IRL Live Streaming Gear – Essential Equipment
Shopping for IRL streaming gear is easy until you reach the internet part: cameras, mics and battery packs are in stock, and none of them stop a broadcast from cutting out when you move between cell towers. Upload stability is the spec that decides whether viewers stay. On a tight budget? See how to build a cheap IRL streaming setup.
Speedify is an app that spreads your traffic across two or more internet connections at the same time (Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite), and Speedify runs in software, so no extra box rides in your bag. With only one internet connection, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping, so plan for at least two (for example two cellular modems on different carriers, or a phone’s 4G/5G cellular plus Wi-Fi). Below you will find an equipment checklist plus a comparison with other services that combine internet connections the same way.
Why IRL Streaming Issues Happen
Almost every streamer runs into unreliable internet at some point, and it’s most annoying when you’re streaming live to your followers.
The most common situations where you might encounter these type of connectivity issues live streams include:
- When traveling or on the go: on the street, a bus or a train. You may be connected to a bad / spotty WiFi hotspot.
- In crowded areas: the available bandwidth on both WiFi and cellular connections may not be enough to serve everyone at a stadium, a concert or a frat house party.
- At home: your ISP may be doing maintenance work right when you’re broadcasting live, or throttling your connection.
Here’s what happens: if the connection is unreliable, you may not be able to stream at a high resolution because bandwidth is limited, so your videos may appear jittery or choppy. And if your connection is spotty and disconnects, you lose many of your viewers, at least for that stream.
So your IRL streaming equipment needs an upgrade to handle unfriendly internet conditions while streaming live.
How IRL Streamers Get Internet on the Move
Most IRL streamers get their internet from 4G/5G cellular: the phone’s own connection, extra phones sharing a hotspot, or USB cellular modems, ideally on two or three different carriers. Software such as Speedify, or a hardware box, combines them, so the stream keeps going when one carrier’s signal drops, and café or venue Wi-Fi joins the mix when it is available.
IRL Streaming Equipment Checklist
You don’t need much to live stream online. You can go with something as simple as a smartphone and the Twitch app. Or you can go for a more professional setup, which would include:
- a video camera: look for one that can output streaming video at 720p / 60 fps or better. Your smartphone camera or the GoPro live streaming feature both work.
- a computer or mobile device for live streaming. For IRL streaming, a smartphone or tablet is the practical choice. You can also use a dedicated streaming device like the LiveU Solo.
- two or more cellular modems, for a fast and reliable internet connection. Connect them directly to the streaming device, if it supports several USB network adapters, or use a Raspberry Pi as a router that combines internet connections.
- battery packs: at least 20,000 mAh of capacity. Also check the rated power: 100 Wh at most, to avoid issues when traveling by plane.
- a backpack or something to carry all this equipment in an organized way.
Essential IRL Streaming Equipment: Speedify to Combine Internet Connections
Speedify is an app that gets you faster, more reliable and secure internet. Speedify allows you to use multiple internet connections at the same time. Speedify runs on computers, smartphones, tablets and various devices that run Linux, including Raspberry Pi. Depending on the device, you can combine any mix of two or more Wi-Fi networks, cellular networks and wired networks. Combining them adds an automatic internet failover mechanism for reliability and gives the stream more upload bandwidth. In Redundant Mode, Speedify sends each packet over every connection and uses the copy that arrives first, so latency (ping) follows whichever connection is faster at that moment.
To use 2 or more internet connections at once, Speedify relies on its technology for combining internet connections: your traffic is split packet by packet across all of them.
Speedify vs Hardware for Combining Internet Connections in IRL Streaming Equipment
Combining internet connections is key to a fast and reliable connection when live streaming, and it is not tied to one architecture. You can choose a mixed hardware-software solution from companies like Peplink and Mushroom Networks, or go with Speedify’s software-only implementation, which you can also deploy on a hardware device of your choice running Linux.
Many people choose solutions built around dedicated hardware, such as multi-WAN routers or SD-WAN networking devices. If you’re planning to adopt a hybrid hardware-software solution, here are some things you should consider.
- Performance: you are limited by the performance of the hardware and sometimes by its software. Your smartphones or computers may be able to go faster, but it won’t make any difference.
- Flexibility: will this solution still be usable if you change something in your current setup?
- Scalability: hardware gets old quickly. Does the solution include free hardware upgrades?
- Cost of implementation: hardware adds a cost to the final solution.
On the other hand, if you choose a software-only solution like Speedify, the benefits are straightforward. The only limitations you’ll have are related to:
- the devices you’re using and what type of network connections they support.
- the speeds of the internet connections you’re planning to combine.
Speedify avoids the flexibility and scalability problems of fixed hardware, and costs a fraction of the price of mixed hardware-software solutions.
Continuous and Secure Connectivity for Your IRL Stream with Speedify
Speedify also protects you on compromised Wi-Fi networks: Speedify’s encryption keeps other people on the network from reading what you send.
Before Speedify, users often had to choose between security and speed. With two or more internet connections, the combined speed usually makes up for the cost of encryption. You can have both. On a single connection, Speedify can be a little slower, like any VPN.
Cut down on low quality video, buffering and dropped streams when IRL live streaming: carry two internet connections and let Speedify combine them. Get started with Speedify today!
Speedify
Get started with Speedify today.
Speedify combines Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite into one faster, more reliable internet connection. Free to try: 5 GB a month with a free account. No credit card required.
🚀 Speed
Faster uploads and downloads, because Speedify uses all your internet connections at once.
📶 Stability
If one internet connection drops, Speedify moves your traffic to the others in milliseconds.
🔒 Security
AES-256 encryption on every internet connection, on any network you join.
15M+ downloads worldwide. 75K+ five-star reviews on iOS and Android.