Options for slow internet

[KaylenPeach]

Hello!

I have made a grave mistake. I just signed a 1.5 year lease on a beautiful home in a suburban area. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that not only is the only internet service provider DSL, but it's only offered at the lowest speed (12 mbps). No option for cable and no option for DSL upgrade. Yikes. This is my livelihood and I feel like a fool!

Using the wifi, on a bad day I get 5 mbps download and 1 mbps upload. On a good day/time I get about 15 mbps upload and 1.6-2 mbps upload. Not great, I know.

As I see it, I have a few options. I'm hoping some of you have insight and can help me decide what my best bet may be!
My goal is to cam at as high of a resolution as possible, but also have this be an affordable option.

Option 1: Run an ethernet cord to my laptop, hoping this secures my signal and makes it as functional as possible. Is camming at these internet speeds even POSSIBLE?
Option 2: Figure out a mobile/hotspot option, because the cell reception here is great, however this could be .... potentially a few hundred dollars to set up, and estimated $150 monthly.
Option 3: Break my lease (and my roommates hearts) and move out as soon as possible.

Help!

 

[Nigerian Prince]

I would test your speed with an Ethernet cord first and then go from there. 2mbps isn't ideal, but if it's higher while plugged in it could work.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

Personally, I'll take DSL over cable internet any day. Especially if it's Comcast/Xfinity. I've had great service with DSL, and in 18+ years haven't had as many problems as I did two years with Comcast/Xfinity.

There's some things you can do to help your streaming:

1) Always be hardwired to your router via ethernet cable, don't rely on wifi.
2) Limit what's using the internet while you're working online. No streaming movies, no games, etc. Check your computer(s) for applications which the internet in the background.
3) Setup QoS rules for your broadcast times where your laptop/stream takes priority over other traffic.

 

[Finchomatic]

How frequent and how long per session do you cam?
The reason I ask is to see if you have any providers that offer a LTE or 5G smarthub solution.

The providers in my area have a LTE smarthub with a 500gb and 1TB monthly allowance for $75 and $110 per month
That 'may' be an option for you

 

[NovaMinnow]

I have no internet options where I live so I use hotspot for my internet. On my verizon plan its $55 for 30gb phone hotspot data, then $10/sim card for a separate 15g hotspot. I already had a smartphone so no startup cost. I use about 1g/hr, and it is around 150/month, but the money I make from camming is worth it. Im able to stream fine at 720p but lags at 1080p. Maybe try to do a breakdown of your budget, internet cost living there vs the cost of breaking the lease and paying for internet elsewhere?

 

[KaylenPeach]

Thank you for your responses everyone! I've been a little in denial about this whole situation, because of the location I never would have guessed that my internet options would be so limited. Hearing from you was super helpful.

I'm going to start out with an ethernet cable, because if that works then it's the cheapest option. But if it doesn't I'm going to get a hotspot.

I've looked more into hotspot options, because the cell reception here is so strong, that might just be my best bet to be able to put out a high quality stream. I was originally looking at unlimited plans which ran about $150 per month, but now I'm realizing I might be able to get away with using more like 60-100 GB per month based on Nova's input that she only uses ~1GB/hr of stream. I only stream about 10 hours per week. I found a Sprint hotspot plan for 100 GB high speed data for only $60 per month. I'll have to spend $200 or so on the device, because my smartphone isn't through Sprint... but I think that will most likely be worth it in the long run.

 

[Finchomatic]

Thank you for your responses everyone! I've been a little in denial about this whole situation, because of the location I never would have guessed that my internet options would be so limited. Hearing from you was super helpful.

I'm going to start out with an ethernet cable, because if that works then it's the cheapest option. But if it doesn't I'm going to get a hotspot.

I've looked more into hotspot options, because the cell reception here is so strong, that might just be my best bet to be able to put out a high quality stream. I was originally looking at unlimited plans which ran about $150 per month, but now I'm realizing I might be able to get away with using more like 60-100 GB per month based on Nova's input that she only uses ~1GB/hr of stream. I only stream about 10 hours per week. I found a Sprint hotspot plan for 100 GB high speed data for only $60 per month. I'll have to spend $200 or so on the device, because my smartphone isn't through Sprint... but I think that will most likely be worth it in the long run.

And you have the option to take your internet with you if you decide to stream from other locations.