[Nfb-web] Wireless Streaming

[Peter Donahue]

Hello everyone,

    Several weeks ago Mary and I flew to Kansas to broadcast our Kansas 
Affiliate's 2009 State Convention. Like the hotel our Maryland Affiliate 
used the hotel in Salina Kansas would not give us a hard-wire connection nor 
were they sure there was a dataport in their main convention meeting room. 
Several attempts were made by NFBKS Members to obtain this information to no 
avail. We were left with only one option; use a wireless Internet connection 
for the convention broadcast.

    I borrowed a wireless card and a cable for establishing an in-room 
hard-wire connection from the hotel but ended up not using it. I was able to 
use their wireless card in our hotel room but not in the room where the 
convention general sessions were being held. Disgusted I plugged in my AT&T 
uVerse Card and made a connection on Friday afternoon. One of our members 
back in San Antonio monitored content I broadcast for a test stream to see 
if the connection would hold. The connection held for three hours until I 
terminated it when I shut the laptop down for the evening. This brings us to 
Saturday morning.

        I successfully connected again on Saturday morning prior to the 
opening general session. All seemed to be working as expected. It was not 
until we returned home that we learned that those that attempted to hear the 
broadcast would hear several seconds or minutes of the convention sessions 
before they lost the connection. Another problem further complicating 
matters was our inability to contact individuals I asked to be 
"Streamcheckers" to determine if we were getting out or if we were just 
pushing out dead air. The cell phone service in the Salina area is terrible 
to say the least. Many convention attendees with cell phones reported having 
similar difficulties when attempting to reach other attendees or folks back 
home. Were it not for the fact that I successfully recorded their general 
sessions this would have turned in to another streaming "Suaside Mission." 
I'll be posting these recordings on the NFBKS Web Site next weekend.

    Having failed being able to broadcast the NFBKS Convention using a 
wireless connection I listened with interest to the NFB of Maryland's 
Convention last weekend. Like the NFBKS Convention broadcast the NFBMD 
Broadcast was done using a wireless Internet connection. I listened for a 
while last Friday and heard a portion of the new Youth SLAM Video on Sunday 
Morning without the connection going down. I'd like to hear from Lloyd, 
Tony, or someone in Maryland who was responsible for broadcasting their 2009 
Convention to compare notes and pick up some tips and tricks to insure that 
when necessary I'll be able to broadcast future NFB events over a wireless 
connection with success. At this point the only theory I have to explain 
Maryland's success and our failure is the fact that Ocean City Maryland and 
the Carousel Hotel have far more robust wireless networks and hot spots and 
reliable cell phone service than we had in Salina Kansas which is located an 
hour and a half north of Wichita in no man's land.

        It's my hope that the collective experience we gain in broadcasting 
federation events via wireless Internet connections will enable such events 
to be streamed successfully. If reliable methods for doing this can be found 
this will eliminate the need for hard-wire connections and the expenses 
associated with their use. At many of the larger hotels the costs for such 
connections and dataport use can be quite hefty! But given the 
unpredictability of wifi I'd still air on the side of using hard-wire 
connections if the price is right but if we're forced to use wireless 
Internet for broadcasting NFB events we need to know we can be successful 
and that these events will be heard or viewed by those wishing to enjoy 
them. I'll look forward to hearing feedback from folks in Maryland or anyone 
else who streamed an NFB event via wifi.

Peter Donahue



 "Will you come and awake our lost land from its slumber
      And her fetters we'll break, links that long are encumbered.
      And the air will resound with hosannas to greet you
      On the shore will be found gallant Irishmen to greet you."
Will You Come to the Bower
Traditional Irish Folk Song