About 4.3 GB an hour in HD. Here is your own number.
Streaming is upload. What your connections carry is your video bitrate plus about 20% of bonding overhead; a bonding service counts more than that. Set the picture quality, hours a day and days below, and the estimator works out what you will use and which allowance covers it.
Your stream, your number.
A planning guide, and it says so: the working and the worked tables are in the Technical details under it.
Not sure? Pick HD. A sharper picture uses more.
The studio sends your stream on to all your platforms for you.
- Your stream uses
- 242 GB
- about 4.3 GB an hour · 4 h × 14 days
- Lumbus Connect counts
- 444 GB
- your stream in, plus 1 copy out
The 100 GB of Lumbus Connect in the box lasts about 13 hours at these settings.
Planning figures at the settings above — a guide, not a promise.
Technical detailsPreviews, your own connections, and how the figures are worked out
Picture quality as a bitrate: Basic 4 Mbps · Standard 6 Mbps · HD 8 Mbps · Sharper HD 12 Mbps · 4K 20 Mbps. As a guide: about 8 Mbps for 1080p, about 20 Mbps for 4K.
Your connections carry 4.3 GB an hour: 8 Mbps × 1.2 for bonding overhead, then × 4 h × 14 days = 242 GB.
Lumbus Studio: one output — the studio sends to all your platforms from Lumbus. Lumbus Connect counts that stream in, plus 1 copy out = 444 GB.
Lumbus Connect bonding allowances are bought in packs, not monthly. Each pack has an allowance and a validity, and you buy the next one when you need it.
Your data allowance includes the traffic used to protect your stream, such as bonding overhead and retransmissions. Actual usage depends on bitrate, network quality and redundancy settings.
Lumbus Connect counts what passes through it: the bonded stream coming in, plus every copy going out — each destination you send to, a live preview you keep open, and any recording you pull from the receiving service. Bonding more connections does not add to it; more destinations do. With Lumbus Studio as the destination, all your platforms count as one.
The 100 GB in the box is a starter: sending to one destination it covers about 55 GB of streaming through Lumbus Connect (every stream on Niña; bonded streams on Pinta and Admiral) — roughly 13 hours at 8 Mbps — enough to set up, test and run your first streams.
| Conditions | An hour | 100 GB lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Video only, no bonding | 3.6 GB | 28 h |
| Clean bonded connection | 3.8 GB | 26 h |
| Lumbus planning assumption | 4.3 GB | 23 h |
| Poor network | 4.7 GB | 21 h |
Bitrate plus bonding overhead is what the links carry and what your SIM allowance counts, for the Lumbus SIMs among them.
| Where it goes | Connect |
|---|---|
| Bonded stream in, nothing out | 100 GB |
| To one platform | 183 GB |
| To two platforms | 267 GB |
| To four platforms | 433 GB |
| To Lumbus Studio, any number of platforms | 183 GB |
| A full-quality preview kept open, on top | +83 GB |
| A low-quality preview kept open, on top | +8 GB |
| A recording pulled from the receiving service, on top | +83 GB |
| Bonded links | Each link | Total an hour |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2.16 GB | 4.32 GB |
| 6 | 0.72 GB | 4.32 GB |
| 12 | 0.36 GB | 4.32 GB |
The same stream divided across the links you bond. Weak networks and heavier redundancy settings raise usage; the link count by itself does not — and neither does it change what Connect counts.
- Lumbus SIMs
- 60 GB
- Starlink
- 30 GB
- Ethernet
- 10 GB
- SIM allowance used
- 60 GB
- Bonded stream into Lumbus Connect
- 100 GB
The SIM allowance counts only the Lumbus SIMs. Everything you bond feeds the stream Lumbus Connect counts coming in — then a copy out per destination on top.
By picture quality, per hour.
Overhead counted (× 1.2). As a guide: about 8 Mbps for 1080p, about 20 Mbps for 4K.
| Picture | An hour | 100 GB lasts | 3 h a day, 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic (4 Mbps) | 2.2 GB | 46 h | 194 GB |
| Standard (6 Mbps) | 3.2 GB | 31 h | 292 GB |
| HD (8 Mbps) | 4.3 GB | 23 h | 389 GB |
| Sharper HD (12 Mbps) | 6.5 GB | 15 h | 583 GB |
| 4K (20 Mbps) | 10.8 GB | 9 h | 972 GB |
A stream day, at HD.
