How to stop internet streams from cutting out?

[oldiesgirl]

It's probably come up a bazillion times, but how can I make internet radio streams play without cutting out? I sleep with music playing, and unfortunately if it stops playing I wake up. Of course i could listen to the radio, but I'm not a fan of local radio here, so in order to hear music I actually like I have to listen online. The cutting out in the middle of the night is annoying. Is there a way I can force it not to stop playing unless I have pressed exit on the web site? Thanks.

 

[MarioMania]

I was wondering the samething

What Station are you listening to online?

 

[oldiesgirl]

http://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/WSAT
Now I can't get the blasted thing to play at all, and I was really enjoying it.

 

[landtuna]

It's probably come up a bazillion times, but how can I make internet radio streams play without cutting out? I sleep with music playing, and unfortunately if it stops playing I wake up. Of course i could listen to the radio, but I'm not a fan of local radio here, so in order to hear music I actually like I have to listen online. The cutting out in the middle of the night is annoying. Is there a way I can force it not to stop playing unless I have pressed exit on the web site? Thanks.

There are close to a thousand reasons why you might suffer hiccups in an Internet stream. It may be a source problem with the speed of encoding. It could be a buffering problem on your end. Your download speed could be interrupted by higher priority traffic or just too slow. Or it could be gremlins lurking at any one of the multiple points where the source connects with your destination. About the only thing you can do is ensure you are getting whatever download speed you are contracting from your ISP and that your local wiring is free from noise. The problem could also rest with your local device (internet radio or PC etc.). If it doesn't have enough "horsepower" to decode incoming data with time left over it could be buffering or dropping bits of information. The station will usually post the speed at which it is streaming so you can test this by connecting to other sources which have the same or faster streaming speeds and see what happens with their streams. If the hiccups are common to a bunch of similar streams the problem most likely is your device.

It is possible to find out whether or not it is a transmission problem. You would need to get a network analyzer, connect it to the stream then look at the results to see of you have a dropped-packet problem or one of a hundred other possibilities.

If the above sounds like somewhat of a daunting task, it is, at least for the end-user. If you are having other problems on your download such as very slow transport you might try contacting your ISP and see if they can look and see if it is under their control. Otherwise, good luck. We used to have stable networks, engineered by experts and operated by professionals. Now we have the Internet, which like digital television, seemed to be a good idea at the time but doesn't quite work out as prophesied.

The ultimate solution is to acquire another source for your music - say a DVD player or a white noise generator. So long as the power stays on the player should play endlessly. I have a dog that snores. Problem solved.

 

[oldiesgirl]

White noise is some of the worst sounds I've ever heard *shudder*.

How would you recommend a person with no eyesight who has to use everything on audio and does not see what is on the screen to chek the download and...all that other jazz you said? Sorry, I am very appreciative of your help and I wasn't trying to be snarky. It just sounded like you spoke Klingon.

 

[landtuna]

White noise is some of the worst sounds I've ever heard *shudder*.

How would you recommend a person with no eyesight who has to use everything on audio and does not see what is on the screen to chek the download and...all that other jazz you said? Sorry, I am very appreciative of your help and I wasn't trying to be snarky. It just sounded like you spoke Klingon.

I tried to put my post in as non-technical terms as I know how but I also apologize as I didn't remember (or didn't know) you are sight-disabled. Without special tools designed for the sight-impaired I don't know if if is even possible for a sightless person to perform the tasks I suggested. Best bet would be to contact your ISP and provide as much symptom information as you can and see if they can find the problem. Good luck!

 

[FredLeonard]

To keep it simple....

First, check some other Internet stations and see if the problem happens with them. If the problem is unique to this one station (or their website), contact them and let them know what's happening.

Two, increase the buffering time. If the interruptions are short, a longer buffer may keep you from hearing them. Of course, it will take longer for your stream to start playing.

Out of curiosity...
Are you using a Desktop, Internet Radio or Smartphone?
Are you using a WiFi connection? (Another possible cause. Try a different WiFi channel.)

 

[oldiesgirl]

Landtuna, that's okay. I'm not sure I've ever mentioned my sight impairment on this site before, as I usually don't unless it's a board that has mostly pictures.

I'm using a laptop with a wifi connection and Comcast. Comcast mostly has good internet service, but sometimes at night it craps out. There are times it plays really good and then sometimes whatever I'm listening to goes bonkers, usually at night when I'm not really wanting to get up and adjust the web site. Usually I have to exit the browser and try again, but sometimes I have to keep trying stations until I find one that will play properly. How do I adjust the buffering time?

 

[landtuna]

http://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/WSAT
Now I can't get the blasted thing to play at all, and I was really enjoying it.

Meant to tell you I can't get it to play either (on my PC).

 

[oldiesgirl]

Oh dern. I guess they're having some technical difficulties. I was really liking what they were playing, but then they kept conking out and finally they just wouldn't play anymore.

 

[boombox4]

I often listen to foreign radio stations on Tune In, an internet radio site, and the only time I've had problems with stations dropping out was when my router decided to flake out, and that was only once.

And I'm on DSL, using a tablet computer.

So maybe try Tune In, it's possible it may be more dependable than going straight off a station's website (although I could be wrong). I think WSAT is on Tune In (I just checked).

Also, if you can increase the buffering time on your laptop, I'd definitely do that. I increased the buffering on my tablet using the Tune In app's settings. I can set it at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 seconds. I have mine set at 10 seconds and haven't had much problem. I don't know how you would set buffering by using a radio station's website for streaming.

Also, it's possible your Wi-Fi connection may be cutting out a little bit.

