Test your bandwidth

Test your bandwidth connection before the broadcast starts

Context

When moving to remote or home environments due to COVID-19, network capacity and bandwidth became more important than ever. Wi-Fi networks in remote or home environments are often shared with multiple people and devices, while Whisbi always recommends using a dedicated Wi-Fi.

Problem

As a broadcaster, if I am streaming at a quality whose bitrate exceeds my connection’s upload bandwidth, my stream will get disconnected. This is frustrating for both the broadcaster and the viewers. Often it is not clear on what kind of network you are streaming on.

Solution

We introduce a simple upload bandwidth tester in the quality settings panel so that a broadcaster can judge if they have selected the right bandwidth for their connection before starting to stream. The bandwidth tester gives an indication and is not leading in making a choice to either broadcast or to choose the quality. 

The bandwidth tester goes up to 7 Mbps and then shows +7 Mbps. 

Conditions:

The bandwidth tester gives a visual confirmation that enough bandwidth is available. It does not select the quality for you. We leave this to the broadcaster’s good judgment of their conditions.

How does it work?

1. Log in to the app
2. Go to ‘Quality settings’ in the bottom bar on the left.
3. Click on ‘Test my bandwidth connection’.

Screenshots: