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streaming Art on iPhone - unlimited plan or 2gp cap?

Started by cmartin1, October 16, 2013, 08:32:21 AM

cmartin1

I'm new to iPhones and plans. I want to stream Dark Matter on my phone frequently - will that consume lots of data, or will I stay under 2gb per month?

Thank you for your help with this!

DanTSX

What is the price diff?

I had to give up my unlimited data plan with Verizon  when I upgraded my beloved iPhone 4 for my new iPhone 5c this past weekend. 

I have access to wifi when I stream AB, so it's not a big deal.  I do have a 6GB plan that should handle my needs anyways.

cmartin1

No price difference, but:

*My Verizon contract ended awhile ago, they'd like to upgrade me to an iPhone 5s/2gb cap for $130 (phone) at $60/mo
*I can get iPhone 4 for $200 from a friend, then contract for unlimited data with Sprint at $60/mo

That was why I was wondering if streaming AB 3x's a week might gobble up my data allowance. I'm new to smartphones altogether, but will definitely want to check my email and use navigator/gps in addition to streaming.

I'm in the Upstate NY region, so I wonder about the quality of Sprint's coverage here, too.

toastycoasty

Quote from: cmartin1 on October 16, 2013, 07:07:37 PM
No price difference, but:

*My Verizon contract ended awhile ago, they'd like to upgrade me to an iPhone 5s/2gb cap for $130 (phone) at $60/mo
*I can get iPhone 4 for $200 from a friend, then contract for unlimited data with Sprint at $60/mo

That was why I was wondering if streaming AB 3x's a week might gobble up my data allowance. I'm new to smartphones altogether, but will definitely want to check my email and use navigator/gps in addition to streaming.

I'm in the Upstate NY region, so I wonder about the quality of Sprint's coverage here, too.

Try to test it out if you can? I have a 4gb a month plan on the iPhone 5 and listen to Art through TuneIn Radio (not Sirius) - for increasingly longer periods of time through my phone network and it doesn't eat up as much as I thought it would.

Granted, I don't listen all the way through just on my phone network, I have wifi a lot of the time so that might count against that.

Stevenqbosell

I've been hesitating to stream Art via Sirius on my Iphone on 4G at work during graveyard myself.

Here's the thing. Most talk radio is streamed at MAYBE 48 kbps @ 44 KHZ. Because Art is on Sirius, it wouldn't surprise me if he got the stream to be 96 kbps or higher even 128... "CD quality" give or take - the point is, streaming via Sirius might be heavy on your data plan. I have a 2 GB plan and I get throttled damn near every month just doing regular browsing.

For now, I record it on my Sony PCM - M10 then put the mp3 on my phone. You really can hear a difference with the Sirius Stream vs even the newer SIT shows

DanTSX

Can you connect to a wifi source when you stream? 

If you do it on YouTube you are going to hit your limit.

If you stream from the source that I've seen listed here, probably still need 4gb plan

If you use the Sirius app as a subscriber, you may be in the same boat.  Prob right between the YouTube and pirate streams.

The 5s/5c smoke the iPhone 4.   I prefer the 4's size but the 5's Are far better and more future-proof

Also, spring generally sucks.  Verizon is a bunch of dicks, but at least they have good coverage.

ItsOver

Quote from: Stevenqbosell on October 17, 2013, 01:23:55 AM
I've been hesitating to stream Art via Sirius on my Iphone on 4G at work during graveyard myself.

Here's the thing. Most talk radio is streamed at MAYBE 48 kbps @ 44 KHZ. Because Art is on Sirius, it wouldn't surprise me if he got the stream to be 96 kbps or higher even 128... "CD quality" give or take - the point is, streaming via Sirius might be heavy on your data plan. I have a 2 GB plan and I get throttled damn near every month just doing regular browsing.

For now, I record it on my Sony PCM - M10 then put the mp3 on my phone. You really can hear a difference with the Sirius Stream vs even the newer SIT shows

I wouldn't be surprised if Art's got Sirius to do "Dark Matter" at 128 kbps.  I've fiddled around a little with MP3 recordings of the show, from below 96 kbps all the way up to 256 kbps.  Below 128 kbps, I personally seem to notice some drop in sound quality, but I don't notice much if any difference in sound quality beyond 128 kbps, up to 256 kbps recording settings.  128 kbps seems to be the sweet spot, at least to my ear. 


steelbot

Quote from: ItsOver on October 17, 2013, 08:28:43 AM
I wouldn't be surprised if Art's got Sirius to do "Dark Matter" at 128 kbps.  I've fiddled around a little with MP3 recordings of the show, from below 96 kbps all the way up to 256 kbps.  Below 128 kbps, I personally seem to notice some drop in sound quality, but I don't notice much if any difference in sound quality beyond 128 kbps, up to 256 kbps recording settings.  128 kbps seems to be the sweet spot, at least to my ear.