 

[JayR]

I often listen to foreign radio stations on Tune In, an internet radio site, and the only time I've had problems with stations dropping out was when my router decided to flake out, and that was only once.

And I'm on DSL, using a tablet computer.

So maybe try Tune In, it's possible it may be more dependable than going straight off a station's website (although I could be wrong). I think WSAT is on Tune In (I just checked).

Unless if she decides to use a portable device like a smartphone, tablet, or the iPod Touch she will not be able to use TuneIn because it will direct her to a pop-up of the stream she previously mentioned.

 

[Radiojar]

The issues with streaming having 100% up time has always been a problem. Every stream host provider claims their service has 99% up time on their websites. The fact is when you investigate each service, the best you will find is in the upper 70% and far less. All stream host providers rent servers. Servers are just machines like cars. Just like cars, they need to go down for maintenance and the other usual reasons. There are also times when the stream host provider has a client that has uploaded one or more corrupted files that causes problems in the server/s.

That is why the company I work for so special in this industry. We have invented a new stream technology that is not Shoutcast or Icecast based. Our new stream platform never has down time, ever. So if you are listening to a station that uses our stream technology, you will notice that it never goes down or buffers. No matter if your are listening with an app, the station's website, Tune In, and etc. If there is buffering, then there is an issue with the internet provider's speed to the listener.

The reason AOL sold Shoutcast/Winamp when they did is because they knew they owned a soon to be obsolete streaming solution. They were very smart, they found a sucker to pay top dollar. And now that sucker realizes the bit off more than they can chew.

In the new year coming up, Radiojar is considering letting our competition use our new technology. Now the stream host provider doesn't have to invest money in server/s and can provide 128 kbps streaming to unlimited listeners for lower prices to their clients, and make a good profit.

 

[WJPYFM]

I remember the days of dial up where the source could adjust the stream based on the end user conditions and connection speed. The days of multicasting has ended that. Now it is more like a stream of post office packets that can come up missing for lots of reasons and unless the buffer time is large enough, the audio just drops. In most cases, there is no option to change the buffer size.
The other thing to keep in mind is that most network maintenance occurs at night. That is when the Internet is the most unreliable for the source and end user. Fiber cuts also can happen at any time and cause network issues by overloading links. Traffic then gets priortized and depending on the class of traffic it may get rerouted the long way or just dropped all together causing intermittent streams.

 

[JeeperOne]

Unless if she decides to use a portable device like a smartphone, tablet, or the iPod Touch she will not be able to use TuneIn because it will direct her to a pop-up of the stream she previously mentioned.

Only ifyou use a browser on the phone. If you download the TuneIn app for your device, you shouldn't run into this issue.

I'd be SHOCKED if you do.....

Cheers & 73

 

[Music Lover]

I just recently got a smartphone. I downloaded Pandora's app so that I could listen to that while I'm away from my home computer. When I play the app at work, it will run smoothly for a little while then it will freeze up. I noticed that when I was at work one day, my phone's connection switches from between 3G and 1X and that's when the problem with Pandora seems to be occurring. I don't have access to Wi-Fi. Any solution of what to do about that?

 

[thelegacy]

@ Radiojar: it sounds like your technology is sort of like Streamerp2p. I experimented with that FREE service and had excellent results with it. I'd stream at 64K OGG and my stream never ever went down. I didn't get the listeners I get with Icecast or Shoutcast, but it was Rock Solid. I've thought about using them again. Trouble was I could not get listeners to Download the p2p streaming app which made your app relay the signal to the next person and so on. This made my station run great and you can use any Radio automation software with it as it sets up just like an ICECAST V2 server. I've always said p2p Radio is the way to go and I wish Shoutcast and Icecast would have used that technology. Serverless, FREE and they only thing you pay for is Radio automation. Now even LiveWebDJ which is used to back up my station could broadcast to a p2p streaming system if set up right. I assume your using that type of technology. If I had the $$ I'd use it as that is the way for a hobby broadcaster to go. Best regards.

 

[Radiojar]

Hi thelegacy, I hope you will at least try our streaming for the 15 day free trial. At the end of the 15 days you can choose the streaming plan only for only nine bucks a month. Nine dollars in my opinion is very cheap for our new stream technology. Plus you will also have all the widgets and other features that come with all of our plans. The micro site we provide you will open and play on any device. Also you can create apps for free with nobexpartners.com. This service is easy and free, plus they pay you half the revenue your apps generate.

 

[thelegacy]

I have The Legacy on Nobex but never could gat anyone to Download it. Right now I'm strapped for cash but it sounds good and I could just enter the info in my LiveWebDj as another encoder. I bet even DjCMedia would be interested in your streaming platform as a back up. Now can you tell now many listeners you have and where they are from? How about compatibility with StreamLicensing for Royalty coverage or do you assume responsibility for Royalties on RadioJar? If so I could use you as a p2p second server and have a second link. But I do have a deal with DjcMedia for ads so try and work magic with them and maybe if Wes saw the value as I do in p2p streaming as apposed to server streaming at least he'd consider using RadioJar (stream Only) as a back up and all of us stations on that platform would benefit from 100% rock solid streaming that never dies. And Android too? Will that use p2p as well? Sweet deal if so.

 

[Music Lover]

I just recently got a smartphone. I downloaded Pandora's app so that I could listen to that while I'm away from my home computer. When I play the app at work, it will run smoothly for a little while then it will freeze up. I noticed that when I was at work one day, my phone's connection switches from between 3G and 1X and that's when the problem with Pandora seems to be occurring. I don't have access to Wi-Fi. Any solution of what to do about that?

I did some Google searching and found out that both 3G and 1X are both Verizon network connections. 3G is the faster of the two. The switching back and forth is apparently some kind of roaming going on.