Part of the problem is that most people just aren't ready to go on camera every time they want to talk on the phone. In focus groups Bajarin has observed, consumers -- even supposedly tech-loving teenagers -- were concerned about their appearance. "You want to look presentable," Bajarin said. Even in business, that isn't a given, if telecommuters are included.

Video also shows the caller's location and surroundings, which may pose a problem even in an office, said Wainhouse Research analyst Ira Weinstein. "Video sometimes reveals too much about a situation," he said. Anyone with a messy cubicle who takes calls from a remote boss might agree with that.

But the problems can be practical, too. It's not really possible to multitask during a video call, as is often done while talking on the phone, Weinsten noted. Video chats while driving can be counted out, too.

Despite all the advances of the past few years, a video call still isn't as easy to make as a voice call, Weinstein said. Users need to find out whether the videoconferencing platforms they're using are compatible, and often there is a question of how much it will cost. Despite to interoperability, . In enterprise settings, these are not issues that commonly come up about traditional phone calls, Weinstein said.

The opportunities to use videoconferencing, however, continue to expand. In June, , a built-in video chat application that worked on any iPhone 4 over a Wi-Fi connection. CEO Steve Jobs said the company would submit the FaceTime protocol as a standard so other devices could hop on. Samsung's newly introduced tablet, the Galaxy Tab, . And in October, with Umi, a system that uses existing TVs and costs about $600 with a monthly service charge of $24.99. Though somewhat pricey for consumers, Umi costs dramatically less than enterprise TelePresence systems. Costs are coming down for large business systems, too, with recent entrants such as Logitech's LifeSize division.