Skype platform connectivity challenge
Hi all, My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.) It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps. Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application? -- Alex Beamish Software Developer / https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alex-beamish-5111ba3 Baritone, Board Member, Toronto Northern Lights, 2013 Champions / www.northernlightschorus.com Certified Contest Administrator, Barbershop Harmony Society / www.barbershop.org
Try DiscordApp. I use it for gaming, not sure if the bandwidth will be enough. On Apr 19, 2017 01:08, "Alex Beamish via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi all,
My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.)
It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps.
Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application?
-- Alex Beamish
Software Developer / https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alex-beamish-5111ba3 Baritone, Board Member, Toronto Northern Lights, 2013 Champions / www.northernlightschorus.com Certified Contest Administrator, Barbershop Harmony Society / www.barbershop.org
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I've now been involved in two different organizations switching over to Zoom (zoom.us). One of its main strengths is working in parts of the world with awful connectivity (especially if not using video). Free accounts enable audio/video/chat meetings of up to 50 people for 40 minutes max per meeting. A paid account ($15US/mo) unlocks the 40 minute limit and adds other goodies. Might be worth a test. Do a 5 minute try and see how much data it eats. On 19 April 2017 at 00:10, Mauro Souza via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Try DiscordApp. I use it for gaming, not sure if the bandwidth will be enough.
On Apr 19, 2017 01:08, "Alex Beamish via talk" <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi all,
My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.)
It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps.
Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application?
-- Alex Beamish
Software Developer / https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alex-beamish-5111ba3 Baritone, Board Member, Toronto Northern Lights, 2013 Champions / www.northernlightschorus.com Certified Contest Administrator, Barbershop Harmony Society / www.barbershop.org
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--- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
-- Evan Leibovitch Toronto, Canada Em: evan at telly dot org Sk: evanleibovitch Tw: el56
I second zoom. We use it for video conferencing and it's pretty great. Use it for VC's with China and it's hard to find something comparable at the price point. As for internet how about a USB modem from wind now freedom mobile. $40 for fill speed 10gig. Sent from my iPhone On Apr 19, 2017, at 12:34 AM, Evan Leibovitch via talk <talk@gtalug.org<mailto:talk@gtalug.org>> wrote: I've now been involved in two different organizations switching over to Zoom (zoom.us<http://zoom.us>). One of its main strengths is working in parts of the world with awful connectivity (especially if not using video). Free accounts enable audio/video/chat meetings of up to 50 people for 40 minutes max per meeting. A paid account ($15US/mo) unlocks the 40 minute limit and adds other goodies. Might be worth a test. Do a 5 minute try and see how much data it eats. On 19 April 2017 at 00:10, Mauro Souza via talk <talk@gtalug.org<mailto:talk@gtalug.org>> wrote: Try DiscordApp. I use it for gaming, not sure if the bandwidth will be enough. On Apr 19, 2017 01:08, "Alex Beamish via talk" <talk@gtalug.org<mailto:talk@gtalug.org>> wrote: Hi all, My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.) It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps. Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application? -- Alex Beamish Software Developer / https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alex-beamish-5111ba3 Baritone, Board Member, Toronto Northern Lights, 2013 Champions / www.northernlightschorus.com<http://www.northernlightschorus.com> Certified Contest Administrator, Barbershop Harmony Society / www.barbershop.org<http://www.barbershop.org> --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org<mailto:talk@gtalug.org> https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org<mailto:talk@gtalug.org> https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk -- Evan Leibovitch Toronto, Canada Em: evan at telly dot org Sk: evanleibovitch Tw: el56 --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org<mailto:talk@gtalug.org> https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
https://ring.cx open source and fully distributed skype replacement. Unfortunately for you, the bandwidth consumption is close to skype for video calls according to UQAM (Montreal university) tests. The chat consumes way less, but it sounds you want audio + video. On 2017-04-19 12:08 AM, Alex Beamish via talk wrote:
Hi all,
My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.)