Your ears are failing you....the siriusxm app and online streaming (can't talk about radios but pretty sure they follow the same rule set since they're using the same streaming systems to push the data)....anyways....Sirius streams at 64kbs 48000mhz.  I've dissected the app, and intercepted the TCP/IP traffic using wire-shark.  This is also a cap to Apple products, as HLS streaming must have a 64kbs backbone stream to keep data usage while on cellular networks in check.  I've been bumping up my own archives from the show to 128, but to be honest, they both sound the same, it's only my own bleef it sounds better, but up-converting the signal can do nothing to help it. 

steelbot

Quote from: DanTSX on October 17, 2013, 06:23:09 AM
Can you connect to a wifi source when you stream? 
If you do it on YouTube you are going to hit your limit.
If you stream from the source that I've seen listed here, probably still need 4gb plan
If you use the Sirius app as a subscriber, you may be in the same boat.  Prob right between the YouTube and pirate streams.
The 5s/5c smoke the iPhone 4.   I prefer the 4's size but the 5's Are far better and more future-proof
Also, spring generally sucks.  Verizon is a bunch of dicks, but at least they have good coverage.

I have the 250mb plan on my ipad mini - as I have no need for the cellular all that often.  I had to take a friend to the dentist a couple weeks ago and used the 4g connection, downloaded 2 shows and listened to about a hour of another. Before I hit my limit - which also reconfirms my previous research into trying to pull the files of the ios devices, the file's stored on the ipad/phone are about 100-110mb per show.

-ps- that's on demand without commercials...so there'd be a bit more data during live show

And I have the AT&T unlimited grandfathered plan on my iphone 5 so unsure on other networks.

ItsOver

Quote from: steelbot on October 17, 2013, 10:09:17 AM
Your ears are failing you....the siriusxm app and online streaming (can't talk about radios but pretty sure they follow the same rule set since they're using the same streaming systems to push the data)....anyways....Sirius streams at 64kbs 48000mhz.  I've dissected the app, and intercepted the TCP/IP traffic using wire-shark.  This is also a cap to Apple products, as HLS streaming must have a 64kbs backbone stream to keep data usage while on cellular networks in check.  I've been bumping up my own archives from the show to 128, but to be honest, they both sound the same, it's only my own bleef it sounds better, but up-converting the signal can do nothing to help it.

I found this for an I Phone which claims from 32 kbps up to 128 kbps, at least when you could adjust the rate.  I don't seem to have any rate adjustment capability so I guess it was an old capability, for standard and premium.  It's an old '09 post.

http://www.normsoft.com/kb/idx/55/297/article/

Art was claiming he got Sirius to increase the rate for his show but I didn't hear him say what he managed to get.


steelbot

Quote from: ItsOver on October 17, 2013, 11:06:55 AM
I found this for an I Phone which claims from 32 kbps up to 128 kbps, at least when you could adjust the rate.  I don't seem to have any rate adjustment capability so I guess it was an old capability, for standard and premium.  It's an old '09 post.

http://www.normsoft.com/kb/idx/55/297/article/

Art was claiming he got Sirius to increase the rate for his show but I didn't hear him say what he managed to get.
It's possible that they changed their quality standards.  I know they used to offer asx files (windows media files too) but removed them when they finally combined the two companies programming content..Sirius and XM Radio used to be separate companies if ya didn't know.  They did this as they gained more users and went over to the HLS format.
I don't know for sure--below is what I've found out.

Here's my "evidence" from my own tcp snooping and ios device exploration


Apple Developer HLS Stuff - dated August 8 2013 -

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/networkinginternet/conceptual/streamingmediaguide/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40008332-CH1-SW1

Further reading on this site will lead you to this link...
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/networkinginternet/conceptual/streamingmediaguide/UsingHTTPLiveStreaming/UsingHTTPLiveStreaming.html
Goes on into great detail that streams must use no greater than 64kbs...(This is only when using HLS, and it is under the Video section YES, but .ts is a video format generally...the same standard applies to audio only as well)

I have also done further exploring into the separate files inside the ios device, and .plist files, and they all confirm either 32kbs or 64kbs stream should be called on, when looking for a properly encoded file type...

Thoughts?
I think Art was referencing more bandwidth - more users...not overall higher bit rate of stream.

EDIT*^^I'm going back and listening to find his "quote" on what he got from sirius there.

EDIT#2 - I was able to intercept one of the 101mb file's as it had already downloaded to the device, but had NOT finished extracting, so out of curiosity I named the file .zip - opened it up and sure enough it already had the artwork/audio folders ready to go - with the audio already broken down into the 603 individual files, encrypted .chk format.

TumbleWeed

I have a 2.5Gb plan. I stream Sirius atleast 6 hours a day, between DM and Old Art stream's/music, I used 85% of my plan last month.

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