The Real Key to Smooth Live Streams: Your Internet Line

What’s the Most Important factor in Live Streaming?

When preparing for live streaming on video platforms like YouTube, what is the most important? First of all, content is undeniably the top priority. Without something truly worth watching, viewers simply won’t tune in.

So, assuming the content is excellent, what’s the most important external factor in live streaming? Camera? Lighting? Microphone? While each of these plays a role, I would argue that the internet connection is by far the most critical.

Many creators invest heavily in production tools and techniques when planning and preparing a live streaming. Yet, when it comes to the connection that delivers the content to the platform, they often assume that “as long as it’s fast, it’s fine.” However, the internet connection is in fact the essential foundation that ultimately determines whether viewers can watch the stream.

A good connection won’t guarantee viewers, but a bad one will surely drive them away.
– EQMaker

This article explores, through the writer’s experience and real-world examples of issues caused by internet quality, the crucial role that the internet connection plays in live streaming for the reader.

Problems Caused by Connection Quality

Writer’s Experience: Challenges in Live Platform Integration

The writer provides broadcast transmission services to channel operators. Some clients deliver broadcast signals to OTT platforms to offer live channel services.

One day, while monitoring the OTT transmission signals, the writer noticed that some channels were stuttering. After rebooting the origin server, the issue disappeared.

A few days later, the exact same issue occurred again on the same channel. Just like before, rebooting the origin server resolved the problem.

As the writer became increasingly convinced that something was wrong, the same issue reappeared around the same time a few days later. After nearly two weeks of digging, the writer finally pinpointed the cause: one of the origin server’s channels was streaming live to YouTube. Here’s a simplified breakdown of what was happening:

1. People come home after a long, tiring day and start watching YouTube.
2. As more and more data flows toward YouTube, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) experience network congestion.
3. Due to the bottleneck, the stream from the origin server to YouTube also starts to lag.
4. Unsent stream packets begin piling up in the origin server’s memory, waiting their turn to be transmitted.
5. As time passes, the number of queued packets in memory grows.
6. As available memory decreases, other streams from the same origin server are also affected.
7. Everything starts stuttering together in a chaotic dance.

In short, the root cause was the Internet connection provided by the ISP. When this kind of issue occurs intermittently, even identifying the symptoms can be tricky. Even if identify the problem, taking corrective action is challenging due to the characteristic of the Internet.

Moreover, if, the traffic has to go through international networks? Well, from that point onward, it really comes down to luck.

Example: Internet connections from different ISPs.

The video below shows the same live stream being sent to YouTube from the same physical location, but using internet connections from two different ISPs. This test used 1Gbps dedicated lines from KT(Korea Telecom) and SK BroadBand, both major ISPs in Republic of Korea. The system configuration is illustrated in the diagram below.

Looking at the player in the video, the KT screen on the left appears normal, while the SK screen on the right shows repeated micro-stuttering and buffering.

As shown in the table, repeated micro-stuttering over a short 2-minute period led to a cumulative delay of 5.1 seconds, and this delay directly results in an increase in the device’s memory usage, as illustrated in the figure below.

Impact on a Live Streaming Channel

As seen in the video above, an unstable internet connection isn’t just a minor issue like video delay, poor quality, or pixelation. The moment stuttering occurs, the continuity of both video and audio is broken, and persistent stuttering leads to viewers leaving. Furthermore, since this type of problem is memorable, a viewer who experiences it once is likely to avoid all future content from that channel.

Moreover, the persistent increase in memory usage reduces the system’s available memory, eventually causing it to crash.

Which internet connection should be used?

First, to be clear, the writer is not saying that any specific ISP is better. The writer has used dedicated lines from three of the four major ISPs in Korea (KT, SKBB, SJT, excluding LGT), and every single one of them had issues. Furthermore, due to the nature of the internet, problems can always occur at any time and in any section.

Nevertheless, to minimize the possibility of problems, the writer recommends considering the points below when choosing a connection.

Wired over Wireless | xDSL over HFC | Fiber over Copper

Regardless of the ISP, it is essential to choose a service that offers high technical stability. This is because it is crucial to avoid problems before the stream data even reaches the ISP’s exchange port.

Between wireless and wired options, a wired connection is naturally more stable. While wireless technology offers great convenience and has improved significantly, it cannot overcome the physical limitations of radio waves as a medium.

Among copper-based services, xDSL is more stable than HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coaxial). HFC-based internet is at a disadvantage compared to xDSL in maintaining quality due to line bandwidth limitations and its shared nature.

Between services using fiber optic and copper cables, fiber optic is more stable. It is less susceptible to signal attenuation over physical distance from the ISP and is technologically superior, having been introduced later than copper..

While these are generally accepted principles, actual performance may vary depending on the environment and the ISP’s infrastructure. The key takeaway is this: Always choose a service with a reliable and high-quality connection.

Ample International Bandwidth or same ISP with the Platform

Once stream data is successfully sent to the ISP, the ISP decides whether to handle the data internally or route it externally to another ISP. If the target platform is within the same ISP’s network, the data will travel on their internal network; otherwise, it will be routed to the appropriate external ISP.

Internal networks typically have sufficient processing capacity. However, when data must be exchanged between ISPs, it passes through interconnection points with limited bandwidth, which is shared among all subscribers together of the ISP.

Moreover, when connecting to overseas ISPs, the available bandwidth is generally smaller than that of domestic interconnections. This international bandwidth is also shared across all users.

Therefore, using the same ISP as your target platform can prevent issues caused by limited peering capacity. Additionally, when connecting to an international platform, an ISP with extensive and high-capacity international networks is naturally less likely to have problems.

For reference, the writer has never experienced connection issues when connecting to platforms that use domestic networks. The problems that did occur were with platforms located overseas or those using international cloud services.

Dedicated Service with a Sales Representative

In reality, a sales representative can offer no technical assistance. However, when issues or outages occur, they serve as a valuable point of contact to help you reach someone who can assist.

In the writer’s experience, dedicated business lines were always used. This made it possible to contact the NOC (Network Operation Center) through the sales representative to take necessary action.

Of course, it is true that such products are expensive. However, when a connection problem occurs, there is a significant difference between having a means to request action and having none.

Conclusion

When considering the quality of a live stream, it’s natural to invest in production equipment like microphones and cameras. However, the final gateway for delivering that content completely to viewers is the internet connection.

It’s not just about having a fast internet connection — what truly matters is a stable line with low latency and minimal packet loss. To ensure this level of reliability, readers should carefully consider whether the connection you plan to use: ① is from the most suitable ISP for the target platform, ② is a product with excellent technical stability, and ③ comes with sufficient technical support.

These factors are critical to maintaining a seamless and dependable streaming or data transmission experience.

Between a fast connection and a stable one, which is better for live broadcasting?

Connection stability is far more important than raw upload speed. Live streaming rarely requires more than 50Mbps. A stable 100Mbps connection is better than an unstable 10Gbps connection.

What are the 3 conditions for a connection suitable for live streaming?

• Does it have sufficient peering capacity with the target platform?
• Is it technically stable?
• Is technical support available?

Why is peering capacity important?

If a bottleneck occurs, the frequency and likelihood of delays increase. This negatively impacts the live streaming viewing experience.

Why does the cumulative delay sometimes decrease after buffering occurs?

When significant buffering occurs, the YouTube Live player will skip ahead to forcibly reduce latency. In other words, it decreases because a portion of the stream was skipped.

Are there technical ways to overcome connection latency?

If the platform supports alternatives to the standard RTMP PUSH method, it’s worth exploring. Using other protocol likes HLS or SRT, may help mitigate instability caused by network issues.