I am having an on-going problem with our 64KBPS Shoutcast stream. It plays the first song properly after someone tunes in but starting on the next song the playback "stutters". Sometimes during the platback it will correct itself after 30 seconds or so, but usually once the problem starts it does not correct.

I had this problem a couple of weeks ago and SA support said to run a tracert. I did and found that a particular server was always "trapping" the feed.

I actually called the company that owns the server and they corrected the problem for a day or two. Now, the last two days I am stuck with the same problem. And, once again support says my hop times are too long. Here is the most recent tracert which is typical of all I have done:

C:\Documents and Settings\KWBC>tracert http://sc2.spacialnet.com:/26356

Tracing route to http://sc2.spacialnet.com:/26356 [64.27.117.50]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 2 ms 1 ms 1 ms host9772109102.direcpc.com [97.72.102.109]
3 8 ms 5 ms 3 ms host9772109102.direcpc.com [97.72.102.109]
4 525 ms * 516 ms host977300265.direcpc.com [97.73.65.2]
5 519 ms 511 ms 519 ms host9773007764.direcpc.com [97.73.64.77]
6 555 ms 510 ms 508 ms host9773008664.direcpc.com [97.73.64.86]
7 518 ms 691 ms 521 ms host6714200142128.direcway.com [67.142.128.142]

8 543 ms 520 ms 662 ms ge-6-4.car2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.71.176.65]
9 555 ms * 529 ms ae-2-5.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.134]

10 596 ms 530 ms 834 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]

11 530 ms 537 ms 528 ms ae-4-4.ebr1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.133.110
]
12 647 ms 526 ms * ae-71-71.csw2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.137.6
]
13 540 ms 529 ms 523 ms ae-73-73.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.137.3
7]
14 537 ms 526 ms 679 ms ae-3-3.ebr1.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.69.132.9]
15 530 ms 637 ms 544 ms ae-71-71.csw2.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.69.153.6]
16 534 ms 545 ms 595 ms ae-24-70.car4.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.69.152.70]

17 598 ms 668 ms 751 ms Border2.sjc.datapipe.net [166.90.143.178]
18 560 ms * 532 ms vl62.dist1-2.sj2.datapipe.net [66.70.123.252]
19 529 ms * 601 ms vl22.colo1-2.sj2.datapipe.net [66.70.123.150]
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\KWBC>tracert http://sc2.spacialnet.com:/26356

Tracing route to http://sc2.spacialnet.com:/26356 [64.27.117.50]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 5 ms 1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 2 ms 1 ms 1 ms host9772109102.direcpc.com [97.72.102.109]
3 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms host9772109102.direcpc.com [97.72.102.109]
4 566 ms 651 ms 601 ms host977300265.direcpc.com [97.73.65.2]
5 512 ms 539 ms 517 ms host9773007764.direcpc.com [97.73.64.77]
6 522 ms 514 ms * host9773008664.direcpc.com [97.73.64.86]
7 513 ms 518 ms 510 ms host6714200142128.direcway.com [67.142.128.142]

8 * 618 ms 659 ms ge-6-4.car2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.71.176.65]
9 552 ms 567 ms 531 ms ae-2-5.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.134]

10 538 ms 562 ms 537 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]

11 639 ms 533 ms 599 ms ae-4-4.ebr1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.133.110
]
12 524 ms 628 ms 520 ms ae-71-71.csw2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.137.6
]
13 600 ms 563 ms 524 ms ae-73-73.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.69.137.3
7]
14 538 ms * 541 ms ae-3-3.ebr1.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.69.132.9]
15 545 ms * 595 ms ae-71-71.csw2.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.69.153.6]
16 557 ms 620 ms 570 ms ae-24-70.car4.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.69.152.70]

17 543 ms 547 ms 536 ms Border2.sjc.datapipe.net [166.90.143.178]
18 534 ms 587 ms 675 ms vl62.dist1-2.sj2.datapipe.net [66.70.123.252]
19 534 ms 549 ms 545 ms vl22.colo1-2.sj2.datapipe.net [66.70.123.150]
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

I am at wits end to correct this problem and it is severly affecting our listenership. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Herman Beck
KWBC.FM
If you have any ideas, post back here, e-mail me at Requests@KWBC.FM or phone me toll-free at 866.596.9982

Thank you!

_________________
Red Greene
Internet Radio Innovators
Hartshorn Missouri 65479
573.858.3559

From what I see in your traceroute you got some severe problems with your provider.
While the first two hops behind your router are ok the 4th hop is way too slow for being inside your provider's network and thus probably in the same geographical area. (You shouldn't have any ping greater 100ms if your data stays inside the U.S., I even get a response from that spacial server in shortly over 100ms and I'm living in Europe)

The bottleneck of your connection is definitely host977300265.direcpc.com.
All the packets to the hops behind that need to go through that gateway first and each packet that arrives at it's destination is only slightly slower than a packet that only needed to travel to that particular host.
I'm assuming dircpc.com is your ISP (or at least the domain belongs to your ISP's company) since all the first few hops behind your home-router belong to that domain.

_________________
Benedikt Bauer - SVS (Spacial Volunteer Support)

We're offering custom PAL / PHP code and general SAM assistance at palscripts.com

My Project:
Send "Now Playing" from SAM to Twitter and/or Facebook | Sourcecode

Benedikt:
Thanks for your quick reply. Actually we are on an industrial strength HughesNet enterprise server which is usually as fast as greased lightening. I have documented this enough now via tracert that I am going to get in touch with our Enterprise support team and kick some butt. I'll keep you posted. We are in the process of installing a T-1 line as a backup.
Herm
http://KWBC.FM

_________________
Red Greene
Internet Radio Innovators
Hartshorn Missouri 65479
573.858.3559

Hmm yeah I just guessed on the home router part since there is one local hop before the rest of the traffic goes into the public interwebs.
That's kinda uncommon in hosted servers, but still the bottleneck is with that direcpc company. (Sorry, I don't know that much ISPs in the US and even less Hosting providers)

_________________
Benedikt Bauer - SVS (Spacial Volunteer Support)

We're offering custom PAL / PHP code and general SAM assistance at palscripts.com

My Project:
Send "Now Playing" from SAM to Twitter and/or Facebook | Sourcecode

The situation is that HughesNet has sold more bandwidth on there satellite than they have available. We went through this once before but then we migrated their top of the line satellite and transmitter and all has been well for the past 18 months.

So I notified them today that we have started construction of the T-1 amplifiers and repeaters so the problem will be gone in about 20 days. Thanks for your input. We are just going to cut the ShoutCast stream until the changeover: we still broadcast on 2 other streams and this doesn't affect our primary one. It's just a pain.

Herm
http://KWBC.FM Home of the World's Best Country

_________________
Red Greene
Internet Radio Innovators
Hartshorn Missouri 65479
573.858.3559

I don't normally recommend HughesNet for any level of streaming. The travel time for packets is just too high a latency issue for the SHOUTcast and most other streaming servers. I do understand that for some HughesNet is the only option but if you have another option I highly recommend not using a Satellite provider.

_________________
-Jay | Spacial.com