With the iPhone you have 3 different data connections that Pocket Tunes Radio can use, Edge, 3G and WiFi. The data connection that you are using will go a long way in determining how fast the station's stream can be.

Beginning with Pocket Tunes Radio 5.3, you can change the stream that is playing to a lower or higher speed stream (as long as one is available). So here is a little information on the speed of a station and how it impacts reliability and sound quality.

Why does the speed of the stream matter?

Stream speed is measured in Kbps (kilo bits per second). The higher the number, the faster the stream. the faster the stream, the more data that can be sent to your device. The more data sent, the better the sound

So I want to always play the fastest stream, right?

Not necessarily. The reason is that the faster the stream, the more susceptible it is to dropouts in your connection. The slower the speed, the more reliable it is.

So then what speeds can I stream with my data connections?

Your best connection is WiFi. It can handle the very fast, high quality streams. 3G can handle those streams as well but the connection has to be solid. Generally, when you are mobile on a 3G network, the faster streams may buffer due to irregularities in the mobile connection. So a 128Kbps stream may be too fast for a 3G connection, but 64Kbps should be fine with a strong 3G connection. If you are on an Edge connection then you should stick to 32Kbps or lower. Some Edge connections that are very strong can go as high as 64Kbps but may get skipping.

The above chart shows some standard stream speeds down the left side. The top shows the type of data connection. Green indicates that the connection is likely to play a stream at that speed. Yellow that there may be times when you get get disconnected because there is not enough data coming to the phone to sustain the stainton. Red indicates that you may lose the connection often or not be able to connect at all.