You Can Combine Multiple Internet Connections Together – Like Starlink, Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G, and DSL – with Speedify, to Avoid Facebook Live Stream Being Blurry
A Facebook Live stream that comes out soft and pixelated is almost never a camera problem. When the upload side of your internet connection cannot keep up, the broadcast drops its bitrate (the amount of video data sent every second), and a low bitrate is exactly what viewers see as blur.
Speedify is an app that carries your traffic over two or more internet connections together (Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite), so your device has room to send video at full quality. Speedify needs two or more connections for that; on a single connection it works as an encrypted VPN and cannot make that connection’s upload faster. This article explains what your phone is doing while it streams and how using Speedify keeps the picture sharp.
A Blurry Facebook Live Stream Is a Sign of a Low Upload Bitrate
A video stream is actually made up of a large number of small packets of information. A blurry Facebook Live stream usually means the stream is running at a low bitrate: the connection is not moving those packets fast enough, so the video is sent at lower quality to keep up. Buffering comes from the same problem: the connection to the internet just isn’t fast enough.
A low frame rate on Facebook Live usually has one of two causes: an upload that cannot carry every frame, or a phone or computer too busy to encode them. Meta’s Live Video API reference recommends 3,000 to 6,000 kbps for 1080p at 30 fps and 4,500 to 9,000 kbps for 1080p at 60 fps, so check that your upload clears the bitrate you stream at with room to spare. Close other apps and keep the device cool; if the frame rate still dips, the upload is the bottleneck.
The software on your phone will produce a blurry stream because it doesn’t have all the puzzle pieces to put together a clear image. When your connection is slow, a blurry feed is the only way to still get some of the live experience. The only other option is for your device to buffer. This means it shows you nothing until it has collected enough of the information packets to display a clear image. But, with buffering you are not getting any of the live experience. That’s why pre-recorded videos buffer, but your Facebook Live stream is blurry.
How Your Mobile Device Streams Data
Phones normally use one internet connection at a time: either Wi-Fi or 4G/5G cellular. When that connection loses packets, the phone has to ask for the missing data again, which slows the upload even more.
While newer phones claim to connect to Wi-Fi and cellular at the same time, they are usually alternating between the two when connection issues come up. You will still experience a blurry Facebook Live stream when your Internet connection is slow even with the latest iOS and Android network switching features.
How Speedify Fixes a Blurry Facebook Live Stream
There is a way to fix a blurry Facebook Live stream caused by a weak upload. Speedify can combine multiple internet sources into one connection for more stable and secure live streaming, video calling and web browsing. The Speedify app lets your phone use two different internet connections simultaneously, your Wi-Fi and your 4G/5G cellular, so the upload has more room and the encoder does not have to drop quality. Speedify settings can also minimize data usage on cellular.
This also makes the connection more reliable: if you join a dead Wi-Fi hotspot, Speedify’s smart failover protection moves the stream to your 4G/5G cellular connection on its own.
With Speedify combining two internet connections, a weak upload is much less likely to turn your Facebook Live stream blurry.
Speedify Also Monitors Your Connections and Encrypts Your Traffic
Speedify does more than add speed. Speedify constantly monitors the quality of your internet connections, moves traffic between Wi-Fi networks and cellular as you roam, and can limit how much cellular data it uses. Speedify also encrypts all of your data, keeping your data safe and private.
If you want to experience the internet on your terms and forget about Facebook Live stream blurry issues, get Speedify today on your iOS or Android device.
Why Facebook Live Broadcasts Drop Mid-Stream
Many people who go live on Facebook from a phone run into connection errors, and a common complaint is a stream that drops in the middle of the broadcast.
Live streaming problems have many causes, but for people who go live on Facebook from a smartphone or tablet, the most common one is an unreliable internet connection: a troublesome Wi-Fi hotspot, poor 4G/5G cellular coverage, or the way the phone hands off the connection from one Wi-Fi hotspot or cell tower to another.
5 Steps to Get Stable Internet for Your Facebook Live IRL Stream
These steps turn a Raspberry Pi running Speedify into a Wi-Fi router that combines internet connections:
- Setup the Raspberry Pi by installing Speedify. Speedify on Linux, including Raspberry Pi, needs a paid plan (there is no free tier on Linux).
- Ready to IRL stream on Facebook Live? Plug the Raspberry Pi into the battery pack.
- Connect as many smartphones or cellular adapters as you can to the Pi and enable tethering. Make sure you leave the Pi’s internal Wi-Fi card not connected so you can use it as a connection sharing interface.
- Start the Wi-Fi hotspot: turn on Speedify and enable sharing.
To share over a Wi-Fi hotspot, select wlan0 as the sharing interface. Set a custom SSID and password for your hotspot and restart Speedify to apply the changes. If you’re using Speedify on the Pi graphically, you should see the connections show up as connection bubbles on the Speedify dashboard. - Connect your Facebook Live video streaming device to the Wi-Fi hotspot.
If you’re using a smartphone as your Facebook Live streaming device, you can also run Speedify on it. This way, the phone uses the Raspberry Pi’s Wi-Fi hotspot and its own cellular connection at the same time.
Use the Facebook app to customize your live streaming settings. While connected to the hotspot, you should be able to IRL stream in HD on the go, without worrying about weak signal.
Step by Step Guide to Live Streaming IRL on Facebook Live
Here’s how to put the pieces together on a phone and start broadcasting on Facebook Live:
- On your iPhone / Android phone you’re using to live stream IRL: make sure you have both Wi-Fi and 4G/5G cellular turned on.
Optional: If you’re using an external battery pack, make sure that’s connected to the streaming phone and, if possible, to the second phone.
Optional: If you’re using an external microphone or wireless headsets, connect those via Bluetooth. - Connect to Wi-Fi where you’re streaming from. If you’re traveling or if the only Wi-Fi available is a public Wi-Fi hotspot, then use the second phone / MiFi device to create a hotspot.
- Start Speedify and connect to the fastest server.
- Start the Facebook app and tap on Live.
- You are now broadcasting on Facebook Live, and you can focus on what you are streaming rather than on your internet connection or battery life.
Streaming to Facebook Live with StreamYard, Ecamm Live or OBS
The encoder you broadcast through does not change what Facebook Live needs from your connection. StreamYard and Ecamm Live run in the browser or on a Mac and send one outbound stream; OBS and Streamlabs do the same from a desktop; a phone going live does it over cellular. In every case the picture softens when the upload cannot hold the bitrate the encoder is asking for. Speedify combines Wi-Fi, cellular, Ethernet and Starlink into one connection underneath whichever encoder you use, so there is more headroom and the encoder is less likely to drop quality to fit.
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.