Buffering undoable slow on Android
Past Monday evening I had an issue where the buffering suddenly went super slow. As in, after I waited 15+ minutes for a song and it still wasn't finished, I just gave up on listening to music because it'll just stop playing waiting for up to minutes until it has enough to continue for a few seconds just to repeat the issue too often. It seemed good the next day, but right now the issue came back. Both moments my internet is stable and speed shouldn't be an issue, and both happened on the Android app.
Im not sure what's causing it, but it has never been an issue before and it's really bothersome as it makes the app unusable whenever it occurs.
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Can you remember what time?
A bit late but it seemed fixed and I forgot. I don't remember but I'm having the exact issue again right now. Also had it a few days ago but from then I cannot tell the time. By now, I also can confirm it's only in the Android app.
That's surprising - the server is not particularly constrained right now.
I took a look at the logs and noticed from about 15 mins before you posted you changed IP address. About 15 mins afterwards you went back to another IP address you were on earlier in the afternoon/morning.
I don't suppose that change put you on a slower network? The network during the slowdown was T-Mobile - could it just be that going too slow?
(I might be reading into our logs and IP lookups too much).
It's happening again right now. I'm guessing the difference is my home network to 5G. But I don't have any kind of speed issue on 5G and every other app and streaming service works fine (and if 5G without speed issues wouldn't be enough, no one would be able to use Astiga on the go), so it shouldn't cause any issues with buffering. And as said before, I didn't have this issue before on the same T-Mobile 5G network, nor on the Vodaphone 4G I had before (like, about 1,5 year ago, I switched to T-Mobile because of the streaming outside your bundle deal).
You may be onto something tho, because it doesn't seem to happen on my home network. At least I can't remember it even having. Why it has issues on my 5G, I cannot say however as my connection and speed don't seem to have any issues 🤔.
Ok nevermind I'm having it right now on my home WiFi so it's not related to T-Mobile/5G network... Still on Android, haven't had issues on pc (yet). Not at home nor in the office (where internet is severely more limited).
So so far I'm still inclined to blame the Astiga app I fear. I started to permanent cache some music beforehand, but that's no long term solution obviously as it removes the ability to play music anywhere easily like a private streaming service and requires me to plan beforehand instead.
First, just let me say that I am impressed at the level of logging. I occasionally run into this problem too. I spend a lot of time driving and am generally streaming something: music, video, etc. Occasionally, when I run into this issue, and there is no buffering, I will skip to the next song and the issue will resolve itself. I just assumed it was a carrier issue. My primary carrier is Verizon/US and the connectivity is generally 4G LTE good quality, but there are areas I travel that are mediocre LTE or even 3G. For the first time, I feel like one of my primary checkboxes (music) for leaving Google has been checked.
@Cambionn Thanks for your continued debugging.
Have you tried a different app? That might isolate the problem to the app itself. Note the Astiga app is currently a fork of DSub so maybe try one of the others, if you can. https://play.asti.ga/apps
@mikesmith2021 It's not that buffering stops. It's just insanely slow. As far as I gather Astiga downloads to cache the file in front, plays, then deletes it, instead of having a direct stream from cloud. And that download speed is ridiculous slow despite a good internet connection. Any non buffered song has the issue, I've tried switching songs before.
Lately it's a little bit less slow, but as in, after a half minute two a whole it buffered enough to play a few more seconds then stops again with need to buffer, instead of the past after 15 min it still had too little to properly play.
@gravelld I haven't tried another app. Honestly, outside of some playing to see if I could get it working on Android TV I've never used anything but Astiga's official app and web player (not counter the Nativefier/Electron build I made for Arch Linux as much like the desktop app, that one just runs the webplayer).
I can try if you want for debugging, but I prefer to stay at the official Astiga app over time. I'm also sick home now, so I don't know when I'll get results. I'll be less out on the road for a while.
@Cambionn Yeah, I don't mean this as a long term fix, I mean to just isolate the problem.
@gravelld I've installed SubStreamer (the updated version of Music Stash, you might want to update that link as Music Stash is now deprecated in favour of SubStreamer, according to the creators). I must say, it's home and playing now screen looks really pretty, as does their artist page, more so than Astiga's app. I still prefer Astiga tho, I like the folder browsing, and interacting with it is much nicer, controls and functionality feel more natural. Besides SubStreamer doesn't have a genre tab which is important to me. But I still gotta test its use ofc. I just installed it.
Speaking of which, do you know if the T-Mobile data-free music deal still works when running Astiga through another app? I'm not sure if not because it's built in the app, or yes because the other app still relies on Astiga in the back.
Edit: I can confirm data-free music still works, at least when using this app.
Yeah - it's related to an agreement between Astiga and the mobile operator and works at the data transfer level - i.e. they allow data to be streamed from asti.ga to any app. The app has nothing special in it.
So tonight I had the bug happening with SubStreamer (as said before it replaces Music Stash, Music Stash's features are now incorporated in that one making Music Stash depreciated and no longer updated): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ghenry22.substream2&hl=en&gl=US .
So I guess the issue is not just with the Astiga app. I'm not sure what to exactly pinpoint as the cause. I have the issue on both WiFi and 5G LTE and my speed and stability have no issues so I can't blame the network, it doesn't happen on desktop so I can't blame the underlying Astiga stuff nor OneDrive (on its own in general sense), and I get it on other the subsonic app too so it's not purely the Astiga app (Unless of course, SubStreamer is also a DSub fork). I guess what's left is either it's Android-related (but then I would expect more complaints), or a combination of either/or Astiga and/or OneDrive and Android.
