[Nfb-web] Wireless Streaming

[Lloyd Rasmussen]

You need to talk with Tony.  He told me that he was running at about 54 kbps
upstream on Friday.  Somehow he was able to tel us how many people were
connected when asked.

Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, Maryland
Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-web-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-web-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Peter Donahue
> Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 1:00 PM
> To: nfb-web at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Nfb-web] Wireless Streaming
> 
> 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