With easily accessible health or medical information on the Internet, patients can learn how to monitor vital signs and assess their own symptoms. The frequency of visits to doctors and hospitals decreases because information is delivered through the Internet. Diagnosis, consultation, and monitoring can happen from a distance and the inconvenience and expense of staying at hospitals is decreased.

Higher speed network connections are required for tele-radiology, tele-ultrasound and teleconsultation. In addition, telemedicine services require video display units, computer-supported teleconferencing systems, videoconferencing systems, store-and-forward systems for medical data, and telemonitoring systems to monitor patients’ conditions long-distance. All are made viable by speeds of internet that exceed POTS (Plain Old telephone System, where the maximum speed is 56Kbps).