Suggested uplink speed. Please help.

[larsen2000]

What is the minimum speed on the internet connection when streaming video in 500kbps? I have a lot of customers with this question when planning to do live webcast, and don´t really know the limit.

[Gordon]

Upload speed should be set to a max of 80% of available. In order to stream 500 kps you should have 600 kps available? This is a general rule of thumb.

[Jim_C]

It also depends greatly on what is sharing your line.
If you have a dedicated line you can cut it closer than if you are sharing the connection with the rest of the building and/or offices.

[Gordon]

Good point Jim. I forgot to mention that.

Of course not only the rest of the building or offices but also the entire neighborhood if you are with Shaw cable (and maybe other cable companies work the same way), as they have trunk limits for each neighborhood. What this means is that the upload can be going along just fine and then 30 minutes later the network can't keep up and so your stream dies.

[hqv]

In order to stream and receive 500kps without dropping frames, you need to have sustainable bandwith at both ends. Most consumer speed connections will vary. A viewer with a cheap DSL connection may have speeds up to 700kbs during off peak usage but will rarely get that type of connection during prime time weekday evenings.

We have typically set our stream rates to about 300 - 400 kbps to ensure a smooth viewing experience for the majority of viewers. I would love to stream higher and we have the upload speed but you have to keep your viewer's limitations in mind.

It would be interesting to see what others are streaming at as well.

[rally1]

We limp along at 250k for most of our streams, would like to be in the 300-400 range too, but find we have more complaints from viewers with slow internet connections.

For a 500k stream the 600k mark is a good start, and it should be dedicated use a router with QoS control.

Be aware if you saturate your upload on DSL, your download will suffer tremendously. So if you have a 2.0Mb/384k line, and try to run a 350k stream up it, that 2.0Mb download will plummet.

[sbrandt]

Just to back up a bit here.
Are we talking about streaming to a service provider like 'audiovideoweb.com' for distribution, or streaming straight from your own server?