Why your IRL stream keeps buffering, and how to fix it

A buffering IRL stream has a small number of causes and they are worth checking in order, because the cheapest fixes are also the most likely. Buying a better camera never fixed a buffering stream.

1. Your bitrate is too close to your uplink

This is the usual answer. Mobile upload is not steady: it falls when you turn a corner, when a cell gets busy, or when you walk indoors. If you set a bitrate at the top of what the connection tests at, the first dip drops frames. Set it against 70 percent of your sustained upload, per the 70% Headroom Rule, and most buffering disappears.

2. You have failover where you thought you had bonding

Two SIMs in one device is not two connections carrying your stream. eSIM Is Failover Not Bonding: the second line takes over when the first dies, which prevents a total drop but adds nothing to your bitrate and does not smooth a weak signal. Only a bonding service combines links into one larger pipe.

3. You have no relay, so every dip becomes a disconnect

Without a relay, a drop ends the stream and the platform shows an offline channel. The Relay Turns a Drop Into a BRB: your encoder sends to the relay, the relay holds the connection to the platform, and a dropout becomes a few seconds of holding screen instead of a restart and a lost audience.