Although the range of possibilities of communications convergence is wide and interesting, the technology is still lagging behind. As a result, it is not always possible to take advantage of it, due to technological limitations.
Limited Bandwidth
One big problem is bandwidth. Due to limited bandwidth, quality suffers and sometimes, it is squarely impossible to proceed with a conversation. If you have been using VoIP over a 56 kbps dial-up connection, then you know what I am speaking about. Now, say you have decent bandwidth for VoIP, it is still quite challenging to keep up the quality when using other types of communication. For example, if you are downloading a file and engaging in a VoIP conversation at the same time on the same connection, the quality can drop annoyingly. A solution to this is prioritization, whereby the VoIP conversation is favored over the less important download.
Devices and Applications
Devices and applications which allow you to use different types of data over the same network are still few in number. The few that exist already are expensive, and most of the time unaffordable to many. This is changing, though. We are bound to see more devices and applications for communications convergence in the future, at more affordable prices.
