Network disconnection can be a nightmare for live streaming—but it doesn’t have to be. While your broadcast relies on the internet, there’s a surprising way to handle temporary total network loss without your viewers ever noticing.
A Streamer’s Worst Fear
Why Streams Go Dark
Inside the Test: Setup, Conditions, and Goals
Results: How Each Encoder Handled the Drop
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts + Further Reading
It doesn’t get much worse than this: you’re live streaming an important event, your viewership is peaking, and then — without warning — your network cuts out. No internet, no stream. If just thinking about this makes you feel a little panicky, you’re not alone.
Digging deeper, why does this type of outage happen, and what does it mean for your stream? More importantly, is there a way to recover from a mid-stream network outage? If the outage lasts for hours or even days, the answer is unfortunately no. You’d likely have to rely on a local recording and upload it later or switch to a hotspot. Hotspots aren’t an ideal fix, as upload speeds are often unreliable and slow.
But what if the outage is brief, like the kinds that we often encounter in the real world? In this case, there may be hope for your stream and viewers. Let’s explore the common causes of short-term internet disruptions, and then put a range of popular encoders to the test in a simulation that mimics these real-world challenges.
Momentary outages often occur when your ISP is performing maintenance or troubleshooting issues. These disruptions can be caused by inclement weather, equipment failures, or even routine IP address refreshes—each of which can leave your stream offline for a short period.
It’s not always a total blackout. Flickers and brownouts happen more often than full power outages, but even brief interruptions can restart your network equipment, causing your stream to go down temporarily.
Sometimes the simplest things cause the biggest problems. A loose Ethernet cable can easily be pulled mid-stream, leading to a brief loss of connection until it’s reconnected.
When your primary network fails, the switch to a backup usually takes around 10 seconds or more. This delay can cause a temporary internet loss, taking your stream offline until the transition is complete.
Routers and modems aren’t immune to issues. They occasionally restart to update firmware, or when they overheat or encounter bugs, causing brief interruptions to your internet connection.
Streaming from a public network can be risky. If you're using an unfamiliar connection at an event or conference, heavy traffic or usage timeouts could overload the network, causing disruptions.
Even the best software encoders can crash, freeze, or update unexpectedly. These issues can lead to connectivity problems, potentially cutting your stream short mid-broadcast.
If you’re relying on battery power for your streaming setup, a drained battery means no internet access until you can reconnect to a new power source.
These are some of the most common reasons for temporary network loss. Since interruptions are unavoidable, even with top networks, your encoder needs to be able to manage these moments without missing a beat.
To determine which encoders can weather these inevitable disruptions, we put eight popular models to the test. By simulating a complete internet loss, we evaluated how well each encoder performed under pressure. Before we dive into the results, let’s walk through the test setup and our goals.
Each encoder was set to stream at a 4Mbps video bitrate with an available 8Mbps upload speed. At the 5-minute mark, we simulated a total network loss for 30 seconds before fully restoring internet access and power. The key objective was to observe how each encoder handled the disruption — whether the stream continued smoothly or experienced downtime.
To ensure a precise simulation, we used Apple’s Network Link Conditioner, a tool built for accurately replicating network constraints. Most encoders streamed using the SRT protocol, while the BoxCast Spark utilized its proprietary BoxCast Flow protocol, and the Resi Ray relied on RSP.
The chart above shows that most encoders showed a similar lack of response during the network outage. When a temporary network loss occurs, the typical outcome for most encoders is stream disruption. Resi and OBS stood out on the negative side of the test, cutting out for 42 seconds, and 1 minute and 49 seconds, respectively. On a more positive note, there was one encoder that handled the outage flawlessly: the BoxCast Spark.
Let’s dive into why the Spark stood out. The Spark uses BoxCast Flow, which is a combination of several advanced technologies designed to maintain stream integrity, even in extreme conditions like the one we simulated. First, Flow Control monitors available network bandwidth and can adjust latency up to 90 seconds, providing extra time for lost data to be retransmitted. Next, Forward Error Correction proactively sends additional data before any is lost, improving the chances of recovering from disruptions. Then Link Quality Adjustment dynamically adapts the bitrate during the stream, ensuring optimal video quality whether the upload speed fluctuates up or down. Finally, BoxCast Flow uses a combination of UDP and TCP to maintain the live status of the stream and simultaneously retransmit lost packets to keep it looking sharp.
Ultimately, this test highlighted the difficulty of maintaining a high-quality live stream during a temporary network outage. However, it also proved that it is possible—if you have the right encoder and streaming protocol on your side.
A variety of external factors can lead to temporary internet disruptions during your stream, including issues with your ISP, power failures, equipment disconnections, and more.
BoxCast Flow uses adaptive latency, dynamic video bitrate adjustments, and packet retransmission to help maintain a strong stream during short network outages (typically 40 seconds or less).
It’s always a good idea to record your video locally in case of a network loss. Setting up a network failover protocol is another option to have a backup plan if outages are common at your location. Choosing the right streaming protocol and encoder can also ensure optimal performance if the outage is temporary.
Most encoders experience stream loss during a network outage. However, our testing found that the BoxCast Spark encoder performed best in handling temporary network disruptions.
By using adaptive latency, adjusting the video bitrate, and retransmitting lost packets, you can maintain a stable live stream during a temporary network outage.
Unlike many encoders that succumb to network interruptions, the BoxCast Spark, powered by BoxCast Flow, ensures that your stream remains unaffected during temporary network disruptions. Its advanced features, like adaptive latency, forward error correction, and dynamic bitrate adjustments, allow your stream to stay intact even during a 30-second loss of internet.
If you’re regularly dealing with a lossy network or frequent outages, the BoxCast Spark is the ideal solution to keep your stream running smoothly. We’d love to put one in your hands and help you experience the reliability and resilience that BoxCast offers.
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