Summary
Listen Technologies' six-page note for IT staff on setting up a venue network so that its Listen Everywhere servers can stream audio over Wi-Fi to an app on listeners' phones.
Key findings
- Describes two phases: the app first finds the audio server on the network, by multicast DNS or through a DNS record that IT staff create, and the server then streams the audio to the app. It warns that networks judged acceptable for email and video can become unacceptable for low-latency live audio, and calls a clean Wi-Fi channel plus network priority for the audio "paramount".
- Gives about 125 kbps per connected user and recommends that the system's traffic make up no more than 20% of the network's total bandwidth. It requires Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) or better, recommends enterprise-grade 802.11ax equipment, and says consumer- and business-grade routers do not always have the features or computing power needed.
- Recommends quality of service: the server tags its audio packets for priority by default, and access points should have Wireless Multimedia Extensions (WMM) enabled. It advises against range extenders and mesh or multi-hop networks, which it says may add latency, stuttering or dropouts.
- Explains that guest networks usually include client isolation, which stops phones from reaching the server and disables multicast DNS, so the server's address has to be added to the guest network's allowed list. Where a VLAN is used, the server and the phones generally need to be on the same one.
- Lists the ports to open, among them UDP 5353 for discovery, HTTPS 443 and port 90 for the app's text and images, UDP 16384 for the app and a range of dynamic ports for the audio.
- States that audio streaming does not need internet access, but the server needs the maker's cloud services for initial setup, firmware updates and in-app features such as banner ads, offers and documents.
- Describes a welcome ad (image or video) shown in the app, and a server port that serves welcome and banner ads.
Limits
A maker's configuration note with no measurements. The bandwidth figure and the 20% guideline are the maker's own, and the note gives no number of listeners per access point. The date is the revision printed on the note (15 August 2024). The previous revision (V3, 28 April 2022) said that audio is streamed to each phone by unicast, and recommended an open network without encryption because encryption can lower the number of users per access point and add latency; the 2024 revision leaves out both statements. The maker now sells the system as ListenWIFI.
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Cite this source
Listen Technologies. Listen Everywhere Network Configuration Guide (ListenTech-Note LTN0025). 15 August 2024. https://listentech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/LTN0025-Listen-Everywhere-Network-Configuration-2024-08-15-V4.pdf (accessed 9 October 2026).
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