Streaming media issues on Sprint?

[Bishounen]

For the last couple weeks I have been unable to stream anything over the Sprint 3g network. Pandora has been particularly difficult. It will log in and give me the ads, but it will say "loading" for a really long time, buffer a couple percent of a song, them skip directly to the next song and repeat this process ad infinitum. On wifi everything works normally.

I tried every trick I could think of. Updated the prl, updated the profile, removed and readded Pandora, battery pulls, I even called Sprint support and has them send an OTA update with the rtsp and http proxies set to all 0s. No change. I'm at a loss at this point.

Suggestions???


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[Yeti89]

Could be just the network. I switched from Verizon to sprint when my contract was up. There's a huge difference in reception between the networks where I live.

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[Bishounen]

Could be just the network. I switched from Verizon to sprint when my contract was up. There's a huge difference in reception between the networks where I live.

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For two weeks? When for years I had no problems of any sort like this? I suppose it's possible but I don't know how likely it is. There must be something I'm overlooking...

 

[leroy2008]

I have had the same problems with Pandora. I this think its just Sprint. I can stream it just fine on WiFi.

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[Bishounen]

Well, I suspect it is at least partly a Sprint problem. Apparently issues with streaming media are a known issue with Sprint's network due to the system of proxys they have set up. I did some googling and found an article on another Android forum about this:

Streaming media and the Tyrrany of the Sprint Proxies

I also found quite a few other links to that forum and others with people complaining about Streaming media and Sprint. I'll be honest, I've been a Sprint customer for nearly 20 years now, and a smartphone user for 5. This is the very first time I've run into this problem on Sprint. Streaming media has NEVER been an issue for me until just the last couple weeks.

I should note that it's not just Pandora. I've found that the Google Play streaming won't work on 3G, nor will Spotify streaming, or even the streaming app put out by my local AM radio station. It all works on Wifi, NONE work on 3G, over 2 weeks ago they all worked on both.

EDIT: I should note that the feature code listed in the above linked solution (##3282#) Doesn't work on my Gnex. I just get a phone ring and a message "The feature code you entered is not valid" recorded message. So clearly Sprint has changed their codes since that was posted. if anyone knows the new equivalent feature code, please post it.

SECOND EDIT: OK, more googling found the answer. The Nexus version of that code is *#*#3282*#*#. That will get you to the listed data menu. Check out thios thread on XDA Developers: CDMA DIALER CODES

 

[Bishounen]

Ok, so I used the linked method with the correct code and access my phone data settings. You can acces them in "view" (read-only) mode just to see what they are. (You need the MSL to edit them and I don't have it.) So i checked the proxy settings and they were all set to <not set>. So a proxy isn't my problem. I have no clue what's happening. Gonna have to call Sprint support back to see if they are having a network problem.

 

[leroy2008]

Try this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28879619
Worked for me just no cover art.

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[Kamin]

I think it is just the unacceptable state of Sprint's 3g network. I've never been able to listen to internet radio on the 3g network due to constant buffering. Fortunately I had WiMax available and used it anytime i was off a WiFi grid. The crummy state of their 3g is definitely testing my patience with them. >_<

 

[leroy2008]

Oh how well I agree!

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[Destoration]

I haven't had a lot of chances to try the streaming since I'm usually on wifi but the few times I've tried using tunin radio it would stop and buffer a lot even on low bitrate streams which doesn't make much sense since they could run better on dial-up.

 

[Bishounen]

What kills me is that it did work just fine for a good long while (Got my GNex on Pre-order in the Spring) And it worked for 3 years on my old Palm Pre- This behavior is completely NEW and I can't figure out why it's doing it.

I did pull down that .apk with the old version of Pandora. it DOES work, without album images (or ads) over 3G. But nothing else I have does. So apparently this is some kind of freaky config issue. or something else going on with Sprint's network.

MAKES. NO. SENSE. Argh!

 

[TropicalSammich]

I can't stream Google music over 3G to save my life.

Took me six days to get it all uploaded, and now I have to be on Wi-Fi to even use it. LTE can't get here quick enough.

