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How-to: avoid live bandwidth problems
Broadcasting live audio requires a fairly good internet connection. If you're broadcasting live, and the Mixlr broadcasting application detects that your internet connection is not good enough to broadcast, it may warn you so you can take action.
This page explains what a bandwidth problem is, what causes them, and what you can do to avoid them.
- What is bandwidth?
- What problems does low bandwidth cause Mixlr?
- What causes low bandwidth?
- How can I fix a bandwidth problem?
If you don't find this guide helpful, you can always contact us directly with any queries.
What is bandwidth?
Bandwidth is capacity of an internet connection. You can more-or-less think of it as the speed of an internet connection.
If you have high bandwidth, then you will be able to upload and download files more quickly. You will sometimes also notice that browsing the web is more responsive.
On the other hand, low bandwidth means that uploading and downloading files slows to a crawl, and sometimes stops altogether.
What problems does low bandwidth cause Mixlr?
Unlike live video streaming, Mixlr only broadcasts audio, and therefore only requires a relatively low level of bandwidth.
However, we find that one of the commonest problems our broadcasters have to deal with is too low bandwidth.
If you're broadcasting and your bandwidth is too low, then Mixlr won't be able to send your data to our servers fast enough.
This means that your listeners may experience pauses in transmission, while our servers wait for more audio to arrive.
If many of your listeners report that your broadcast contains occasional pauses, it's most likely to be a bandwidth problem. If this is the case, you should also receive a warning from the Mixlr broadcasting app.
What causes low bandwidth?
The two most common causes of low bandwidth are:
- Uploading files, or running file-sharing or torrent software, while broadcasting live.
- A slow internet connection provided by your ISP.
How can I fix bandwidth problems?
Firstly, quit other applications that may be hogging your bandwidth. This will free up bandwidth for Mixlr and often immediately resolve the problem.
We find that the usual cause is file-sharing or torrent software, like BitTorrent, which often runs in the background without broadcasters even realising.
Another culprit is Dropbox, which uploads files in the background; to avoid this, make sure you quit Dropbox before commencing a live broadcast. You should also avoid uploading MP3s to services such as SoundCloud while your are broadcasting live.
If you're sure you're not running software which is hogging your bandwidth, then you may have a slow internet connection. You can test the internet connection using a connection checker like this one. We recommend an available upload bandwidth of not less than 30kb/s.
If your upload bandwidth is less than 30kb/s, and you are having problems broadcasting, we can reduce the bandwidth you require on our side. Get in touch and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
