Elon Musk Starlink v2

Future IRL Twitch streamers will be able to stay connected thanks to Elon Musk’s announcement that the next iteration of Starlink will connect directly to mobile devices. There is, however, an issue.

Elon Musk and his team launched Starlink in 2019 to provide high-speed satellite internet to a range of people worldwide. Particularly those in more remote parts of the US or in nations without high-speed broadband or fiber internet speeds have found it useful. 

Elon Musk recently disclosed that the upcoming iteration of Starlink will be able to connect directly to mobile devices, lowering the likelihood that users will encounter a “dead zone” where they won’t have cell phone coverage. Future IRL streamers on Twitch will benefit from this as well, but according to Musk’s second tweet, streamers won’t see its full impact until after launch. Making sure you are always connected to the internet when IRL live-streaming is one of the most difficult tasks to complete.

For their Twitch streams, several large-scale IRL streamers use specialized backpacks that are fitted with a computer and a mobile connection. However, users of the platform can broadcast directly from their phones without the need for any specific equipment thanks to the platform’s mobile app, which is ideal for many users. Future streamers will benefit from staying connected thanks to Elon Musk’s Starlink V2.

The founder of Tesla clarifies in a subsequent tweet that the service won’t initially handle the bandwidth needed for a high-quality live stream. Elon states in the tweet that Starlink v2’s initial internet speeds will only range from two to four megabits. 

Restream.io claims that a connection speed of 5 is necessary for a Twitch stream to run smoothly at 720p resolution and 30 frames per second, with that number increasing the higher quality the stream is intended to be. 

The rates offered by Starlink will likely be substantially greater following the product’s formal debut, enabling Twitch streamers to IRL stream without worrying about losing connection.