How to stream over two internet connections
If the only thing between your show and your viewers is one connection, any hiccup on it is a hiccup on air. Two connections turn that into something nobody sees.
What it does
Streamdzy sends your stream to its relay over more than one network at once: your main connection, and up to two backups such as a phone plugged in with a cable. The backups stay nearly silent while the main one works. If the main one stops answering, the stream moves to the next one within seconds, from exactly where it left off. Only what the relay is missing is sent again, and the platform does not see a reconnect.
Set it up
- Plug your phone in with its cable and turn on USB tethering (Android) or Personal Hotspot (iPhone).
- Open Settings, Connections. Streamdzy lists each network, checks that the internet really answers over it and shows its speed.
- Switch on the ones you want as a backup. Choose Help carry the stream if you also want it to share the load when the main connection is slow.
- Use the Record first mode with your own relay when you go live. The relay is what puts the pieces back together.
What it costs
A phone connection uses mobile data, and only when it is needed: at the idle state it sends a tiny message a second. If it has to carry the whole stream, 1080p at 4,500 kbps is about 2 GB an hour: see the data calculator. Streamdzy marks a phone link as costing data and uses it last.
What it is not
This is failover with optional load sharing between a few connections. It is not the hardware “bonding” that merges several mobile carriers into one fast pipe on a dedicated server. In exchange it needs nothing but your computer and a phone, and it adds no monthly bill.
What to know about Windows
On our test PC, plugging in a phone for USB tethering made Windows switch the Wi-Fi off. Connecting the Wi-Fi again by hand brought both back, and then a test stream left through each network as chosen: it kept going over the phone in the same second the Wi-Fi was switched off, with nothing lost. The Connections screen tells you when a Wi-Fi adapter is switched off, and Streamdzy never changes a Windows setting for you. If Windows keeps switching it off, look at the Windows Connection Manager policy and your Wi-Fi adapter’s “disconnect when wired” option. Two networks of different kinds, such as Wi-Fi and a phone, are the case to test on your own PC before a show.
Before the show
Open Connections, press Check my connections, and look for a green line on every network you rely on. Run a test stream to a private link and pull the main cable to see the stream move.
Questions
Do I need a special router?
No. Any phone that can share its connection over a cable works.
Does it work with the free app?
Yes. The extra connections work with Record first and your own relay, which is free: it runs through a relay on your own free Cloudflare account. Stepping down on a weak line and the lifeline are free too.
Will viewers see a glitch when it switches?
No: the relay keeps playing its buffer while the stream moves, and picks up exactly where the first connection stopped.
Want all of this in one app?
Streamdzy is a free streaming and recording app for Windows: several cameras, your phone as a camera, going live to many places at once, and recording first so a bad connection never costs you the show.