This article considers the connection between modalities of interaction between agents and users of a government administrative service and forms of relations with the institution. This is an essential aspect of technologymediated institutional interactions, and understanding it affords insight into the practical consequences of the introduction of technologies into service relations. The study compares video-recordings of interviews between advisers at the national employment agency and job-seekers, in a situation of physical co-presence or one that is videophony-mediated. Three forms of asymmetry are observed in the videophone interview: contextual, interactional and relational. The contextual asymmetry does not only pose problems of distance coordination; it also profoundly affects the course of the interview, accentuating the interactional and relational asymmetries inherent in institutional conversations.