Streaming radio app (tuneIn and others) with iPhone 5

Iheart seems to buffer every 20 seconds on LTE. Never had these issues on android with same apps. Strange.

I use IHeartRadio to listen to some talk radio because its a bit more reliable than the talker's custom app. Today was my first chance to try it out and it worked flawlessly, all three hours. The iPhone 5 did get warm, not hot, but warm. Never noticed that with my 4S but it was always in a case and I'm still waiting on a case for this one.

I should add I moved in and out of 4G and LTE areas but was mostly in LTE with no issues.

Streaming with iPhone 5

I have had the same buffering problem while driving since switching to the iPhone 5 using LTE on AT&T in Los Angeles. Today, I turned off LTE in Settings and the problem went away. I am wondering whether the buffering is caused when the network switches between LTE and 4G when driving. Certainly, contrary to my expectations, LTE has made streaming more difficult than easier while driving. The bright side is that 4G on AT&T works just fine while driving, so I am planning to only turn on LTE for faster downloading when I am not on the move.

I would be interested to hear other user experiences.

I use TuneIn Radio on O2(UK), and I've not noticed any problems with buffering. Streams fine...so far!

TuneIn & iHeart work the same for me. I haven't noticed any difference.

iheartradio has been working, but it chews up my battery, quickly.

iheartradio uses about 50% of the CPU capacity and the battery runs hot, Pandora uses about 3-4% of the CPU and the battery does not heat up.

I removed and reinstalled iheartradio but the problem persists.

TuneIn Radio Buffering/Skipping on Verizon iPhone 5 LTE

Is Verizon throttling streaming radio over LTE?

I switched from AT&T to Verizon for the iPhone 5 so I could get better LTE coverage, but both TuneIn and Stitcher are practically unlistenable over the Verizon LTE connection when listening to streaming radio.

The station I listen to the most is WBUR in Boston and it's highest stream is a 48kbps AAC stream. AT&T's 3G could handle this just fine, but on Verizon LTE I get a buffering message about once a minute and it stays up for as long as 20 or 30 seconds.

I've actually had better luck turning off LTE and listening over Verizon's 3G, but even that is a bit wonky.

I've got a few theories on what might be happening, but I'm just guessing:
* Maybe Verizon throttling somehow
* Maybe iOS 6 has a different streaming audio API and apps need an update
* Maybe using Bluetooth audio streaming inhibits the LTE radio
* Maybe the apps need to be updated/optimized for the LTE connection

@wysiwyg1972, what is your setup? What carrier are you using? Are you listening on the phone or are you connected to another device (like your car stereo)? If so, how are you connected (wired, Bluetooth)?

I'm not having the problem when connected to my home wifi, but I certainly see it over an LTE connection. I was streaming to my car stereo via Bluetooth, but I turned that off and still had the problem while just playing through the iPhone speaker.

Right now the "different iOS6 streaming audio API" or "apps need to be updated" seem to be my best guesses. Perhaps TuneIn will come out with an update soon to fix the problem.

This happened to me.

I was using Adam Carolla's podcast app, which I am sure is just the shell of one of those streaming apps,

I wanted to get to the middle of the podcast and it would only buffer a couple of minutes at a time and then hang and download at slow speeds.

I started using Apple Podcast app and have had no problems, it lets you go directly to any location in the podcast and streams perfectly.

I'm pleased with RadioAlarm HD with Ensight & SHOUTcast. It's an alarm clock, sleep timer, and a radio; plus, I like the retro look.

I take my earlier comment back about LTE buffering, at least with IHeartRadio. Today it is buffering about every ten seconds. I turned it off, no buffering.

Only use Spotify for streaming on a regular basis. Haven't noticed any difference.

I have definitely noticed issues with iHeartRadio. I used to stream on 3G for hours-on-end (AT&T) and it played perfectly, that was with my iPhone 4.

