Dropouts with BBC over intenet radio

[Geldekker]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone experineces the same thing. After about 4:00pm, internet radio when playing BBC (BBC R6 to be precise) drops out every 10 mins or so for about 10 seconds then reconnects. It does not do this with other internet radio stations, just BBC. Also, bluetoothing via my phone through the Sounds app doesn't have this problem as it obviously takes the data in a different way. It's just BBC, over internet radio.

Does it on two different radios and I've tried two different modems. It's not a neighbour, channel, speed or bandwidth issue as no other devices in the house suffer. Also, I've made sure no other devices activate or come on during that time.

I've taken the radio to another house in the area served by the same exchange (they have BT Broadband with a BT modem) and it is rock solid.

Seems to be an issue with the Akamai server which I presume is an edge server Vodafone use to host BBC perhaps? I've TCPdumped it (attached) only showing traffic between the radio (xxx.114) and the modem. And it looks like the server just stops for some reason forcing a re-connect.

I feel through process of elimination this is a Vodafone/BBC issue caused when traffic increases (late afternoon/evening). Anyone out there care to shed light or have had a similar experience?

Thanks!

[Evie]

Hey there @Geldekker - Hmmm, how strange! Just to confirm, is this over a WiFi or mobile network connection?

Also, is this in regards to a radio player that uses internet to connect to stations or on internetradiouk.com via a mobile device/laptop?

[Geldekker]

This is over wifi. Both radios do not have physical LAN connection sockets so I can't test that theory either!

These are actual radios. One is a John Lewis Octave and the other is a Ruark R2.

Thanks!

[Tash]

Thanks for letting us know @Geldekker. I know you've mentioned that your Wi-Fi channels may not be causing this for you. Are you currently using our Wi-Fi Doctor firmware? 

This service has the ability to make channel changes much more informative automatically, as we found splitting the channels manually through the GUI actually hinders the service when managing your Wi-Fi. It also means you won't need to manually select a channel - instead we'd need to ensure you're part of this service and that your router is reporting to it along with being in the combined SSID, optimal configuration and the auto channel selection's active.

If you're unsure whether you're currently using our Wi-Fi Doctor service, please get in touch via 191 from a Vodafone mobile (or 03333 040 191 from any other line), Live Chat or Social Media and we'll be happy to check this is on your account.
Should this already be active, when logging into our GUI and selecting the 'Wi-Fi' tab, you'll need to switch 'Split Wi-Fi bands (SSID)' to off and click 'Apply' at the bottom of the page. 
If you're still having issues when doing this, please reach out to us through the methods mentioned and we can ensure this is set up correctly to work with both radio devices.

if this service is active, it should also work intuitively. This means if you find the issues occur around the same time of day, it should notice this and make any changes it can to improve your connection automatically.

[Cynric]

.@Tash What's this "Are you currently using our Wi-Fi Doctor firmware? " please? There's nothing of that name in the THG3000 GUI.

Update: Further you said, "This service has the ability to make channel changes much more informative automatically, as we found splitting the channels manually through the GUI actually hinders the service when managing your Wi-Fi. It also means you won't need to manually select a channel - instead we'd need to ensure you're part of this service and that your router is reporting to it along with being in the combined SSID, optimal configuration and the auto channel selection's active.". For precisely this reason I have had to add additional hardware to STOP the channel being changed all the time.

[Anonymous]

Looks like VF have finally realised that splitting the SSIDs can't bring your cat back from the dead.

When Technicolor's WiFi/Wireless doctor is properly enabled, it's often still completely hidden from the user.  One of the properties that it does have though, is that it should spot devices that disappear if the WiFi channel is changed, and then reselect a channel where all devices can properly see the router. Obviously, that is not happening!

For the record WiFi/Wireless doctor has been sold by Technicolor to a third party, so I wouldn't expect it to receive any updates or get improved user visibility.

[CrossChannel]

@geldekker apologies, I can't help with your specific question, but if it is to do with automated channel switching, it's important that the moderators, and Vodafone broadband generally, understand that the WiFi Doctor system is causing problems and take steps to remedy it.

Automated channel switching tends to change channels even if doing so leaves some devices unable to see the network. To make matters worse, Vodafone's tech team haven't been trained to recognise this (at least they hadn't earlier this year) so can't support it. And we can't change our own channels back now. It would have been better to test WiFi Doctor fully without removing the option to put things back if they went wrong.

This is what happened to me: https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/Square-router-network-is-suddenly-invisible-...

[Geldekker]

Hiya, I don’t think it’s automated channel switching that’s causing the problem as I’ve replicated the problem on a TP Link modem/router that does not auto-switch.

Cheers

[Anonymous]

Okay, I've tried a couple of deep dives regards Akamai, and I can't find any link between them and the BBC!  ITV yes, BBC no!  Akamai are experts in scaleable, media distribution, but even so, the occasional blip to their servers should not be enough to cause your loss of live-streamed content.

[Geldekker]

Hmm, ok interesting. Well as you can see from my TCPdump image I attached in my first post, my radio is connecting to them for BBC R6, so they’re involved somehow.

Dunno. I still think it’s a Vodafone problem though. Everything points to it.