Hmm... it sounds as if the hardware requirements for this were relatively modest (some additional twisted-pair cables from the house) but it still required some extra installed wires for what was essentially a one-trick pony. Maybe that's the key: people won't spend a lot to get a videophone installed but it's something they'd like if it piggybacks cheaply on other applications.

Also, there was still a big unsolved problem with network bandwidth further upstream if they had managed to sell a lot of them.