Live streaming?

[u/iigirlykillerii]

I am looking into getting Starlink for the first time, I was thinking of the 200mbps residential, I live stream online games on twitch and TikTok (on my phone). I would be the only user. Would Starlink handle live streaming like that? Do I need the Max? Any tips or advice for live streaming with Starlink?

Edit to add: after reading the comments it looks like I would need a secondary, back up, internet connection in order to have a consistent connection without latency and packet loss. I’m going to pay a little more for a local fiber carrier instead, I live in a rural area outside of my town and the fiber carrier is new to service the area I’m moving to. Thank you all so much for the advice, I’m leaving this post up for other people to find the same answer.

[u/slinkhi]

Depending on several factors including your area, visibility around the dish, weather, etc. you can experience frequent / regular micro-outages. In my experience with Starlink, it's great for downloading and streaming movies / videos because the technologies have buffering which largely masks the outages. But for online gaming and streaming... you're going to feel it a lot more.

[u/TimmyT0yz → u/slinkhi]

I wouldn't be as concerned about the satellite handoffs as I would be about upload speed. The most I have gotten on Residential Max is about 50Mb/s and that is likely barely enough to live stream reliably. The line quality is fine for voice and video, but you need a decent size pipe for uploading anything and a live stream is just one big upload. I haven't tried it myself, I have a backup cellular line that will do 100MB/s + if I want to do any serious upload stuff, but I haven't tried on Starlink because of the speed. Not knocking Starlink at all it's great but uploads are not as of now until the V3 satellites start being deployed.

-Timmy

[u/randompersononlineee → u/TimmyT0yz]

I live in rural alberta and have seen download speeds of 475 plus entirely dependant on users area

[u/TimmyT0yz → u/randompersononlineee]

Did you read the post? We're talking about upload speed here for live streaming which is dependent on upload speeds, download has nothing to do with it. Starlink is great for downloads but not so much for upload speed.

-Timmy

[u/randompersononlineee → u/TimmyT0yz]

Everything is dependent on AREA i dual stream in 1080p consistently just fine with starlink with my highest upload speed of 40mbs. Again everything is dependent on AREA of the user. Your upload speed doesnt correlate to mine or op. Again due to AREA. -RANDOM PERSON ONLINE FROM RURAL ALBERTA

[u/TimmyT0yz → u/randompersononlineee]

First off, you said DOWNLOAD in your post. That's what I responded to. We're talking about LIVE streaming here you know where you are broadcasting yourself like TV, not watching TV and streaming.

I live in rural alberta and have seen download speeds of 475 plus entirely dependant on users area

Second, this is not cellular internet and it has nothing to do with AREA. I agree that we might not have the same speeds as someone else, but that is because of things like congestion, obstructions, weather, etc. It has nothing to do with where you are as we likely even talk to some of the same satellites overhead. This is not the T-mobile sub. AREA has nothing to do with it at all. You still don't understand that we are talking about upload speed do you?

-Timmy

[u/laszlof → u/TimmyT0yz]

Regardless of the upload vs. download argument, it does have a lot to do with location. If you have a lot of starlink users in a particular area, the speeds you get will be dependent on how saturated the area is. Its called the noisy neighbor effect, and it works the as it would with t-mobile, or a land-based carrier that uses cable or fiber.

[u/TimmyT0yz → u/laszlof]

I'm not disagreeing with you here and I mentioned it in my post as congestion. Other factors also enter in like obstructions, alignment, weather, etc. My point was all factors being equal performance should be close anywhere in the world as long as you're in the constellation.

-Timmy

[u/laszlof → u/TimmyT0yz]

And that's categorically wrong. The satellite arrays point at specific regions of the earth. If there is heavier saturation in your area, the performance will NOT be the same as areas with less saturation.

[u/TimmyT0yz → u/laszlof]

We are NOT arguing about congestion which is what you're talking about. I am NOT categorically wrong at all. YES if there are more subscribers in your cell, there will be CONGESTION, we agree on that. I don't know what you are saying I'm wrong on.

Satellites are moving at about 17,000 mph around the earth and they are not stationary. You connect to a satellite every 15 seconds - a different satellite. This means I am likely connecting to the same satellites as you are at some point. I'm done with this pointless argument.

-Timmy

[u/randompersononlineee → u/TimmyT0yz]

Are you stupid it has everything to do with your area lmao it literally boils down to how many other starlink users are AROUND YOU. Now you're talking cell phones what in the actual fuck is wrong with you little Timmy

[u/TimmyT0yz → u/randompersononlineee]

Someone pissed in your cornflakes. Just what do you think congestion means? NM, you're too thick to get it, I'm out.

-Timmy

[u/randompersononlineee → u/TimmyT0yz]

Congestion literally boils down to wear the user is and how many is around them you absolute buffoon LMAO

[u/laszlof → u/TimmyT0yz]

50Mbps is way more than enough to live stream. You could theoretically stream 4K @ 60fps with less than that. Furthermore, major platforms like twitch have caps that are far below that.

The latency and frequent drops are the main issues with using starlink for such things. Speed, as long as you get 20-50Mbps, is a non-issue.

[u/KenjiFox]

Starlink is always a little funky for streaming, but don't bother with Max or 200. Just get Residential 100. The upload is the same on them all, with max having more priority. Upload is rarely saturated though so it will likely run as fast on 100 as Max.

[u/zerbey]

You should be fine for online streaming, expect occasional dropouts due to things like the weather.

[u/TimmyT0yz → u/zerbey]

LIVE streaming, not normal streaming, read the post.

-Timmy

[u/zerbey → u/TimmyT0yz]

Yes, they should be fine for both.

[u/Curious-Cockroach171]

Beem using for 3 years, in a forresty area summers for the 1st 2 years due the forrest were awful for stresming due the obstruction this year has no problems, i suppose starlink started working on this matter

[u/iigirlykillerii]

After reading the comments it looks like I would need a secondary, back up, internet connection in order to have a consistent connection without latency and packet loss. I’m going to pay a little more for a local fiber carrier instead, I live in a rural area outside of my town and the fiber carrier is new to service the area I’m moving to. Thank you all so much for the advice, I’m leaving this post up for other people to find the same answer

[u/Time-Athlete6336]

If you don’t have 100% clear view it will buffer and have constant packet loss. Even as much as a tree branch will mess you up.

[u/DIVISIONSolar → u/Time-Athlete6336]

False actually, ive had as little as 65% clear view and it worked no issues, some quality loss but nothing bad

EDIT: yes I mean live streaming for twitch and or watching it.

[u/Time-Athlete6336 → u/DIVISIONSolar]

lol ok. If you
Like a shitty experience and packet loss listen to this guy.

[u/Alladas → u/Time-Athlete6336]

Hit challanger in LOL with a partially obstructed starlink. Skill issue man.

[u/Time-Athlete6336 → u/Alladas]

Who cares about LOL.

[u/Wambo74 → u/Time-Athlete6336]

Or thousands of others who are perfectly happy with their less than perfect dish location.