The Big Vodafone streaming con

talkalot

It would seem that unless you have a IPhone with Vodafone which does not use their system they will block lesser know streaming sites. They do not think users are responsible and as such block unknown streams in case it might be adult content. One such truly nasty site is m.tvcatchup.com :rotfl: which is blocked. So no watching EastEnders which is full of drugs/sex and violence. As far as I am aware Vodafone are the only network who do this. So if you want to make full use of your data bundle then look elsewhere.

Meepster

works fine for me...

talkalot

mwilletts wrote: »

works fine for me...

What phone and browser are you using ?

Meepster

I've got a Nokia 5800 and I'm running SkyFire. I must admit it isn't the best quality streaming, but it's watchable...

Yolina

I put the following on the VF eForum thread before they decided to lock it (Vodafone's customer service at its best...)

Phone: HTC HD2 (WinMo OS) 1.66 WWE rom (HTC rom, not the Vodafone one - have HSPL'd my phone )

Browser: Skyfire

Over 3G/HSPDA I can access and stream fine using the full www.tvcatchup.com website, however I can't get it to stream using m.tvcatchup.com, (I get a timeout error) I suspect however that this may be because of the way the mobile site identifies my phone (the rtsp link has "iphone" in it - and my device is certainly not one )

Edit: forgot to say that the Vodafone mods have acknowledged that they are blocking many streaming sites though, unlike other networks who don't (or at least are not over-zealous doing it)

Meepster

Ah good point Yolina, I use the main website (tvcatchup.com) not the mobile only one...

robt_2

I'm yet to see a 'con' regarding this?

Nostromo

T-Mobile are as bad for users on 3G stuck on 0.384kbs speeds makes streaming useless.On most of their data tarriffs you cant use HSDPA 3.5G for faster speeds unless you spend and extra £4.25 -£12.50 per month depending on which tarriff your on.

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=801038012fa31b9012843e3f34700681c

Yolina

robt wrote: »

I'm yet to see a 'con' regarding this?

Part of their "selling blurb" is that the phones can stream tv etc, yet they block many streaming sites but funnilly enough don't see fit to inform their customers - people find out on their forums. A bit like when they decided to introduce new out of bundle charges for existing contracts with unlimited internet at the begining of the month (now effectively a 500MB cap)

gjchester

Yolina wrote: »

Part of their "selling blurb" is that the phones can stream tv etc, yet they block many streaming sites but funnilly enough don't see fit to inform their customers - people find out on their forums. A bit like when they decided to introduce new out of bundle charges for existing contracts with unlimited internet at the begining of the month (now effectively a 500MB cap)

As you know full well from their forums they block *ALL* Streams due to the requirements to protect minors from adult content. HOWEVER you can request streams to be whitelisted, and they will consider it, but will not simply enable streaming of everything.


Unfortunalty your bitterness over the soft cap becmng a hard cap (as I said before it was alwaying in your contract they may do this so perfectly legal) is clouding your judgement.

Yolina

gjchester wrote: »

As you know full well from their forums they block *ALL* Streams due to the requirements to protect minors from adult content. HOWEVER you can request streams to be whitelisted, and they will consider it, but will not simply enable streaming of everything.


Unfortunalty your bitterness over the soft cap becmng a hard cap (as I said before it was alwaying in your contract they may do this so perfectly legal) is clouding your judgement.

I am not goint to get into an argument over all this but I just wanted to point out that:

1) I'm not too bothered personally about the streaming it's not something I use often and I CAN access tvcatch up. However I have noticed that there seems to be an issue for people with Android based handset only when they use a VF sim - if they use the same phone with a sim from a different operator they don't have those issues.

2) I have negotiated an acceptable agreement with Vodafone over the data thing, so actually I'm not affected by the 500MB cap.