OT: Game streams/Network restrictions question
So I'm at a small school way up in northern montana for the rest of the football season and for some reason I'm having terrible luck getting any streams to work.
Netflix, youtube, hulu, etc all work just fine, but the network must have some kind of restriction on "illegal streams" because none of them work. Whenever i try to watch a stream it just tries to load until it times out.
My question for all of you computer pros out there is this. Is there any way around these network restrictions?
I think it might be some kind of flash restriction because some flash games that I've tried to play online also don't work. I figured someone out there may have run into a similar problem and might have a fix.
September 27th, 2011 at 8:46 PM ^
Move to a new, better state?
September 27th, 2011 at 8:53 PM ^
I'm guessing you've never been to Montana...
OP, for what it's worth, I haven't had much trouble with streams so far this year. I would guess it's not a network thing, but I don't know jack.
September 27th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^
Some day I want to see thr wilderness in MT.
Regarding the streams, I have multiple links that I use for Red Wings games, but never tried them for college football, so I do not know if they work or not.
September 28th, 2011 at 8:40 AM ^
Have you ever used the NHL Gamecenter for Wings games? I bought it last two years, but the quality and speed is disappointing. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong. My internet is fast enough I think, but the stream quality make it almost not worth it (especially since if a Wings' game is on something like CBC (which I do not get in DC), it is still consdered blackout worthy)
September 28th, 2011 at 1:44 PM ^
I'm too cheap to buy the extra stuff for sports. The links I have are not in HD and some are better quality than others, but hey, I'll take what I can get.
I have a folder in my favorites in Google Chrome that is specified for sports streaming sites. What's funny is that Desmond Howard tweeted a couple weeks back, "Where can I watch this fight?" He was referring to a boxing match, so I tweeted back at him to give me his e-mail and I will send him the links I have. He told me to just e-mail him through his web site, which I did, and he said he found one that worked. Why he couldn't front the $50 for the PPV is beyond me, considering the guy has money, but whatever.
September 27th, 2011 at 9:16 PM ^
I spent a couple years in Great Falls when I was in the Air Force 92-94. Beautiful state
September 27th, 2011 at 11:12 PM ^
browser to google chrome or firefox
September 27th, 2011 at 11:23 PM ^
And, try during the week to see if you can get the sites to work. You can try to tweak a few things and see if it works before game day. You should be able to test with a soccer or baseball game at the link below.
I'm able to watch all the UM football games here: http://www.firstrowsports.tv/
September 28th, 2011 at 12:00 AM ^
The streams have always worked for me before. it's just since I got here that they stopped. I use Chrome (but I also tested it on Firefox and Safari without any luck). Streams on Firstrow and Atdhe both don't work. It's definitely a network problem.
September 28th, 2011 at 12:05 AM ^
doublepost... sorry
September 27th, 2011 at 11:13 PM ^
Are you on an ipad? But at least you don't live in Nebraska.... flat, no lakes, corn, and smells like cow ass.
September 28th, 2011 at 1:39 AM ^
use a proxy.
September 28th, 2011 at 1:41 AM ^
Try different browsers.
I think it's unlikely, but there might be a campus-wide restrictions on various website - suprised these would be included. Where my mom used to live last year (RIP), Skype would never work b/c the internet speed was just horrible. She was a graphic artist and had a top of the line computer - the computer wasn't the problem. Eventually she learned that the internet speed was horrible even though it was the best offered (complicated reasons that only affected her area). Wonder if you're running into a similar thing? It only affected certain processes that would simply time-out, like you say.
You should download stream torrent. It will slowly load and then play games - it will be several seconds / minutes slower than real time, but once it plays, it'll play through. The quality isn't usually as good, but it's still the game.
September 28th, 2011 at 7:05 AM ^
Just to piggyback off of this, if you want to test your internet speed to see what kind of bandwidth you're actually getting, you can try going to Speedtest.net and post the results here.
We should be able to tell you if the above is the problem or not based on those results.
September 28th, 2011 at 7:06 AM ^
might be throttling your bandwidth. you could try connecting to a proxy first.
September 28th, 2011 at 8:44 AM ^
Speedtest.com results- Ping 80, Down 6.79, Up 2.3
Proxies don't work, I've already tried that. I'll definitely look into stream torrent.
I'm pretty sure it's a specific restriction because espn3, netflix, hulu, etc all work just fine. It's only sites like firstrowsports and atdhe that won't load the streams.
September 28th, 2011 at 9:30 AM ^
Apparently streamtorrent doesn't work on macs. fml.
September 28th, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^
Get a PC.
September 28th, 2011 at 9:11 AM ^
I have been able to watch every game online through FirstRowSports.com. I use Firefox as my browswer. Make sure you go to your browser tools and add on the AdBlock additional feature before watching FirstRowSports.
Good luck. BTW, I'll trade you a weekend at my house, with all amenities and a fully stocked refrigerator, for a weekend at your place in Montana. I don't know if my wife is part of the package or not, but it it helps seal the deal, I'll see what I can do.
September 28th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
I'll be heading over to the Czech Republic for a couple months and will need a way to get my fix...
Was looking at justin.tv, but that seems pretty sporatic... Thoughts?
September 28th, 2011 at 9:22 AM ^
Does BTDN broadcast the games on BTN? I would gladly stop paying my cable company $5 a month for the sports tier just to get BTN, if only BTN offered me a way to pay them instead and stream the game.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^
Have you tried the streams direct from the B1G site? All you need is the login info for one of the partners, I am guessing you know someone with dish network, directv or etc who would let you try it out.
September 28th, 2011 at 11:37 AM ^
nice i'll try that!
September 28th, 2011 at 1:41 PM ^
I have tried several options. Last year I had Directv streaming through a slingbox and everything worked perfectly in HD until the Slingbox crashed and the Company has the worst customer service ever so I haven't tried to fix it. I bought both a VPN $55 per year, and Proxy $7 per month. I use the proxy/VPN depending on what I need to do, Netlfix etc.
For Footbal, so far so Good.
I purchased for 35 CHF ESPN College Pass, monthly. I get all the ESPN/ABC games, but it needs to think that you are outside of the US (for me it wasn't a problem). Great quality too. ESPNPlayer.com. If you get a UK proxy or VPN this should work. Obviously you have to pay for it though.
Or, for Big10 Network games I use my Grandparent dirctv user and password to get in. Also great quality. So it seems I'm basically covered with out a slingbox.
September 28th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^
We used ESPN Gamezone for the UM/ND game and it worked great. If you can afford it, I'd recommend trying it out. Just be aware - NO COMMERCIALS. Strange when there is 2 minutes of silence...
September 28th, 2011 at 6:59 PM ^
i guess p2p is still down ...bummer nation