The first time I went live, I prepared for two days. Lights, background, talking points on sticky notes around the screen. Ten minutes in, comments started asking if I was lagging. I watched the replay: the picture moved once every three seconds, the audio cut in and out. It really did look like slides.
My first thought was bad internet. I ended the stream, opened a speed test, saw 300-plus Mbps down and 28 ms latency. I stared at that number. How could this be lagging?
I had been reading the wrong number
The big number on a speed test is download. That is what streaming video, browsing, and downloading files use. Going live is the opposite: you are sending your picture out. That runs on upload.
I scrolled down that day and saw the upload row: 8.4 Mbps. Not 300. And that was with no proxy running and nobody else at home using the network.
When I actually went live, the proxy was on, someone was watching a show, my phone was backing up photos in the background. Upload got sliced up. If I had 3 Mbps left, I was lucky. Three is barely enough for 720p.
The other word I ignored: jitter
Later I noticed a field called jitter. In plain terms, it is how steady your latency is. 28 ms sounds great, but if it swings between 20 and 90, the picture stutters. Live is more sensitive than on-demand video, because on-demand can buffer ahead. A live stream cannot buffer the future.
I ran a ping test for a few minutes and watched the numbers bounce, peaking above 200. That was the moment I got it. The problem was not slow. The problem was unstable.
What I changed
Practical things, not "get better internet":
- Before going live, check upload on the speed test, not download. Under 5 Mbps, drop the resolution.
- Do not multitask on the streaming device. I used to upload clips on the same laptop while live. Now they are separate.
- Pick a nearby proxy node. Routing halfway around the planet just to look American adds latency and instability.
- Drop the bitrate one notch. 1080p to 720p is barely visible to viewers, and the stutter drops immediately.
What I have not solved
Honestly, I still get some lag. Between eight and ten at night, the neighborhood network is just crowded. I cannot fix that. I avoid the window, or warn viewers in advance.
Another time the proxy dropped and the stream went black. I talked into the microphone for two minutes before noticing. Since then I keep a phone next to me, logged in with a second account, just to watch the picture. It sounds dumb. It works.
If you are about to go live for the first time, test upload first. I wasted a whole evening testing the wrong number.