Also, last month (although I only read it this morning, guess most companies rather don't tell bad news as loudly as good news) we got the sad news that data-free streaming is no longer offered by T-Mobile. Old plans will keep it until renewal or ending contract, and no new plans will get it. You might want to consider removing it from the website as advertising.
I guess what's left is either it's Android-related (but then I would expect more complaints)
Sorry, I can't remember if you've said what hardware/device you have? Also, how is the music playing - are you using Bluetooth, wired headphones or what?
combination of either/or Astiga and/or OneDrive and Android.
All interaction with your storage goes via Astiga, so I don't think it's relating to OneDrive and Android.
The same interaction occurs between your desktop though...
One other thing to consider is whether any tracks are cached here.
data-free streaming is no longer offered by T-Mobile ... You might want to consider removing it from the website as advertising.
Thanks for that.
Sorry, I can't remember if you've said what hardware/device you have?
Only in another topic ;). I have a Sony Xperia 1 II with Android 11 build 58.1.A.5.474. I used Bluetooth in the past, but I recently switched back to wired. The issue is on both. At home, I also regularly cast to my google home system.
The same interaction occurs between your desktop though...
Yeah, hence thinking somewhere Android might not be playing nice with Astiga, or with OneDrive. On their own, they won't be the problem, but perhaps the combi somewhere is? I'm also thinking, I only once shortly have had the issue at home, while it's very common outside. Perhaps, we shouldn't write the network off the entire yet. I somewhat commonly cast from my phone to my google home boxes for music all around my house, so it's odd the issue would appear only once there. Perhaps, that one time was bad luck and caused by something else.
One other thing to consider is whether any tracks are cached here.
As for what the desktop app caches I cannot tell, but when I pre-cache songs at home I have no issue playing them on the road. That has been my workaround for now. But it means I need to decide what to play upfront or risk the issue appearing. Also, there is the case of storage so I can't cache endlessly. Now does this phone have 256GB internal storage so it's not a huge issue, but obviously it's not preferred to store it all there.
The issue really seems to be in the downloading/buffering part as far as I can tell. At these moments, the download percentage counter also shows the file is downloaded like I'm on the internet speed from the "90s. Well, maybe not always that extreme but definitely slow enough for it to be impossible to just listen to music haha.
Yeah, I wasn't suggesting caching as a fix, just making sure your assessment of the desktop app was a fair comparison.
Did you say if you tried it on any different Android devices? Particularly one that will not work on wireless broadband (as opposed to wifi)?
Next time it happens can you record the time and post it so I can double check all the IP addresses this comes from?
I sadly don't own other Android devices, so I can't check. My old phone broke ages ago, before any of these issues started.
Today my internet prover had some issue so I turned off WiFi on my phone then forgot about it when turning it on. Just now (22:43 or 22:44, Nov 17) it happened again. The moment I turned the WiFi back on and reselected the play list (22:44, Nov 17) it buffered instantly.
If it's connection related, the reason I only get it on phone may also be because I never have my desktop nor laptop on 5G network
I wonder if T-Mobile created some limit somewhere causing this, altrough I'd expect with how slow the buffering is, I should also have trouble streaming TV shows in full HD in the train which I don't 🤔.
It might not be a limitation, it might just be the fact that wireless connectivity is inherently less stable and predictable than wired. The trouble is that this is a real time data transfer - you notice if the bytes aren't transferred enough such that the music can play in time. Contrast that to loading a web page where any hiccups can be fixed by making the same request (I'm simplifying but...)
it might just be the fact that wireless connectivity is inherently less stable and predictable than wired
But then, why did I not have the issue in the past? After I had contacted Koen it disappeared for a while to now come back. And why can I stream videos and music from other sources without issue, only struggling with Astiga? And how come I hear no one else on T-Mobile network (it's one of the biggest providers here so while possible I would expect some users to be on it)?
Even a simple 320kbps mp3 files take minutes to load causing it to play a few seconds then stop for at least a minute to play a few more seconds and do the same. Not even talking about the uncompressed CD rips. I doubt it should take 15+ minutes to buffer a single song (completely, and at worst, more than 15 minutes), especially when downloading the same file as a whole from OneDrive finishes nearly instant on the same 5G network. With that in mind, it must be something Astiga does (including but not limited to how it handles things) or requests (or the services it requests to/from) that is causing the issue.
I realize the difference between this and a webpage (but feel free to explain stuff, even non-simple if needed. I did finish my bachelor university of applied science majoring in software engineering, so I like to think I should be able to understand at least some stuff. And while I am specialized in very different software than Astiga is, it's never a bad thing to learn). But this slow on a connection that doesn't have issues anywhere else (including other streams of audio and video) and can download the entire file outside the Astiga platform nearly instant seems odd to me.
Yeah, agree with everything you say.
Right now I'm inclined to think we're hitting some sort of infrastructure scaling issue. It may be related to occasional memory issues on the server. Some people also report an inability to connect to Astiga at some points.
When you previously contacted Koen was this on the community boards or via email?
When you previously contacted Koen was this on the community boards or via email?
I haven't contacted Koen about this issue, it first appeared when I made this forum post iirc, which is after the sale. I contacted him about the currently playing not synchronizing from PC to phone. I quickly looked in my email and I think that's the only issue with email toward Koen or I must be reading over something.
Right now I'm inclined to think we're hitting some sort of infrastructure scaling issue. It may be related to occasional memory issues on the server. Some people also report an inability to connect to Astiga at some points.
I see, that sounds like it makes sense.
Ok, thanks. Will be looking at this scaling asap then.