Getting Flawless Telemedicine – Internet Reliability Is Key
A telehealth appointment freezes just as the patient starts describing symptoms, and the rest of the visit turns into guesswork. The cause is usually not the clinic’s video platform but the home internet connection at one end: a shared Wi-Fi network, a weak signal, or short gaps where data fails to arrive, so audio and video stall.
Speedify is an app that carries a video call over Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite internet connections at once. Speedify can only keep you online through a drop when it has two or more internet connections to work with, for example Wi-Fi plus your phone’s 4G/5G cellular. On a single connection, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping. When one connection drops, Speedify moves the call to the other in milliseconds and keeps the same public IP address, so the calling app does not see a new address. Below you will find the usual telehealth internet problems, one therapist’s real experience of them, and what using Speedify changed for his remote consultations.
The Context
Michael Reeder is a psychotherapist in Baltimore. He sees a large number of clients per week and has already been doing some video calls for years.
The area in Baltimore City where he is located has questionable Internet service, so he has got his share of fighting to stay online. Having an Internet related professional background, he is more familiar with such products and services than most therapists. “What was hard was the hours and hours of testing out video platforms and ISPs.”, says Michael, talking about the transition to fully remote consulting.
What Are Some Common Telehealth Internet Issues?
“Initially several of the video platforms were not up to the challenge of the additional usage load. I am required to utilize HIPAA compliant video, so some of the usual candidates were ruled out. I ran through 4 or 5 video platforms before settling on two”, said Michael.
But then, he faced the most important challenge when it comes to telemedicine: the slow and unreliable Internet connectivity. “I also ran through a small nightmare of ISP throttling problems: month-to-month services being cut off despite proper use, VoIP phones being blocked, throttling well prior to monthly limits, unannounced and unacknowledged daily and weekly throttling limits I had to discover, etc. Part of the issue here I speculate is that 4-8 hours of videoconferencing per day puts me in the top percentage of Internet users and makes me unpopular with ISPs”, thinks Michael.
Solutions for Hassle-Free Remote Consultations
As mentioned above, Michael is more knowledgeable of the Internet field than most psychotherapists. So he knew what he needed:
- not have to switch ISPs in the middle of video calls
- dynamic load-balancing so that when one of his cellular broadband services hits a usage limit, the other ISPs would be used more to compensate.
Finally, when a client in the live events streaming business suggested Speedify, he gave it a go… and the rest is a success story, told below.
The Result: Improved Telehealth Sessions under Adverse Conditions
As explained above, Michael had to juggle between several ISPs to be able to run his online consultations every day. And there were inherent “bumps in the road” like losing video connection, for example.
“Speedify greatly lowers the number of video freezes and disconnects. It keeps me from having to switch ISPs 1-3 times in the middle of a client session. The video quality is not always perfect, but the reliability of the connection is much improved”, said Michael.
He uses a combination of 3 ISPs: Comcast, T-Mobile and AT&T, doing a mix of those depending on the time of day and what system the client’s on. “Speedify lets me not have to switch between them all the time and just do my job.”
“I hope that office workers and psychotherapists in areas with weak internet connectivity take a look at Speedify. You’re already addressing people who move around all the time and do live streaming, but even some people in stationary spots, if they’ve got a weak internet connection, could use this. It’s mission critical for me and many others”, concluded Michael.
How Speedify Can Help You
Whether you’re a doctor, counselor, therapist or patient, you can get the best telehealth services when you have a fast and reliable Internet connection. When you’re having issues with your Internet connection, try using all your available connections simultaneously. At the very least, along with the home or event location Internet, you certainly have a smartphone with a cellular data plan. You’ll get more reliable and faster Internet. That’s one of the essential ingredients for a successful telemedicine session.
Even if you only have one connection, Speedify’s error correction can still minimize packet loss on wireless networks. On a single connection, though, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping, so a second internet connection is what keeps a session going.
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