... in response to IM and webcams, posted by Gman on Dec 13, 2002And - to the best of my knowledge - none succeeded.
The reason is fundamental. Ukraine is stuck in the Dark Ages insofar as their telecommunications infrastructure is concerned.
There are a couple recently-installed modern Siemens switches in central Kyiv that are almost capable of holding a decent dial-up connection for more than a dozen minutes.
If your gal is outside Kyiv - or in one of the more-established residential districts of Kyiv - it is HIGHLY unlikely that she will have a service that will support reliable internet communications. I *have* managed to maintain some NetMeeting calls (sound only) for about 10 minutes - but that is to one of my colleages with an office only meters away from the Opera House (central Kyiv) and he paid extra to be connected to the new Siemens switch. Video has been only successful going from my broadband connection (at my office here in Denver) to his end - and then, only for brief periods of a few minutes before the entire connection collapses.
Try it if you dare - but don't hold out very much in the way of expectation.
Not surprisingly when you think about it, their mobile telephony networks are more reliable than landlines - because their fundamental infrastructure is more modern. However, that would not be feasible for use with A/V transmissions either.
Good luck,
- Dan
