Solutions Comparison: Internet Bonding for Live Streaming

When you're live streaming video online you have to make sure everything goes well and especially that the live stream stays "alive" even if the Internet connection is poor at some points.

Using the Speedify solution, you can combine all of your Internet connections at the same time on a router or directly on your computer or mobile device. In this article you'll be able to see the importance of internet bonding in the context of live streaming and find out how different solutions available on the market compare for this purpose.

When broadcasting live video online, reliable Internet connectivity is essential. Live media producers are constantly looking for solutions to get the job done without issues such as low quality video, stuttering, buffering and even dropouts.

The problem is you cannot trust a single Internet connection when live streaming, because something can go wrong at any time due to temporary infrastructure problems, wireless signal coverage, etc. That's why it's best to use two or more Internet connections.

Internet bonding for live streaming is the norm for broadcasting video nowadays. It usually means using multiple cellular connections simultaneously (cellular bonding) through dedicated bonding hardware. Using a bonded network connection to live stream provides the reliability you need to avoid any type of broadcast issues.

But what is the best Internet bonding solution for live streaming? Check out our comparison sheet below that includes both hardware  bonding and software bonding solutions such as LiveU, Peplink, Teradek, Mushroom Networks, Streambox, TVU Networks, Dejero and Speedify.

We analyzed the most popular solutions for bonded Internet when broadcasting live video online. We took into account a few criteria, including equipment, maximum bitrate supported and cost. Here are the facts.

All solutions work very well for use cases such as:

• IRL live streaming
• remote learning
• online and hybrid events - including wedding videography, concerts, etc.
• reporting from the field
• entertainment
• houses of worship

As you can see above, there are three main differentiators when it comes to Speedify vs. any of the other bonded Internet solutions for live streaming:

• hardware vs. software-only - Speedify's internet bonding solution prioritizes live streaming while running on any computer, mobile device, supported router or other appliance. Being a software-only service, Speedify is much more versatile and portable. It's not limited to specific bandwidths and you don't need additional space, power sources or equipment to  set it up in order to get great results when live streaming or transferring files.
• Cost - all hardware-based internet bonding solutions (Dejero, LiveU, Mushroom Networks, Peplink, Streambox, Teradek and TVU Networks) have an initial investment of at least $495 plus the subscription to cloud bonding services. With Speedify, you only pay for the monthly or yearly subscription.
• Flexibility - instead of being committed to dedicated bonding hardware with Speedify you can turn any supported device into an internet bonding machine for live streaming. If you want, you can even create your own bonded Internet router and use it in a similar way to a hardware bonding device.

Looking for a real world use case? Read about Doug Piper's decision to live stream beer tasting using Speedify after considering a LiveU setup.