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I work for a company that has employees in different states. We need to have an efficient way to allow employees from other offices to watch and listen to the meeting happening at the main office. I would like opinions on reliable technology out there. If anyone would like to share experiences (either good or bad) about technologies they've used for interoffice communication I'd appreciate that as well.

The video only has to be one way (the outside employees must be able to see us, we don't have to see them). The audio needs to be two way.

Thank you for your feedback.

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Please make sure you've read the faq as your question might fall into the category of those which "solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion". – aaamos Feb 3 at 7:34
ive used polycom and cisco. both were good. – Sirex Feb 3 at 7:57
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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Skype's video conferencing is actually pretty good for the price.

That is the solution I have used.

Another popular solution for video conferencing is Cisco. Many clients I have worked with use this solution, but I don't have too much first hand experience with the service besides downloading the client.

ooVoo is a free service that is usually mentioned in the same page as Skype in regards to video conferencing. Unfortunately I have no experience with it.

I have used Google+ Hangout and it installs a plugin to the browser. Speed and quality is akin to what you would see on a one on one IM video call.

A personal note is that while not at a Google + hangout the plugin acted up on my machine, spawning about 140 copies of itself, chewing through all sorts of resources. Taskill was only temporary solution. I got a nice screen shot of it :) This was on an HPtz2500 laptop. YMMV.

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Sometimes you just get what you pay for ;-) High class Cisco equipment combined with fiber optic lines and guaranteed bandwidth will certainly outperform free solutions over questionable lines. – JonnyBoats Feb 3 at 7:01
@JonnyBoats I love those awesome Cisco solutions that use HD TVs to give you the impression that the others are sitting at your conference table ;) – sinni800 Feb 3 at 7:22
+1 for skype [+2 for company jet at 20000 feet :) ] – dimitri.p Feb 3 at 7:43
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up vote 1 down vote

Unless you have a large number of offices Google+ Hangout is a good, free option.

Another free option is Skype which also supports audio and video.

Of course there are many services that charge a fee as well.

One big factor that will dramatically impact your satisfaction level with any solution you choose is the quality of your internet lines; high quality video requires high bandwidth. Many connections in homes and small businesses are asymmetrical in that the upload speed is much less than the download speed. Trying to upload video on one of these connections can be far from ideal.

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Google hangout isn't bad, but it is serious beta and has a few bugs. – surfasb Feb 3 at 1:35
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