What is SRTLA bonding and why it saves your IRL stream
5 min read ·
If you've ever watched an IRL stream freeze in a tunnel or a crowd, you know the problem: a single mobile connection is never stable all the time. SRTLA bonding fixes that by using several connections at once.
SRT: the protocol that tolerates packet loss
SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) was designed to carry video over the public internet. It re-sends lost packets within a time window (the latency, usually 1 to 3 seconds), so it copes with unstable networks much better than RTMP.
SRTLA: SRT spread across several networks
SRTLA (SRT Link Aggregation) takes that same stream and splits it across several connections: Wi‑Fi, 4G, 5G, a USB cable or another phone's hotspot. Each packet goes through whichever network has the most headroom at that moment. On the server, the pieces are reassembled into a single signal.
- If one network drops, the others carry on and the picture doesn't freeze
- The speed of the networks adds up
- Slower networks automatically get less traffic
Android and iPhone: what you can combine
On iPhone you can use Wi‑Fi and cellular together. On Android, apps can use Wi‑Fi, the active data SIM and USB connections at the same time — the system only allows mobile data on one SIM at a time, so the second SIM can't join the bond. To add more carriers, use a second phone or a router as a hotspot.
How to use it
On Stratu, every camera gets an SRTLA address. In Stratu Cam, just log in and turn on bonding in settings. The dashboard shows each camera's quality, and autopilot steps in if the signal still gets bad.
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