Eli5: Why do we need an Internet connection to make video calls? Why can we just do it through the cell towers like a normal call?

Question

Eli5: Why do we need an Internet connection to make video calls? Why can we just do it through the cell towers like a normal call?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Because it didn’t catch up. In the early days of 3G internet many carriers advertised video calls that were billed per minute, as normal calls (at least here in Poland). But in early days not much people had phones that supported it, so it didn’t really catch up.

And then in a short span of time everybody had a phone with facetime/whatsapp/messenger/whatever else for video calls that aren’t billed per minute, and if using unlimited wifi at home are basically free.

Carrier couldn’t compete with that, so they’ve just got used to the fact that they’re offering you a data plan, and you use this data for whatever you want, including video calls.