Broadband vs. Mobile Wifi Dongles?

[Sashacurves]

So I've been camming using a mobile wifi dongle since I started 8 months ago. It's been *fine* but I'm frequently kicked out of my room/internet goes down completely, and I'd say 1 in 3 camshows someone tells me I'm laggy, frozen etc. I've noticed my room attendance, camscore and everything is slowly decreasing and I wonder how much my internet issues are affecting me. Like maybe I was being given some slack before as a brand new model and now people are fed up/ the novelty of my newness is no longer worth my crappy quality streaming.

My question is really 1. Do you think improved quality necessarily = more camming success and 2. would broadband plugged into my laptop with an ethernet cable definitely solve my issues? I've tested my mobile wifi a few times and get between 8-12mbps upload speeds... though this is definitely biased by the fact I'm only every really checking it when I'm experiencing issues so maybe the average is higher I don't know!

 

[maskedsissyslutforyou]

I am both a viewer and sometimes a broadcaster.

Hotspots and other devices that go across the cellular networks generally are hit and miss. When it works bandwidth is good, but the reliability of the bandwidth is often not great. A lot of the reliability depends on your specificc location and your specific provider. 2 different providers in exactly the same area can have a vastly different experience, and move far enough away to be on another tower and the experience changes. It really only takes of couple of seconds of really slow to glitch the broadcast. Depending on how you run your mobile can also affect it. Having the hotspot/mobile device up higher or close to a un-coated window (the coatings that reflect heat do degrade mobile signals), or using an external outside antenna would help if the issue is a signal issue on your end. If the issue is other users or something tower related nothing on your end will change those issues except for being in a different area or having a different provider. The fully wired broadband connections and/or long range wireless (external dedicated antenna pointed at providers tower-line of sight-usually rural areas) will generally work a lot more consistenly. The laptop with a solid WIFI card connected to a router that has a wire connection to the provider will work better. Just putting a wire from a crappy providers line won't help in most cases (it will help if how you are moving the laptop causes the bad wifi coverage in the area you are working).

Generally if the stream is only glitching every 5-10 minutes I would keep watching it, but the more often it glitches the more likely it will annoy me and the less likely I keep watching.

 

[CheeseMoon]

2. would broadband plugged into my laptop with an ethernet cable definitely solve my issues?

If your connection to the outside world is wireless, probably not, but you will at least have removed one possible problem source. Connecting your computer to the router with a cable is always a good idea though.

Also, random bandwidth checks aren't actually telling you anything on how stable/reliable your internet connection is. I use Cloudflare's speed checker for random checks because it also displays ping, jitter and a simple time graph on the speed check. Jitter is indicative of how stable your line is when the check runs (how much the ping times vary), and you want it to be as near 0 as possible. 2-4 ms are very good values.

The ping time itself isn't necessarily so important as long as it does not deviate too much.

 

[Dannyhomebody]

So I've been camming using a mobile wifi dongle since I started 8 months ago. It's been *fine* but I'm frequently kicked out of my room/internet goes down completely, and I'd say 1 in 3 camshows someone tells me I'm laggy, frozen etc. I've noticed my room attendance, camscore and everything is slowly decreasing and I wonder how much my internet issues are affecting me. Like maybe I was being given some slack before as a brand new model and now people are fed up/ the novelty of my newness is no longer worth my crappy quality streaming.

My question is really 1. Do you think improved quality necessarily = more camming success and 2. would broadband plugged into my laptop with an ethernet cable definitely solve my issues? I've tested my mobile wifi a few times and get between 8-12mbps upload speeds... though this is definitely biased by the fact I'm only every really checking it when I'm experiencing issues so maybe the average is higher I don't know!

To answer question #1...yes. To try to help you answer question #2, have you contacted your internet service provider/technical support to see if there is a way/s to improve your cam quality and/or speed? How are your speed tests? Always perform those before you broadcast. Stick with the ethernet to avoid lagging issues, unless for some strange reason your ethernet port isn't working, then use Wi-fi. If you don't feel comfortable mentioning your webcam job to technical support, just mention you're trying to chat with some friends and/or family and you want a good connection, not a bad one. If you mention your job, mention you can't perform your job duties without proper working equipment. Hope this is helpful. Nice profile pic btw.

