These are now common scenes.
In one court case, the lawyer of an OFW in Israel seeking to annul her marriage with a philandering husband was already due for cross examination through Facebook or Skype. Her image on the laptop computer on the lawyers’ table was clear and on the TV monitor in front of the judge. When she started answering the first question, however, the lawyers could not hear her although her voice was very clear a few minutes earlier. Even the judge could not hear her. The had to patiently put an ear right to the speaker of the TV monitor to make out what she was saying. Then the judge would state to the rest in the courtroom what she heard.
It was a troublesome situation—the judge patiently putting her ear on the monitor and then announcing what she heard and then goes back again to the monitor. This was repeated throughout the duration of the trial.
It is no different when the children of an OFW half-a-world away gather after dinner around a computer with amplifiers to have a chat with their long-missed parent. They would be having a good laugh or talking about the kids’ studies, or regarding expenses, and then the voice of the OFW would disappear. The children could see their parent talking but they could hear not even a word
Same thing with business teleconferencing where the parties are half-a-world apart and about to close a multi-million business deal when the internet connectivity snaps. Goodbye to the expected big deal. Try again the next day or week.
Actually, we don’t even have to go that far. A local cellphone call, even in the same city could be so garbled to almost render the call useless. The last resort, communicate through text messages which can be troublesome if some things have to be discussed.
Why do we have to endure all these troubles when our telco companies are raking in a lot of money from us?
As to international communications, the difference in the levels of technology from country to country might be a culprit in connectivity problems. The cheap antiquated level of technology being used by our internet servers cannot result in a seamless connectivity with their hi-tech counterparts in the first world.
The only solution is for our government to really force (not just by having a third player) our telco companies to give us better service through better technology and facilities.**