As you’ve probably already heard, England’s World Cup qualifying match against Ukraine on Saturday will not be broadcast on TV, but instead streamed live over the internet.

Available on a pay-to-view basis, the Ukraine v England game will be the first ever England international match to be streamed exclusively live across the internet.

The match will be broadcast live at 5.15pm on Saturday 10th October from www.ukrainevengland.com, with subscriptions prices starting at £4.99 and increasing to £11.99 if you order on the day of the game.

As football fans gear up to watch the game online, many UK broadband providers are preparing themselves for the additional upsurge to make sure that customers have enough broadband bandwidth available to watch the game without issue.

But what can you do to make sure you get the best possible video playback at your end?

Well, to start with, the video quality will be mostly dependent on the connection speed you currently receive from your broadband provider. According to Perform (the digital agency behind the stream), the live stream will be available at speeds of 450kbps and 800kbps. With customers needing a minimum broadband connection of 550Kbps (0.5Mbps) for reliable video streaming.

Many UK broadband providers are already preparing for the event, with BT and Virgin Media currently working to make as much bandwidth as possible available for customers watching the match online. Eclipse Internet are also offering a broadband optimisation tool to help customers get the most our of their broadband connection.

Providing you have a decent broadband connection and the live stream itself holds up under the stress, the majority of users should be fine. But if you’re still a little concerned, here are a few ways you can help to keep the live streaming of the England Vs Ukraine World Cup match as smooth as possible on your PC or Laptop.

• If possible avoid sharing the connection with any other users or devices. If there are other users in your home sharing the same internet connection (for example gaming online, or downloading), then this can slow streaming video buffering times down to a crawl. Ideally it would be best to ensure that the PC or Laptop you’re using to watch the World Cup match online is the only device active on your home network.
• Try to free up as much memory on your laptop or PC as possible. You can do this by closing down any windows or browser windows apart from the active window with the live stream. Cutting down on the number of programs running in the background will also help to free up some of your computer’s memory and inturn will allow it to load more content quicker from the stream.To see what processes are currently running you need to enter the Windows Task Manager buy using either Ctrl+Alt+Delete or by using Start -> Run, typing, qttaks, and hitting Enter. The resulting window will list a number processes that are currently running on your computer, and will enable you to quickly end the ones you don’t need.
• If you plan on streaming the match over a home wireless connection then it is a good idea to test different locations in your home to find the area with the strongest possible signal. It might even be a good idea to connect to your home network via a wired ethernet connection to ensure that the best possible network connection is established for the live stream.

It is also worth taking into consideration if you plan on streaming the England V Ukraine match on a pay as you go, or cheaper mobile broadband package, that you may burn through 1-2GB of data allowance for the event. On some cheap broadband packages with restrictive Fair Usage Policies there may be additional charges imposed. Some providers may even restrict access to streaming services on their cheaper packages, so please make sure you check with your provider first to rule out any possible hidden charges or issues.

Related posts:

• Eclipse Internet Broadband Optimisation For England V Ukraine Live Stream
• England Vs Ukraine World Cup Match Available Online
• O2 Broadband P2P Restrictions Will Not Reduce Connection Speeds