 

[Sashacurves]

Thanks guys! Probably should've explained better that I live with housemates so although there is wired broadband in the house, everyone complains about it being bad, even for everyday use let alone camming. Plus, the router is in the living room so connecting with an ethernet cable is sadly not an option hence why I've been using my mobile wifi dongle thing. I have tried to optimise the mobile wifi by leaving it right by my window etc but it can only do so much I guess. Hoping to move into my own place soon and I'll make sure I ask the right questions when picking a provider.

Thanks Danny! I did have that awkward interaction when buying the mobile wifi actually - guy wanted to know why I wanted a highspeed connection and unlimited data. Had to tell him I was starting a Youtube makeup tutorial channel... not sure he bought it haha

 

[CheeseMoon]

Plus, the router is in the living room so connecting with an ethernet cable is sadly not an option hence why I've been using my mobile wifi dongle thing.

You could theoretically replace the ethernet cable with a point to point wireless bridge in that case. For $50-70 you get a kit with two small-ish devices; one plugs into your computer and the other one connects to an ethernet port on the router. This setup does not extend the wifi signal in the house, it only creates a "wireless ethernet cable".

But if the broadband connection is shite anyway, it probably won't fix your streaming problems. On the other hand, if all your housemates connects to the router over wifi, the wired broadband connection itself could be both fast and stable. if you plug directly into the router and do some speed tests you may find out.

 

[Dannyhomebody]

Thanks guys! Probably should've explained better that I live with housemates so although there is wired broadband in the house, everyone complains about it being bad, even for everyday use let alone camming. Plus, the router is in the living room so connecting with an ethernet cable is sadly not an option hence why I've been using my mobile wifi dongle thing. I have tried to optimise the mobile wifi by leaving it right by my window etc but it can only do so much I guess. Hoping to move into my own place soon and I'll make sure I ask the right questions when picking a provider.

Thanks Danny! I did have that awkward interaction when buying the mobile wifi actually - guy wanted to know why I wanted a highspeed connection and unlimited data. Had to tell him I was starting a Youtube makeup tutorial channel... not sure he bought it haha

Glad I was able to help you out and if I can help you out again in the future, don't hesitate to ask any questions. Nice response with the YouTube makeup tutorial channel to avoid mentioning the job. Some techies refuse to work with webcam models if the company and/or tech/s know that you do webcam modeling for a living. I had to switch internet service providers because more than one tech didn't show up at my home for the scheduled appointment, lied, said he/she knocked at the door, but I didn't answer. BS. Dropped the company like a fly and moved on to a better internet provider.

Moving forward, yes, try to get your own place so you can have the privacy you need to prevent your housemates from disturbing you. Also, to avoid additional background disturbances, examples being barking dogs, honking horns, police and/or fire department alarms, use a fan or a couple of fans to tune out the noise, music and/or both, but make certain the fan/music noise isn't too loud otherwise people will come in and instantly leave.

What you mentioned before, nobody stays as a new model forever. I've been doing webcam modeling for about a year and a half part-time close to full-time hours. If you're losing money, try to focus more on your followers. You're a beautiful woman, from what I see in the profile pic, so I'm surprised to read/see your numbers are down. Don't take it personally. Check with tech support, you might be doing something wrong and don't know it, or your former members are doing shows with other models, new or not. Maybe it's time to try another site, or maybe just do the private shows via Skype, and get an offline job, so you can collect 100% of your profits. I work offline and I don't shout to the world I webcam, but I don't hide it either. I don't talk about the webcam job at offline job, because it violates the company's sexual harassment policy if I do. If you work offline, don't work in a public place. Somewhere were you're not in the public eye so you won't be recognized.

Hope these responses are helpful and hope this wasn't too long. Sasha has to do what's best for Sasha. Have a good/day night and be safe.

 

[James_and_Aiden]

We could only stream to one of our platforms at once with cellular. During peak times, dropping was frequent.

We stream to 8 at once using broadband.

Ethernet will always give you a better, more stable performance.

 

[mika_kedi]

If mobile data is your only option at the moment a proper external 4G/LTE router, the kind that's made for home/office use, might make a big difference and it's not a big investment. For a short while I had to use my mobile data to cam and I tried first with my phone as a router, but it was awful. Same place, same provider, but upgraded to $50 router and it was 1000 times better.

I used to have this model but I got it for much cheaper than I see it now, and since it's been a couple years since I used it there are probably better and/or cheaper options.