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> Most people in the US can't afford or even get enough bandwidth to support two simultaneous video conferences ?!?! How much bandwidth do you think it takes??

> Most people in the US can't afford or even get enough bandwidth to support two simultaneous video conferences ?!?! How much bandwidth do you think it takes??? Zoom requirements: For group video calling: For 1080p HD video: 3.8Mbps/3.0Mbps (up/down) (Of course, most people probably don't even have 1080p webcams...)

cratermoon 5y ago
It's not the download speed that's the problem, it's the upload. For one person, the FCC definition[1] of "broadband" speeds of 3MB/s up are barely sufficient. The are lots of places that barely break that. Now get both parents and the kid, there are plenty of folks who can't do it[2]. Sure, they could watch, but they'd have to have their video off. Better hope that some program doesn't try to download an update. We're all a bunch of relatively well-paid nerds here on HN, so we have better-than-average internet speeds. I'm still betting there's a portion of us living in the 'burbs who would struggle streaming more than 2 video conferences. 1 https://www.engadget.com/senators-fcc-change-definition-high-speed-broadband-222150947.html https://www.engadget.com/senators-fcc-change-definition-high... 2 https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/united-states https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/united-states
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  Okay. Again. How much bandwidth do you think it takes?!?!?! You do realize that 3MB/s is TWENTY FOUR Mbps, i.e. over 6 times Zoom's requirement for 1080p, right? Even 10Mbps upload is enough for at LEAST two video calls.
acuozzo 5y ago
> ?!?! How much bandwidth do you think it takes??? I'm not OP, but latency matters more than bandwidth in this case. More specifically, the variance of latency matters. It's easy to grow accustomed to a constant 500ms delay, but it's incredibly difficult to deal with the random delays you get when you put a packet-switched network atop a high latency physical layer.
- cratermoon 5y ago
  Yeah, I didn't even go to latency. One of my co-workers clearly had a lot of variance in latency to his home and it was noticeable. It might not matter much in an hour-long meeting where one or two people are doing most of the talking, but in a short meeting between 2-3 people working together it can really disrupt things and turn what could have been a 10-15 minute meeting of minds into a frustrating 20-30 minutes of "say again, you dropped out" and "I didn't get that, my stream froze for a second".
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    Latency is not the same as bandwidth.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  Okay but latency is not dependent upon bandwidth unless you're filling your bandwidth. The OP talked about bandwidth, not latency.

cratermoon 5y ago

It's not the download speed that's the problem, it's the upload. For one person, the FCC definition[1] of "broadband" speeds of 3MB/s up are barely sufficient. The are lots of places that barely break that. Now get both parents and the kid, there are plenty of folks who can't do it[2]. Sure, they could watch, but they'd have to have their video off. Better hope that some program doesn't try to download an update. We're all a bunch of relatively well-paid nerds here on HN, so we have better-than-average internet speeds. I'm still betting there's a portion of us living in the 'burbs who would struggle streaming more than 2 video conferences. 1 https://www.engadget.com/senators-fcc-change-definition-high-speed-broadband-222150947.html https://www.engadget.com/senators-fcc-change-definition-high... 2 https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/united-states https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/united-states

jfrunyon 5y ago
Okay. Again. How much bandwidth do you think it takes?!?!?! You do realize that 3MB/s is TWENTY FOUR Mbps, i.e. over 6 times Zoom's requirement for 1080p, right? Even 10Mbps upload is enough for at LEAST two video calls.

acuozzo 5y ago

> ?!?! How much bandwidth do you think it takes??? I'm not OP, but latency matters more than bandwidth in this case. More specifically, the variance of latency matters. It's easy to grow accustomed to a constant 500ms delay, but it's incredibly difficult to deal with the random delays you get when you put a packet-switched network atop a high latency physical layer.

cratermoon 5y ago
Yeah, I didn't even go to latency. One of my co-workers clearly had a lot of variance in latency to his home and it was noticeable. It might not matter much in an hour-long meeting where one or two people are doing most of the talking, but in a short meeting between 2-3 people working together it can really disrupt things and turn what could have been a 10-15 minute meeting of minds into a frustrating 20-30 minutes of "say again, you dropped out" and "I didn't get that, my stream froze for a second".
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  Latency is not the same as bandwidth.
jfrunyon 5y ago
Okay but latency is not dependent upon bandwidth unless you're filling your bandwidth. The OP talked about bandwidth, not latency.