[ NNSquad ] Re: ISP's resetting RealPlayer?

[Dave Kristol <dmk@acm.org>]

Ron Teitelbaum wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a question and no proof that this is true.  I listen to NPR daily
> while working, on a computer that pretty much does nothing else.  It is on
> the same wireless network as my main computer I use for working.  I have
> Comcast broadband through a cable modem.  On some days I have no problem at
> all with the connection to NPR, which makes me believe that the reset is not
> coming from the content provider.  On other days I regularly get a
> connection reset every hour or so.  The timing on the days that I'm being
> reset seems non random, but I have no stats to back that up.  Today I have
> been reset 3 times in 5 hours, but I don't remember being reset this morning
> so probably 3 times in 3 hours.  I would estimate that this happens about
> once a week or once every two weeks.  I find it difficult to believe that
> streaming realPlayer is hitting any secret bandwidth level, but I could be
> wrong.
>
> Does anyone else have this issue, or has anyone looked whether or not ISP's
> might be limiting content by sending resets to clients that are not P2P?

I also use Comcast.  I occasionally use a Linksys WMLS11B as an Internet 
radio appliance.  My connection dies or get disrupted at random 
intervals (order of an hour or less) while listening to several 
stations.  If I stop the stream on the Linksys, then start again, it 
usually picks up without apparent problems.  I haven't done any wire 
sniffing, so I don't know whether it's due to traffic shaping, network 
congestion (Comcast or elsewhere), or source problem.  It seems worse at 
presumed busy times of day.

Dave Kristol