It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps.
Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application?
-- Alex Beamish
Software Developer / https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alex-beamish-5111ba3 Baritone, Board Member, Toronto Northern Lights, 2013 Champions / www.northernlightschorus.com <http://www.northernlightschorus.com> Certified Contest Administrator, Barbershop Harmony Society / www.barbershop.org <http://www.barbershop.org>
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-- *Marc Lijour* Email:marc@lijour.net <mailto:marc@lijour.net> Ring:3e447c5477143b7c881c0730c152f8f0678501e5Join the Ring! <http://ring.cx> Skype:marclijour Phone: *+1 647 384 7746 *
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 If you're trying to synchronize singing between different locations you'll probably find that even the fastest connections have unacceptable latency. Imagine there's a .1 second lag between you. When the conductor says "Go" the group in the same location starts immediately, but the remote group hears "Go" at t=0.1 and by the time the local group hears the remote group start it's t=0.2 There's no way to synchronize two choirs in different locations (although someone may be able to synch separate soundtracks in post-production). But, you may want to try the Mumble client (or Plumble on an Android device) using a Murmur server. Mumble allows you to record each remote connection separately in its own sound file for post-production processing. Mumble /Plumble / Murmur is an audio-only solution, no video. There's a text chat channel, tho. - --Bob. On 2017-04-19 12:08 AM, Alex Beamish via talk wrote:
Hi all,
My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.)
It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps.
Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application?
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- -- Bob Jonkman <bjonkman@sobac.com> Phone: +1-519-635-9413 SOBAC Microcomputer Services http://sobac.com/sobac/ Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting GnuPG Fngrprnt:04F7 742B 8F54 C40A E115 26C2 B912 89B0 D2CC E5EA -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 Comment: Ensure confidentiality, authenticity, non-repudiability iEYEARECAAYFAlj4Du0ACgkQuRKJsNLM5epGagCfaI6pUgTwOW87DsVz9vi5P6zD 1woAmQGhTwnpY2CXW5qM92ZexMPel699 =7Ov7 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Bob, Thanks for this note -- always glad to have more discussion about this. I don't know if you remember a Bell Canada commercial from the 80's that featured four businessmen, each in different locations, starting what looked like a teleconference. Ended up, they were actually a barbershop quartet using teleconferencing to hold their practise. You're right, that due to the latency, this really wouldn't work. However, the plan is the chorus would be in Toronto, and the coach would be in St. Louis, MO -- so the latency wouldn't be a significant factor. I have multiple alternatives to Skype, and the suggestion to use a Rogers Rocket Stick is a great one, so I may go with that. I really appreciate all of the comments -- thanks again, all! On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 9:29 PM, Bob Jonkman <bjonkman@sobac.com> wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
If you're trying to synchronize singing between different locations you'll probably find that even the fastest connections have unacceptable latency. Imagine there's a .1 second lag between you. When the conductor says "Go" the group in the same location starts immediately, but the remote group hears "Go" at t=0.1 and by the time the local group hears the remote group start it's t=0.2 There's no way to synchronize two choirs in different locations (although someone may be able to synch separate soundtracks in post-production).
But, you may want to try the Mumble client (or Plumble on an Android device) using a Murmur server. Mumble allows you to record each remote connection separately in its own sound file for post-production processing.
Mumble /Plumble / Murmur is an audio-only solution, no video. There's a text chat channel, tho.
- --Bob.
On 2017-04-19 12:08 AM, Alex Beamish via talk wrote:
Hi all,
My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.)
It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps.
Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application?
--- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
- --
Bob Jonkman <bjonkman@sobac.com> Phone: +1-519-635-9413 SOBAC Microcomputer Services http://sobac.com/sobac/ Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting GnuPG Fngrprnt:04F7 742B 8F54 C40A E115 26C2 B912 89B0 D2CC E5EA
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 Comment: Ensure confidentiality, authenticity, non-repudiability
iEYEARECAAYFAlj4Du0ACgkQuRKJsNLM5epGagCfaI6pUgTwOW87DsVz9vi5P6zD 1woAmQGhTwnpY2CXW5qM92ZexMPel699 =7Ov7 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-- Alex Beamish Software Developer / https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alex-beamish-5111ba3 Baritone, Board Member, Toronto Northern Lights, 2013 Champions / www.northernlightschorus.com Certified Contest Administrator, Barbershop Harmony Society / www.barbershop.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Alex Beamish wrote:
I don't know if you remember a Bell Canada commercial from the 80's that featured four businessmen, each in different locations, starting what looked like a teleconference.
Ah, movie magic. There was another Bell commercial much more recently that had a number of buskers I knew from the TTC, also apparently engaged in performing a concert over Bell's internet connectivity. Sadly, that was a studio production, and didn't actually take place over the Internet. I think there may have been a lawsuit for false advertising over that one. - --Bob. On 2017-04-23 10:21 PM, Alex Beamish via talk wrote:
Bob,
Thanks for this note -- always glad to have more discussion about this.
I don't know if you remember a Bell Canada commercial from the 80's that featured four businessmen, each in different locations, starting what looked like a teleconference. Ended up, they were actually a barbershop quartet using teleconferencing to hold their practise. You're right, that due to the latency, this really wouldn't work.
However, the plan is the chorus would be in Toronto, and the coach would be in St. Louis, MO -- so the latency wouldn't be a significant factor. I have multiple alternatives to Skype, and the suggestion to use a Rogers Rocket Stick is a great one, so I may go with that.
I really appreciate all of the comments -- thanks again, all!
On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 9:29 PM, Bob Jonkman <bjonkman@sobac.com> wrote:
If you're trying to synchronize singing between different locations you'll probably find that even the fastest connections have unacceptable latency. Imagine there's a .1 second lag between you. When the conductor says "Go" the group in the same location starts immediately, but the remote group hears "Go" at t=0.1 and by the time the local group hears the remote group start it's t=0.2 There's no way to synchronize two choirs in different locations (although someone may be able to synch separate soundtracks in post-production).
But, you may want to try the Mumble client (or Plumble on an Android device) using a Murmur server. Mumble allows you to record each remote connection separately in its own sound file for post-production processing.
Mumble /Plumble / Murmur is an audio-only solution, no video. There's a text chat channel, tho.
--Bob.
On 2017-04-19 12:08 AM, Alex Beamish via talk wrote:
Hi all,
My chorus is thinking about having a coach work with us over a Skype connection, with the catch that we rehearse at a church whose WiFi we're not allowed to use. (It's complicated.)
It would be possible to use a cell phone as a hotspot, but I'm not sure if it would provide enough bandwidth for the call. The rehearsal would be about three hours, so at 128kbps (Google's answer for Video calling), that would burn through 135M, so about 1/7 of my monthly allotment. Then again, video isn't necessarily required, and that would cut down the required bandwidth to 30kbps.
Are there any alternative products or services that anyone could suggest for this type of application?
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- -- Bob Jonkman <bjonkman@sobac.com> Phone: +1-519-635-9413 SOBAC Microcomputer Services http://sobac.com/sobac/ Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting GnuPG Fngrprnt:04F7 742B 8F54 C40A E115 26C2 B912 89B0 D2CC E5EA -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 Comment: Ensure confidentiality, authenticity, non-repudiability iEYEARECAAYFAlj+b3gACgkQuRKJsNLM5erNEACffVBOZSh0KN3HilgOYtFP71TH Jf4AnR4Q8/ZAtgARSAQLv256M3pEGO9E =fnnS -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
participants (6)
-
Alex Beamish -
Alex Short -
Bob Jonkman -
Evan Leibovitch -
Marc Lijour -
Mauro Souza