Streaming Spotify over 3G/HSDPA stutters

[Guest plasticniki]

Hello.

This may well be a network issue with Giffgaff rather than anything to do with my Blade, but I thought this was worth a new thread. I'll copy what I wrote on Giffgaff's forum here:

"Been with Giffgaff for nearly a month now. I've had a Spotify subscription since Christmas and now I've got virtually unlimited data I thought I could use it to stream songs from Spotify on my way to and from work. The short of it is; it stutters TERRIBLY. It's not usable. Things I've done to try and alleviate the problem:

1. I've contacted a Giffgaff agent to ask a) if I have the 18+ content bar (which I don't), and :D if they can 'reprovision' my GPRS. They've reprovisioned my GPRS, it hasn't helped.

2. I've flashed a new ROM to my phone. I was running Japanese Jellyfish, and not I've switched to the FLB ROM, but it hasn't helped.

3. I've checked my APN settings - all fine. I've even deleted them and downloaded the giffgaffAPN app from the market - still doesn't help. I've checked and I don't have any proxy settings applied.

I should say at this point that I have, usually, a FULL HSDPA signal on my way to and from work, and also around the house. I've checked o2's coverage checker and I should have excellent signal everywhere for high speed browsing etc. I've tried streaming while standing still with Spotify playing and it *still* stutters. Spotify over wifi works perfectly. I've tried accessing Spotify over 3G while in other locations, with full signal but the same thing still happens. Also, I can't watch Youtube either, as it just starts and stops continuously.

I have also done a speed test using the Xtremelabs Speedtest app - I usually get a maximum download speed of 55kbit/s which seems awfully slow given I have FULL 3.5G signal.

I guess what I want to know really, is, is this right? Is anyone else with a San Fran and Spotify having streaming issues? WHAT CAN I DO TO SLOVE THIS PROBLEM? Obviously I've resorted to caching tracks to my SD card but the whole point, I think, of mobile Spotify is that I can listen on the fly which really isn't doable at the moment.

Any help will be very much appreciated."

You can see the original thread here: http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Help-Ask-...ect/td-p/541077

I'm just wondering whether any other Blade users have experienced the same problems, whether on Giffgaff or not, and if anyone has any ideas of how to fix this. The only thing which *may* solve the problem is to request a new Giffgaff sim but I'd lose my services as I'd have to report my current one as lost.

Thanks.

[Guest]

I'm on GiffGaff and have been using Spotify premium aswell, unfortunately (well, fortunately) I don't have the same problems as you so I can't tell you what the problem could be.

My only (admittedly obvious) answer would be that perhaps it could be a cell tower problem, seeing as you have HSDPA and a full signal.

[Guest plasticniki]

I'm on GiffGaff and have been using Spotify premium aswell, unfortunately (well, fortunately) I don't have the same problems as you so I can't tell you what the problem could be.

My only (admittedly obvious) answer would be that perhaps it could be a cell tower problem, seeing as you have HSDPA and a full signal.

FINALLY, someone who uses GiffGaff and Spotify Premium.

It's weird because I went to London at the weekend and tested there, and I was still getting very slow data speeds.