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Streaming Radio - Isp Limits?


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HOLA441

I'm abroad, I stream some UK radio stations a few hours each day. So far, no problems, and it's a cheap deal which includes TV, phone and internet for a cheap monthly charge.

Of the lower cost ISPs in the UK, do they object to audio streaming or listening to the radio or do they apply surcharges or traffic shape those users who stream "too much"?

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HOLA442
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HOLA443

Mine just has a straightforward bandwidth limit (40gb / month), and I'm billed by the GB or part thereof if I exceed that. The ISP doesn't care what I use the bandwidth for.

Thanks, I'm just thinking about those "fair use" plans, wondering if they consider streaming fair use if a few hours a day, might have to get them to email me an answer before I sign

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HOLA444

I suspect that this is going to become a bigger issue as the Internet gradually supersedes terrestrial and cable for television delivery. It seems to me that the technology (bandwidth and compression) is very nearly there, and that within a few years it'll be commonplace for devices other than computers to be connected to the Internet, e.g. radios and TVs. Last Christmas I bought my American girlfriend a Blu-Ray player, not so much to play BDs, but because it also shows YouTube videos on her TV, piped via wi-fi from her router. She's a fan of some British TV shows that some geeks regularly put on YT shortly after their broadcast, and that seemed like a good way for her to see them without having to sit at her computer. That kind of thing is surely going to become more widespread and more formal as time goes on, and I'm guessing that it won't be long before the Internet becomes the principal means by which people receive their TV and radio.

None of which is going to work if the ISPs impose restrictive bandwidth limits, or charge through the nose for unlimited contracts. My contract (with Talktalk) is, as far as I can gather, relatively generous at 40gb/month. I wouldn't have thought that audio streaming would bust that unless you're listening virtually 24.7, but given that a gigabyte equals around three hours of iPlayer on the highest quality setting, a typical household might well hit that if they used it exclusively for their TV, plus all the other things you use Internet bandwidth for. And as faster, higher resolution video becomes the standard, data will expand to fill the bandwidth available and then some.

If I had to go into TFH mode, I'd speculate that the government will launch some scheme whereby we have to buy a TV licence in order to be exempt from bandwidth caps...

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HOLA445

I suspect that this is going to become a bigger issue as the Internet gradually supersedes terrestrial and cable for television delivery. It seems to me that the technology (bandwidth and compression) is very nearly there, and that within a few years it'll be commonplace for devices other than computers to be connected to the Internet, e.g. radios and TVs. Last Christmas I bought my American girlfriend a Blu-Ray player, not so much to play BDs, but because it also shows YouTube videos on her TV, piped via wi-fi from her router. She's a fan of some British TV shows that some geeks regularly put on YT shortly after their broadcast, and that seemed like a good way for her to see them without having to sit at her computer. That kind of thing is surely going to become more widespread and more formal as time goes on, and I'm guessing that it won't be long before the Internet becomes the principal means by which people receive their TV and radio.

None of which is going to work if the ISPs impose restrictive bandwidth limits, or charge through the nose for unlimited contracts. My contract (with Talktalk) is, as far as I can gather, relatively generous at 40gb/month. I wouldn't have thought that audio streaming would bust that unless you're listening virtually 24.7, but given that a gigabyte equals around three hours of iPlayer on the highest quality setting, a typical household might well hit that if they used it exclusively for their TV, plus all the other things you use Internet bandwidth for. And as faster, higher resolution video becomes the standard, data will expand to fill the bandwidth available and then some.

If I had to go into TFH mode, I'd speculate that the government will launch some scheme whereby we have to buy a TV licence in order to be exempt from bandwidth caps...

Read that with interest, thanks. One reason for not paying bills by any sort of direct debit if an ISP suddenly tries to impose over-use penalty charges. What I have here in Poland is two boxes made by Linksys and Cisco which splits off TV, phone & internet from one multi-core cable. TV has about 30 channels. Sometimes if you're online, the TV gets a bit pixilated, but that could be coincidence, and it's rare. Do they not have this system in parts of the UK yet? Last time I had broadband in the UK it was delivered down the copper phone line as per the norm. (The Cisco box says VOIP, but the phone calls via the conventional phone here are 100% landline in quality, so if it's VOIP then it's really pretty good so far although calls take longer to connect than with a normal Polish phone. Other good thing here is if someone rings me from the UK on their BT I can see their number in full on any Polish phone or Polish mobile unless they 141)

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