Now with my iPhone 5 on 4G (not LTE) it buffers for a few seconds every minute. It's terribly annoying. The only other stream I've tried is the Minnesota Public Radio App and that does the same thing, so I have to think it's phone issue and not an iHeartRadio issue. But maybe they both just need to be updated to work with the new phone?

Not too pleased since I usually stream for multiple hours every day.

iHeartRadio sucks.

It's owned by ClearChannel and they allow their stations to be streamed through only their own app. That's very unfortunate because that means a lot of great radio stations cannot be enjoyed on far superior radio apps like TuneIn.

Another thing, iHeartRadio keeps sporadically insisting that users log in using their personal Facebook credentials. I don't have a FB account. Secondly, even if I did I wouldn't want to use it just to save favorite stations. FB doesn't need to know what I listen to and ClearChannel doesn't need to know who I am.

Supposedly, they made it so you can log in using an iHeartRadio account but that is buggy, doesn't keep you logged in, and often forgets your account (necessitating the creation of a new account).

If ClearChannel didn't own so many radio stations I would just use TuneIn as my dedicated radio app.

/r

tune in radio works really well on my iphone 5

much better without headphones since the speakers are improved and really well with the new headphones theyre amazing

in terms of buffering, there's been no change it buffers for a few seconds and never stops or anything it works really good on both wifi and 3G/LTE

I stopped using IHeartRadio entirely. I didn't like how warm it was making my iPhone 5. No other app I have makes it heat up.

Ahonen said:

I take my earlier comment back about LTE buffering, at least with IHeartRadio. Today it is buffering about every ten seconds. I turned it off, no buffering.

Click to expand...

You turned what off, LTE? I did not think you could do this?

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I have an app Beautiful Clock Radio and i have the same issue, It seems to be the network, i live in Los Angeles and at my house the stream stops to buffer very often but when driving through burbank or hollywood it does not stop nearly as often. I would recommend everyone with this issue contact apple here and let them know about the issue. i am sure they would be more responsive than ATT or Version.


http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

I use iHeart for 105.1 but it KILLS the battery since I have no wifi at work. What other radio apps play 105.1?

This could be the most recent update to TuneIn Radio, as on my iPhone 3GS since the update it is buffering all the time since updating. Still on iOS 5.

How much data per day approximately would be used to stream radio for a couple hours a day?

hokiepokie07 said:

How much data per day approximately would be used to stream radio for a couple hours a day?

Click to expand...

according to the AT&T data calculator, it's about 500k a minute:

http://www.att.com/standalone/data-calculator/index.html

...however, for some reason the apple Podcast app is evidently costing me 2-4mb/min. trying to figure it out. sucks because neither AT&T nor Apple are willing or able to help me diagnose why i have so much data use.

TuneIn Radio is great, I record like 3 hours of music when I goto bed and its there for ready to play offline. My last recording of 3 hours only was 32mb of data, so I think streaming would be ok over LTE since it uses very little data...

Wow I didn't expect others to be having this problem but it looks like I'm not the only one. I switched to Verizon from AT&T and upgraded to the iPhone 5 from the 4. Since I've noticed that my lex and terry streaming audio and iheartradio streaming audio are terrible. Mostly my Lex and Terry app. It will play for a minute and start to buffer and a lot of the time, never comes back. It's absolutely useless. So I figured I tried to hit one of their affiliates using iheartradio. Not quite as bad but still constantly goes out.

I've been assuming the problem is with Verizon, however now I'm starting to question the hardware and OS.

I see someone is also having issues with AT&T so I guess I should wait before condemning Verizon. If anyone figures out what has caused this problem or a fix please share. I'm hoping Apple pushes a fix for iOS6 soon.

Funny to see this thread today, as I was driving to work with full five bars of AT&T 4G, i had way to much buffering on iheartradio but I have also noticed with TuneIn radio as well even when I am not moving.
Switched to an iPhone 5 from a 4S and I did not have the same buffering issues with the 4S.
Hopefully a software fix will help.