4 posts tagged “streaming music”

This is 'work in progress' and I'm still not 100% sure this actually works - so far it seems to but anyhoo...

I have lots of problems with streaming audio via the internet connection on my phone (an N95 8GB) and the loaner from WOM World (Nokia 6220 Classic).  I have no idea how HSDPA (aka 3.5G) works, but for some reason I had a hunch that turning it off may improve matters.  I did so last night (on the 6220) and my streaming problems seem to have gone away.

I even managed to stream two radio stations at the same time and neither dropped the connection in the 10 minutes I had them going.

Living really close to an HSDPA enable 3 UK mast, it would seem counterintuitive to turn HSDPA off - but if it works, it works!

Over the past few weeks I've become increasingly annoyed by my phone's problem with streaming audio.  Whilst my N95 8GB is connected to WiFi it can play internet radio streams fine, on 3G it's a very different situation.  Buffer, buffer, bu... f... f... e.. .. ..

I used to be able to listen with barely a problem.  Occasionally I got the odd second or two of buffering - but often listened for over an hour without even one blip.  My trusty old N73 even managed fine and that didn't have super fast 3.5G.

It's got really annoying now though and I've had enough!  I want to find out what the root of the problem is and fix it.  I've got great reception where I use my phone most, so that doesn't seem to be the problem.  I have a phone which is supposedly cutting edge, has lots of memory and supports HSDPA - so that shouldn't be the problem.  It's gotta be the network right?  They must be the ones that are throttling my connection, it has to be...

...that's what I thought anyway but I've just discovered it can't be.  Why?  I've just had my phone hooked up to my Eee PC and have been streaming the same stations, same streams that I attempted earlier on my phone and had completely different results.  Listening on my phone I suffered buffering problems every couple of mins on average.  Listening on my laptop to the same stations, using the same connection, I had no problems at all (well that's not entirely true but one station I tried is useless on anything other than my home broadband).

So it looks like there's something wrong with my Nokia and I need to suss it out.  Why does the phone need to buffer a stream on the handset but dosn't need to when it passes the connection on to the laptop?  It makes no sense!

Nokia Internet Radio seems to suffer worse than S60 Internet Radio.  Anyone got any ideas why?  Anyone else having similar problems?

Streamtuner is a great little program that offers quick and easy access to thousands of stations on the Eee PC.  Here's some pictures for now, more info later:

Earlier today I noticed mobile operator 3's new streaming music/audio service.  It's a step in the right direction but it's not quite there yet.  There's minimal choice and the price isn't right, certainly not for what's currently available.  I've yet to try it so can't comment on sound quality, ease of use and the all important thing... whether it can be used in the background!

It costs 49p per day or £5 per month.