[LINK] Propose Video Bandwidth Limit During COVID19 Emergency

[Tom Worthington]

There is likely to be a high demand for Internet access over the next 
few months due to COVID19. So I suggest that video products be set to 
limit bandwidth use by default. Video streaming and conference tools 
adjust to the bandwidth available, but try to use *all* that bandwidth. 
This makes them poor online citizens, like someone who fills their 
shopping trolley with toilet paper, if you let them. ;-)

On Thursday I took part in a webinar (video conference) on "COVID-19 and 
the Household/Commercial Solar and Battery Storage Market", hosted by 
the Smart Energy Council. I suggest other industry bodies and 
professional societies follow this example.

There were only a few brief dropouts in the audio (fewer than on ABC 
Radio National that morning). This was with Zoom, which is not my 
favorite product, as there is no way for participants to set the audio 
or video quality to reduce bandwidth. But it is possible to reduce data 
use to around 220 to 300 kbps by making the video window smaller.

It would be good if the video products, such as Zoom, used a low 
bandwidth mode with a small video window, by default.

More at: 
https://blog.tomw.net.au/2020/03/video-conference-on-covid-19-and.html


-- 
Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P http://www.tomw.net.au 
+61(0)419496150
TomW Communications Pty Ltd. PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia
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Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University 
https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington