all the elements required and for those using a desktop computer, most modern video camera peripherals will also include built in microphones. Beyond equipment, you will need access to a video conferencing application such as Microsoft Meetings or Zoom and there are many other solutions available that may for example be adopted by educational institutes or business organizations to meet their particular requirements.
WHAT TYPE OF BROADBAND CONNECTION IS BEST FOR VIDEO CONFERENCING?
Video conferencing is very flexible and will adapt to work with most broadband links, but the quality of the user experience will depend upon how robust the internet connection is. Whilst in principle, video conferencing is like streaming a film, you must also consider that you will be sending (uploading) video and audio as well. Much like streaming, video conferencing toggles resolution between 240p high-quality, 720p HD and 1080p HD, bandwidth speed requirements increasing as the video quality does. In addition to the video, additional capacity also needs to be taken into consideration to support the audio. Below are tables of typical speeds vs bandwidth requirements but we recommend that you check the website of your video conferencing solution for exact requirements.
| Video Quality | Speed Required | |
| Download | Upload | |
| 240p | 600 Kbps | 600 Kbps |
| 720p | 1.5 Mbps | 1.5 Mbps |
| 1080p | 4 Mbps | 4 Mbps |
| Video Quality | Speed Required | |
| Download | Upload | |
| 240p | 1 Mbps | 1 Mbps |
| 720p | 2.5 Mbps | 2.5 Mbps |
| 1080p | 4 Mbps | 4 Mbps |
If your broadband is supplied over a satellite link, then the distance the signal must travel will be evident during a video conference in the form of a ~1 second delay. Most people will be most familiar with the impact of this latency from seeing overseas or on the scene reporting which often utilise satellite communication methods due to its non-reliance on local telecommunication infrastructure.
Modern video conferencing applications also allow users to share files and remotely control other computers of other participants and this has additional bandwidth requirements. File sharing will normally consume as much bandwidth as possible to quickly complete a transfer whereas remote control of a computer or screen sharing will use comparable bandwidth to the video conference itself.
I DO NOT HAVE UNLIMITED DATA; CAN I STILL USE VIDEO CONFERENCING?
Yes, so long as your broadband internet speeds meet at least the minimum requirements for your video conferencing application but be sure to keep a very close eye on data consumption due to the uploading and downloading involved. You can use an online calculator to work out how much data a video conferencing session will consume if you can determine the quality of your conference and the duration. A popular speed versus data consumption calculator can be found HERE.