I think a good analogy to describe an internet connection would be a a multi lane bridge, now this bridge would allow packets of data (cars) to go across and reach the server side and the client side.
Now lets imagine that the number of lanes on this bridge can increase or decrease at any second, and that the cars would be automatically merged into the remaining lanes, rather than fall into the water. while most of the trafic is not really effected by this , there are some cars on our magic bridge that require more lanes,
so when the number of lanes gets cut , and the required lanes minus the available lanes becomes a negative number , the multi lane car is stopped dead in its tracks.
Vilence: AH.FM needs more dedicated ppl to do that
AH.fm does not need more dedicated people because even tho their staff is smaller than one of the radio stations that was founded in 1999 by a guy with a 3 letter name that starts with an A. AH.fm has much more to offer than this much larger site that starts with a D . AH has more programming more live broadcasts, yet less resources but its not about the what resources you have , its how you use them.
Vilence: As an AH.FM supported (Even tho im not donating like 1000 dollars per month) im a bit disappointed by the quality.. because I think there are enough funds around for a quality and properly done broadcast.
It does not work like that, running an internet radio station is expensive , , there is the cost of renting or buying the servers you have to maintain them, there is utility costs, taxes, and also royalties. Its not as simple as you think it would be.
I am not sure if this could be implemented but what if you could compress the the out going so it would take up less bandwidth and then have it be reexpand it on the other side. You would probably have to put a 2 to 3 second delay on the stream tho to do this. I know that this has been done in other fields mainly the military .
Burst transmission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia this way if the available bandwidth drops below the uncompressed required it would be less of an issue.
In closing I think that improvements could be made to make thing run a little smoother , but its not the crew that needs to improve but rather its technology that needs to advance to make things less volatile , you the uncertaintiy out of it.
just reading ..no comment ..
took long to read the whole thread to get an understanding as to what is going on....