8 Mbps, overhead counted, and the SIM allowance that covers the month.
| Schedule | In a month | Allowance |
|---|---|---|
| 3 hours a day for 30 days | 389 GB | 500 GB |
| 8 hours a day for 30 days | 1.04 TB | 1 TB or more |
| Around the clock for 30 days | 3.11 TB | 1 TB or more |
Above 500 GB a month we quote for your zone rather than publish a figure.
A bonding service counts differently.
Lumbus Connect counts what passes through it: the bonded stream coming in, plus every copy going out — each destination you send to, a live preview you keep open, and any recording you pull from the receiving service. Bonding more connections does not add to it; more destinations do. With Lumbus Studio as the destination, all your platforms count as one.
For Lumbus Connect, every 100 GB of bonded streaming comes to about 183 GB to one destination, 267 GB to two and 433 GB to four — or 183 GB to any number of platforms through Lumbus Studio. It is also why the 100 GB in the box with a Niña or a Pinta is a starter: to one destination it covers about 55 GB of bonded streaming.
Streaming from a phone on your own plan.
The same sum applies. A phone plan counts what you send as well as what you receive, so a two-hour stream at 6 Mbps takes about 5.4 GB to 6.5 GB out of your plan however little you download. Read the terms of a plan sold as unlimited: many slow down after a set amount, and a slowed connection rarely carries a video stream.
Lumbus SIMs are made for streaming hardware. They go in a Unit or another transmitter/encoder, not in a phone; if you stream from a phone today, keep the plan you already pay for.
Technical detailsThe overhead range, what an allowance includes, and the bitrate guide
- The overhead range
- Plan on × 1.2. A clean bonded connection sits nearer × 1.0625; a poor network or heavy redundancy settings push it towards × 1.3125 and beyond. The number of connections by itself changes nothing.
- What your allowance includes
- Your data allowance includes the traffic used to protect your stream, such as bonding overhead and retransmissions. Actual usage depends on bitrate, network quality and redundancy settings.
- Bitrate guide
- As a guide: about 8 Mbps for 1080p, about 20 Mbps for 4K.
Questions
How many GB is a one-hour live stream?
At 6 Mbps, about 2.7 GB of video, or about 3.2 GB with overhead counted. At 8 Mbps, about 3.6 GB of video, or about 4.3 GB with overhead. At 20 Mbps, 4K, about 10.8 GB with overhead.
Does bonding more connections use more data?
No. Your stream is shared out across the connections, so using more of them does not add to the total.
Technical detailsThe full answer, in detail
No. The same stream is split across whatever you bond, so two, six or twelve links carry the same total — about 4.3 GB an hour at 8 Mbps, divided between them. Weak networks and heavier redundancy settings raise usage; the number of connections by itself does not.
What counts as Lumbus Connect usage?
Your stream coming in, plus a copy going out to each place you send it. Through Lumbus Studio, all your platforms count as one.
Technical detailsThe full answer, in detail
Lumbus Connect counts what passes through it: the bonded stream coming in, plus every copy going out — each destination you send to, a live preview you keep open, and any recording you pull from the receiving service. Bonding more connections does not add to it; more destinations do. With Lumbus Studio as the destination, all your platforms count as one. For every 100 GB of bonded streaming, expect about 183 GB of Connect to one destination, 267 GB to two, 433 GB to four — or 183 GB to any number of platforms through Lumbus Studio. The bonding service’s own written definition, confirmed with you at onboarding, is the binding one.
Which Lumbus Connect pack do I need?
The estimator on the Lumbus Connect page works it out. Packs suit a trip, an event or occasional streaming; if you stream most days, Unlimited is usually cheaper.
Technical detailsThe full answer, in detail
Work it out from Connect usage, not from your SIM allowance — the estimator does it for your bitrate, hours and destinations. Packs suit setup, a trip or an event, and occasional streaming. For regular bonded streaming Unlimited is usually cheaper than packs bought several times a year, and it never runs out mid-stream. The 100 GB in the box is a starter: about 55 GB of bonded streaming to one destination.
Keep reading
- How much data does live streaming use?A 1080p stream at 8 Mbps uses about 4.3 GB an hour once overhead is counted. The sum to work out your own number, and what pushes it up.
- Best SIMs for IRL streamingWhat makes a SIM good for IRL streaming, and what Lumbus SIMs cost by zone: Zone 1 from $289 · Zone 2 from $589 · Zone 3 from $1,159 · Zones 4–6 quoted.
- SRT bondingSRT bonding sends one stream over several connections at once, so one weak network can’t take you off air. How Lumbus Connect does it, and packs from $27.99.
- IRL streaming setupAn IRL streaming setup, from a phone to a full rig: what each part does, three setups priced in full, and a builder that adds only what you need.
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