Apple Music Apple Music Throughput Woes

[Buadhai]

This on an iPhone 14 Pro (17.4.1) an iPad mini 6 (17.4.1) and an ATV4 (15.4). I live in Thailand.

This is an intermittent problem. Beginning about a month ago Apple Music streaming has the following issues:

• Each streamed song takes much too long to load and start playing.
• Songs often pause (buffer?) for an irritating long period of time before suddenly resuming.

I know it's not my Internet connection because it is fast enough:

Download: 568.71 Mbps (data used: 633.7 MB)
Upload: 478.09 Mbps (data used: 458.6 MB)

Furthermore, on the iPhone it happens even when I am using only cellular data, not WiFi.

I don't have any problem with other streaming services such as AppleTV+, Netflix, YouTube, France24, etc.

The only problem is with Apple Music streaming (radio, playlists, etc.) There is no problem playing downloaded music.

Since this doesn't seem to be device dependent, I have to assume that it is a problem with Apple's streaming services or, perhaps, their content delivery network (still Akamai?).

Any other ideas?

 

[Eric Idle]

Working normal here. No delay whatsoever.

 

[Buadhai]

Working normal here. No delay whatsoever.

I'm not sure how that helps me, but I do think that location matters. I live about 250K NE of Bangkok. Beginning this evening I will be staying for a few days at a location about 200K SW of Bangkok. There I have a very different ISP and Internet connection. I will test everything again.

Here's what I know:

• It's probably not my iPhone because it also happens on my iPad.
• It's probably not my WiFi, my LAN or my Internet connection because it also happens with cellular data.
• It doesn't happen during the day; only in the evening.
• It doesn't affect any other streaming service including AppleTV+.

Perhaps it's just one of those mysteries that remain unsolved.

 

[Crunchynut]

Long shot, but is there an App on both your phone and iPad that is interfering with the music App?

PS. I’m impressed with your internet speeds. I’m lucky if i get 20Mbs and Apple Music streams fine.

 

[Buadhai]

Long shot, but is there an App on both your phone and iPad that is interfering with the music App?

PS. I’m impressed with your internet speeds. I’m lucky if i get 20Mbs and Apple Music streams fine.

Interesting idea. It's certainly possible. What sort of app would it be?

As for the Internet speeds, I'm a bit baffled. I live in a provincial capital in Northeast Thailand. For some reason they were able to install fiber to our neighborhood five or six years ago which replaced ADSL. The bandwidth has steadily increased since then. Now it's way more than our three person family would ever need. We pay about US$20 per month.

 

[Crunchynut]

I would start with any other type of media player. Or do you have virus protection / firewall apps running?

(I’m in the uk and pay £25 per month for my 20Mbps. However I am in the countryside. Supposed to be rolling out fttp to everyone by the end of next year).

 

[Buadhai]

I would start with any other type of media player. Or do you have virus protection / firewall apps running?

I've got the usual collection of Netflix, AppleTV, Plex, VLC, etc., but none of those would be playing when I'm listening to music. I don't have either virus protection or a firewall on the iPad/iPhone.

One hint. I'm at a different location now. The bandwidth is:

Download: 66.57 Mbps (data used: 47.2 MB)
Upload: 84.48 Mbps (data used: 125.3 MB)

And I'm streaming Music flawlessly with an Apple TV. The router here is the same as at my home. The ISP is the same.

So, seems to be something weird happening at my home that's not happening here. Maybe some sort of interference? The router has diagnostics so I'll run that when I get home.

 

[Crunchynut]

But you said it happens with cellular data too. I guess the cell towers must hook into the internet somehow, which means the problem is bigger than something local to you, in which case there would be more complaints in your city.

What about friend’s equipment in your home? Are they the same?

 

[Buadhai]

But you said it happens with cellular data too. I guess the cell towers must hook into the internet somehow, which means the problem is bigger than something local to you, in which case there would be more complaints in your city.

What about friend’s equipment in your home? Are they the same?

Good thinking. That's what I need. When I get back home we'll use my wife's phone to stream and see if it is affected.

I can't help but think that it's something simple that my brain just can't come up with.

 

[Buadhai]

I was away from home for five days. I got back four days ago. The throughput woes have disappeared and music streaming is now back to normal. Obviously, nothing that I did because I was away. I still suspect a problem with Apple's content delivery provider (Akamai?).