Live streaming has evolved into indispensable technology. We can’t imagine life without services like YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, or live sports broadcasts. Apart from a camera and microphone, there’s much more that goes behind making a live stream possible. Streaming is a constant media transmission that occurs over the Internet from the streaming source to your desktop or smartphone. With streaming, you do not download any files. The video and audio file are stored remotely and subsequently transmitted over the Internet within a few seconds.
Bandwidth example:
Regardless of how you want to get involved with live streaming, you must find a reliable host. You want a web host that can handle the high bandwidth and processing needs that inherently come along with streaming live video. To avoid latency and poor video quality, you must choose a dedicated server located near your potential viewers, fast network, and a high bandwidth cap.
On a 1 Gbps port, you theoretically cannot use more than 330TB/month. This would be automatically considered as unlimited/unmetered bandwidth. Take a look at the table showing the theoretical maximum monthly bandwidth usage for various Ethernet link speeds:
1Gbps port (Unmetered – 330TB/month)
3Gbps port (Unmetered – 1000TB/month)
5Gbps port (Unmetered – 1620TB/month)
10Gbps port (Unmetered – 3240TB/month)
Here’s a useful converter from Gigabits per second to Terabytes per month: http://www.kylesconverter.com/data-bandwidth/gigabits-per-second-to-terabytes-per-month
Most of today’s new streaming projects are moving straight to unmetered servers in order to avoid additional charges for extra traffic. On the other hand, it’s not always the cheapest option for new streaming projects:
Let’s say that an additional 1TB of bandwidth costs ~0.50 EUR/TB
The average 1Gbps (20TB) single CPU server price: ~100 EUR/month
1Gbps unmetered single CPU server price: ~250 EUR/month
If your streaming project uses approximately 100TB/month, it‘s much more profitable to choose the server with limited bandwidth and pay an extra 40 EUR for an additional 80TB (80TB x 0.50 EUR = 40 EUR). This way, the total server price is 140 EUR. (100 EUR (server) + 40 EUR (80TB price) = 140 EUR/month)
By choosing this option, you are not over-paying for an additional 90TB of bandwidth that you never used that month.
How much bandwidth (TB/month) I will use?
It’s worth considering a couple of additional factors such as:
- The video quality you are planning to stream.
- The number of viewers you will reach.
- How much storage space you will need for your media library.
A higher Ethernet link speed (1Gbps – 10Gbps) can support higher quality and more simultaneous viewers. Solid state or even NVMe storage can drastically influence streaming quality for faster data I/O as well.
Here’s an approximate calculator to check how much bandwidth you might consume while streaming: https://techex.co.uk/streaming-calculator
Let’s say we are streaming a football match for 90 minutes
If the bitrate is ~500,000 Kbps (500Mbps) and you have 500 viewers at once, your total bandwidth required is 160931 GB (161TB).
This is a good example to a feel for how bandwidth-consuming these kinds of streaming projects can get.
Company ReliableSite.net are offering 1Gbps unmetered (330TB/month) server for only 148 USD/month:
Intel Xeon 1230v3 – 8HT cores – 3.30GHz
32GB RAM ECC DDR3
240GB SSD
Dedicated KVM access
1Gbps port (330TB) (Unlimited)
DDoS Protection
CentOS 7
Location: New York
