3G Buffering Question

[Adrift02]

Info:

-We both have iPhone 5s. Hers is on iOS 6.1.3 and mine is on 6.1.2.

-We always use the latest version of Spotify (0.6.3.16 as of today)

-We use "normal" bitrate

-We have Sprint so we're 95% using 3G

So my fiance has been dealing with excessive buffering over 3G with Spotify and I can't seem to fix it. I've tried disabling cross-fade and gapless, she's on "normal" playback, there's no syncing going on and I've reset everything (including the app). I got her to switch from Pandora but it looks like she's going back. The key issue here being that she never has any buffering issues with Pandora radio (free version).

This seems to be a major problem for Spotify and I'm wondering why it's happening. It happens on my phone as well (more often with Radio), but I can deal with it because I use tons of offline synced tracks and work from home. I don't think it's the 1-minute pause bug that I've read about because it's acting like an intermittent buffering issue, but the buffering is excessive given that our Speedtests will consistently be well over 96 kbps.

Is excessive buffering a known issue on iOS? Is it the app or something to do with the P2P nature of the network? I'm directly comparing to Pandora, which works great on the same phone/network, so it's something to do with the app or service. Could it be Pandora's lower default bitrate (apparently 64kbps)? Maybe Spotify should give us the option of streaming at that bitrate if 96kbps is the issue?

[newbaa]

I know this is a little old, but it's exactly the situation I'm having.  

Every so often, I make a 3 hour drive, so this whole thing is based off of cellular networks, no wifi, etc.  I want to be able to listen to specific cd's or artists on Spotify, but I can't do it.  It will play for a few seconds and then stop, like it's buffering, but it never continues the music.  If I pause it, then a few seconds later hit play, it will start to play again - for a few seconds - and then it stops.  My iPhone 5 is showing 3G connection and almost full bars for reception.  

If I switch to my FREE version of Pandora?  I can listen, non-stop, for the full 3 hour drive and have NO issues.  

I pay the fee for the premium account so that I can listen to whatever I want and not constantly have to have my music on shuffle.  If this keeps up, there's no reason for me to keep paying for a premium account.

If anyone has found a solution to this, let me know.  

[Peter__]

Hey 🙂 

Pandora streams at a maximum quality of 64kbps on mobile devices, where as the minimum streaming rate for Spotify tracks is 96kbps, so it could be that the increase in quality is pushing the required bandwidth outside of the capabilities of the 3G network you are connected to (although that does seem a little low!). 

With Spotify premium, you do have the option to quickly add whatever content you want to listen to on your drive to a playlist, mark that playlist as available offline, let the application download the content and then you should be able to listen without interruption on your travels! 

Peter

[larrylove2014]

Ok so why cant you add an option for 64kbps since a lot of people have slow 3g like me and cant use it at all . I think you will loose customers over this ...

[Peter__]

3G networks should provide a minimum speed of far beyond 96kbps required for Spotify (most run in the hundreds of kbps). Not sure what 64kbps ogg vorbis (the format Spotify streams in) would sound like either!

[johnstr]

I'm pretty sure it is Sprint's fault. I live 12,400km away from their servers, on LTE all the time, set to 320, and I am yet to see Spotify buffering once.

Could also be Sprint throttling your connection to Spotify while leaving Speedtest on full speed to intentionally deceive you.