Telementoring in education of laparoscopic surgeons: An emerging technology

Table 1 Technical solutions for data transmission during video-communication[8]

Type of technology used for VC communication	Bandwidth	Pros	Cons	Suitable for	Price
Satellite	≥ 128 kb/s	Portable	Price time latency risk of poor video and audio quality	Disasters remote areas	30-35000 USD
		Worldwide use (i.e., areas with poor infrastructure)			Worldwide use (i.e., areas with poor infrastructure)
IP-based/internet	Standard ≥ 768 kb/s	Easy access good quality of video	Varying quality of video dependable on internet traffic	Telementoring follow-up medical education standard VC	50 USD/month - 70 Mbit line
					Low prices for VC equipment and line rental
ISDN	Normally 3 × 128 kb/s	Reasonably good video quality	Abandoned in the Western world in favor of 3G mobile phone and IP based telephony	Telementoring follow-up medical education
3G mobile phone	3G mobile phone /modems	64-500 kb/s	Portable rapidly evolving new networks	No data encryption low quality on video poor lens quality	30 USD/month for 5Gb data plan
				Unique mobile standard not compatible with ordinary VC equipment	Low prices for VC equipment and carrier subscription
				Emergency medicine
4G /LTE	4G mobile phones / modems	299.6 Mbit/s download and up to 75 Mbit/s upload	Varying quality of video dependable on internet traffic	Telementoring follow-up medical education standard VC

ISDN: Integrated services digital network; VC: Video conferencing.