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[Destoration]

My data settings also have the proxies as "not set" and I tried inputting sprint's usual proxies just to see how it worked and it didn't seem to save them. I have my msl and put everything in right. Oh well probably another "gnex" issue because sprint is half ed about these phones:-\

 

[jean15paul]

I've been having the same problems with Pandora for about the same time frame. I assumed it was just the reduced data speeds I've been getting lately, but maybe it's an issue with the Pandora app. Google Music works fine for me. I assumed that's because Pandora buffers and streams the audio whereas Google Music pre-caches (i.e. temporarily downloads) the audio, but again maybe it's an issue with the Pandora app.

I'm glad to know that it's not just me, but I'm disappointed to know that it's an app issue that need to be fixed. Should we all start emailing Pandora?

 

[Kamin]

I'm glad to know that it's not just me, but I'm disappointed to know that it's an app issue that need to be fixed. Should we all start emailing Pandora?

I use TuneIn and have never been able to use it without it constantly buffering on 3g. It is fine however on WiFi, or WiMax when I had my EVO 4G.

 

[Bishounen]

Just an update: I've been doing more testing.

Google Music: Works over 3G now. Apparently the OTA proxy wipe did fix that but I neglected to test it again. My mistake.

Spotify: I uninstalled this, didn't want to pay the subscription, so I don't know if it works.

Pandora: Old version working, but no album images.

Local news full streaming app: Nada. It actually locks up and Android prompts that it has stopped responding when on 3G only. Thankfully I pretty much only use this when Wifi is available anyway, but it is annoying that it isn't working.

So some stuff works, some doesn't that did. I'm guessing the broken stuff is due to issues with Sprint's network right now.

One other item of note, I have been getting wide variations in signal quality in areas where I used to have very steady signal. in some cases it has gotten much worse for a day or two and then suddenly gotten much better. In others it has fluctuated and is still not stable. The only thing I can assume is that this is Sprint upgrading various towers, and having trouble with some of them. Hopefully this means that Buffalo will see LTE sooner rather than later. That would be pretty awesome.

 

[easygogordo]

Anyone know where to find v1.5 of the app? Seem 1.6 has the problem.

 

[leroy2008]

Look back at the beginning of this thread I linked the xda thread that has it.

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[Yoshiaka13]

Chicago has been like this for a few months.. it's tower upgrades. I think i heard something about buffalo upgrading towers also.. Chicago is getting thebig upgrade first (which worries me being atest bed for an upgrade this large of a scale.. but could be awesome if it works like it says it will on paper)

The reason for a lot of Sprint issues with streaming had to do with the towers. On the back end of the towers they were using T1 internet. When the towers were last upgraded that was fine and could handle the bandwidth traffic running through it. Now come along all the android devices,iPhone devices now and tablets. The T1 connection starts bottle necking after a couple hundred people on that tower. So Sprint is starting to rebuild their towers now and the data is going to be upgraded from T1internet to fiber optic internet. Which can handle afew thousand data hog devices at a shot. And allows for a better LTE upgrade. Plus the voice over LTE I've heard Sprint is working on is going to need some fast upgrades to handle that kind of traffic.

That's why they are starting a national tower upgrade city by city. We're not talking software or a couple add on hardware issues. We're talking complete rebuilds. Each tower takes about a week to upgrade. So all towers close by act squirrrely while the one tower is of the grid. A few towers here just got finished and I'm speed testing around 4000kbps download and around 2000kbps upload while I'm locked on those towers.

Here's a nice draw back during tower upgrades that's been driving Chicagoans crazy. The new technology is NOT backward compatible. Which means if your driving around during this kind of tower upgrade and your talking on the phone and you happen to be on a newer tower. Your device will hold onto that signal as long as it can because it can't route you into the old tower. Which means... dropped call... and obviously legacy towers can't communicate with new towers..

Like i said it's just temporary until towers are all back online. Your describing the same streaming problems i started getting a month ago when i never had problems before. Slowly the project is moving along and I'm starting to see huge improvements when I'm in areas using new towers. Hang in there!

 

[easygogordo]

This weekend my Pandora started working again. Looking to see if I unknowingly took a new (fixed) version or if the timing with start of a new billing cycle is more than coincidental...