Is there a minimum broadband connection speed needed to get Google+ Hangouts to work properly?
Google+ Hangouts, Google’s service for video chats and virtual meetings between two to 10 participants, does have some bandwidth requirements. As a general rule, the more people participating in the Hangout, the faster the connection you’ll need for consistent video quality.
If you and one other person are having a simple video chat, Google suggests at least a connection speed of at least 1 megabit-per-second (mbps) for streaming the video to and from the computer. The absolute minimum bandwidth requirements are listed as 256 kilobits-per-second (kbps) for data going from the computer and 512 kbps for streaming the data down to the machine. But the experience will probably be much better with faster connection speeds, like 1 mbps for outbound video and 2.5 mbps inbound to the computer.
If more than two people are participating in the Hangout, an outbound speed of 900 kbps is considered ideal, while inbound data speeds should be 2 mbps for five people in the Hangout, and up to 3 mbps for 10 people participating in the video conference. If you are unsure of your network connection speed, tester sites Speakeasy Speed Test, or similar offerings from your broadband provider, like Comcast’s speed-test page or Verizon’s own test page, can give you an idea.
In addition to video conferencing, Google+ Hangouts recently gained a new tool that can help with long-distance family computer support through the service. The Remote Desktop feature, which has been a Google Chrome browser extension for the past year or so, has been integrated into Google+ Hangouts. For more information on using the Remote Desktop tool with Google+, check out the guide on the PC World site.
