There are a few reasons why your station might not connect properly:

1. Your data connection could be down or have frequent dropouts
   
   If your data connection is not available or frequently drops out, that will definitely impact playback. Internet radio streaming needs constant data whereas most other things (like surfing the net) need data in little bunches but not constantly. If the data stops for too long or is not there to begin with then there is nothing for Pocket Tunes to play and you will get buffering and gaps in playback. If there is no connection at all then there is no way for Pocket Tunes to connect to the station.
   
   Here are some things to check:.
   • Check that you can surf the net by going to Pocket Tunes web tab and going to a few different pages.
     • This will tell you if you at least have some data coming to your device. If you can navigate to a few different web sites then you do have some data coming into your device
   • Try setting the bitrate to the a lower setting if available or trying a station that is at a lower bitrate.
     • lower bitrate (speed) station streams are more reliable because they are not as severely impacted by dropouts as faster streams. We have a Knowledge Base article that goes into more detail about that here.
   • Reset your device
     • Turn it off by holding down the power button until you see the "Slide to power off" command. Slide it to power off, then turn it back on again.
       
2. The station could have changed their stream address or is temporarily down
   • Try the station again the next day. If it still fails, send us a Bad Station report and we will look into it. You can do this right in Pocket Tunes. Just go to the "Stations" screen and tap "Help". Then tap the link that says "Contact Support". Fill out the form, letting us know what station it was that was not working for you and whether your data connection was on WiFi or 3g/Edge. Stations do sometimes change their stream URLs or have servers go down so your reports help us to keep things working well.
     
3. The bitrate (or speed) of the station is too fast for the data connection you are using
   • Sometimes a stations can be too fast for the data connection. the connection is not able to keep up and ends up failing. What you here is a lot of dropouts or maybe even the station never connects at all.
     • With Pocket Tunes Radio 5.3 or up you can adjust the speed of the station as long as it has alternate speed. See this Knowledge Base article on how to change the speeds and this Knowledge Base article on Quality of the sound versus the reliability.
   • If a station does not have alternate slower streams then you might have to wait until you are on a higher speed data line. For example if you are trying to play a 128Kbps WMA stream on a flaky 3G connection, it will likely drop out a lot. But on WiFi it should be fine.
     
4. If you are trying to play a subscriptions station (e.g. XM, Sirius, Live 365), your account may not support on-line listening.
   • You need to have an account with Sirius or XM that includes support for their On-line Radio service. Not all accounts have this privilege. You should contact Sirius or XM customer support if you are not sure you have on-line radio support.
   • One way to test whether you can access on-line radio is by signing in on your Windows or Mac desktop or laptop. If you can play the channels there then you should be bale to play them in Pocket Tunes Radio.
     • To test Sirius login to the Sirius media player and try some channels, if they play then you can play Sirius in Pocket Tunes Radio.
     • To test XM, log into the MusicDock.com site. Play a few channels, if you can play them there then you can play them in Pocket Tunes.
   • If you are not able to play XM or Sirius on your PC or Mac, then contact their support line and check your accounts status for playing

If you are still having trouble connecting and are unsure what the problem is, please contact us in support.