3mb eircom broadband and Wifi Radio

chelseavera

Broadband we have here in the sticks is supposed to be 3mb - but is more like 1mb in reality (so just about broadband!). With that in mind - is it worthwhile buying an internet radio or would my broadband do it justice? Dab is not happening here - and I dont want to buy a new internet radio and have it buffer and drop connections etc? Any fellow Culchies got any experience of this? ...advice much appreciated!

dRNk SAnTA

If you can stream internet radio over your PC then I'm sure it will work on internet radio too.

I think Roberts internet radios take their streams from www.reciva.com so you should try and play some of the stations on there, and see how it goes

chelseavera

Wow - Thank you Santa - that works fine . That was exactly the sort of test that was needed. I think I'm going for it. Well thats if the other Santa in my life takes the hint!!

The Black Oil

I've a Roberts 202 with 3MB Eircon broadband and it's generally fine. Although, the BB has been fairly slow over the past few weeks, particularly in the evenings. Any time there's an issue with the internet radio stations I'm inclined to believe it's the software being a little iffy more than the net, not to say the radio is poor, I don't believe it is.

If you do get a Roberts radio, you can set up an account here. Unfortunately, I don't think you can a dry run through this site unless you have a radio first (you'll need an access code which the radio generates or is in the instruction manual), but the link dRNk SAnTA provided has given you some ideas. I'll admit that I know little about the technical side of bandwidth, but when you log on to the site above and select your stations it will tell you the type of stream they are, e.g., MP3 64K, which might give you an idea as to whether or not you think it will be strained, though 64K is not a lot, I don't think.

chelseavera

Thanks TBO ..... I'm going to try the earlier link a couple of times more and see how they hold up. Running a PC, a laptop, and now a radio off the one router - I wonder does that overload it. Dont understand it myself are we dividing the feed or all getting equal shares?
Of course the hope is that it can only get better - in the current climate - you'd have to wonder! Thanks for taking the time, thats what I love about boards .... there's so many helpful people out there.
Cheers!

The Black Oil

I think Eircom sent a leaflet or it's noted somewhere that you're not 'supposed' to have more than 4 devices or PCs running via the router? Whether there's any truth in that, I don't know. We've 3 desktops and 2 laptops, it's not unusual for 2-4 to be on, but rarely all 5. I've never really tested it with everything on - downloading a file of a few hundred megs and trying the radio at the same time would probably be more insightful. Again, I've never really tested this, but if the rest of the net's working (which it generally is) when downloading such a file, I figure the radio would be as well. Never had any comments from Eircom, so perhaps they don't monitor the level of access points or they are unable to. The odd time my radio shuts itself off, usually because I'm switching between modes and if you go through DAB/FM/music player/Internet Radio too quickly it can go a bit funny. It's a bit like a Windows hissyfit. I just figure technology is technology and it's going to be a bit grumpy now and then. Nothing a power on/off can't fix in my experience.

vinnielo

What I would say about the Reciva radios is that they still don't play AAC+ streams, which is becoming an increasingly popular format for radio stations.
Something like the Squeezebox Radio would be more future proof.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Squeezebox-Radio-Internet-streaming/dp/B002N2YZYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290807603&sr=8-1

chelseavera

AAC+ OMG!! Thanks - I'll keep an eye out for it. Had looked at that unit.

Thanks!