With the communication server, I am looking for clarification about the
connection usage. Is it possible to share one connection to the server for
multiple uses? For example, if someone wants to voice chat and, say, play a
flash card game at the same time, could that same connection be shared between
game data and voice data, or would it require one for voice and one for the
game?


Not only is it possible, but that is the way things should be done all of the
time.


Also what are the requirements for voice in terms of bandwith? How much
bandwith does a voice use? If 5 users are connected, and one is talking, does
that use 5 times as much bandwidth, since the voice must be sent down each
connection? I am trying to judge what type of server hosting / bandwidth would
be required for a voice heavy application and cannot find a lot of details.


You have the idea. Bandwidth = publising bitrate + (publishing bitrate *
receiving users). As far as how much bandwidth you'll need, that all depends on
the quality of the audio/video and how many users you might want to serve
concurrently.


I have seen reference in this discussion to a 2500 user licence with a 25Mps
limit. I cannot find any reference to that license on the Macromedia site.
Anyone have a link?


There are 3 license profiles:
100 users/ unlimited mbps
1000 users / 40mbps
2500/25mpbs

See article here: http://www.flashcomguru.com/index.cfm/2006/1/25/dynamo


Can the quality of voice be changed by the user (ie. like chosing a different
coded if they have a slower connection)?


Not really. You can play around with the receiving framerate a little, but you
can alter the quality of a live stream on a user by user basis. simply put, FMS
doesn't have the ability to re-encode streams on the fly.

I am doing some evaluation of the product but don?t have time to get into the
nitty gritty right now. If someone could answer a couple questions, it would
save me a couple weeks of time. If no one knows the answer to all my
questions, even contributing one answer would be greatly appreciated.

With the communication server, I am looking for clarification about the
connection usage. Is it possible to share one connection to the server for
multiple uses? For example, if someone wants to voice chat and, say, play a
flash card game at the same time, could that same connection be shared between
game data and voice data, or would it require one for voice and one for the
game?

Also what are the requirements for voice in terms of bandwith? How much
bandwith does a voice use? If 5 users are connected, and one is talking, does
that use 5 times as much bandwidth, since the voice must be sent down each
connection? I am trying to judge what type of server hosting / bandwidth would
be required for a voice heavy application and cannot find a lot of details.

I have seen reference in this discussion to a 2500 user licence with a 25Mps
limit. I cannot find any reference to that license on the Macromedia site.
Anyone have a link?

Can the quality of voice be changed by the user (ie. like chosing a different
coded if they have a slower connection)?

Again, thank you in advance for any replies! It is appreciated very much!

Regards!

Thanks for all the answers JayCharles. They are very helpful and greatly
appreciated. FMS just might be my answer after all.

The 1000 users / 40mbps and 2500/25mpbs options sure bring the product back
into the ?reality? category. I was shocked when I first saw 100 users at 4.5k.
Thank you for the link.

Just one last question. Any idea what codecs the product uses for voice? I
don?t need video but I need a good quality voice, something around radio
quality or a bit better. If you know the codecs that would answer my question
and I can determine bandwith requirements from there.

Thanks again Jay!