Yes you still need an internet connection. The upload bandwidth is what counts. I would say 512Kbps if streaming to a CDN for distribution, otherwise a much faster speed is needed.
I've been looking into P2P streaming of live content (each viewer also acts as a streaming server to others)
The equioment we use is:
2 Servers both Dual Xeon HT, 2GB RAM (1 web, 1 Streaming or as an encoder for a CDN)
Video Mixer (Newtek's Tricaster)
Computer running DVRack to record the camera feed
Audio Mixer (Behringer UB2442FX)
Cameras (Canon XL-1s)
We have used a T-1, and a T-3 connection so far for internet