SignagePlayer when no data left on 3G data plan

[mayte]

Hello:

We have 100 android 4.4.2 players installed in taxis, they connect to the internet thru 3G; everything is working ok BUT have 2 main issues and are looking to develop a new android player to fix this mayor show stoppers:

When we run out of data, presentation takes up to 15 minutes to start, and given that we have a 20-30 average cab ride that's unaceptable, I have tried without the watchdog and still takes up to 15 minutes to start, meaning is the player and not the watchdog apk.

The other issue is how often the player reports back to studio, there is no need to report every 5-10seconds, is a waste of expensive 3G data, we want reporting to be done on-demand by maybe placing a button on the studio (stations section).

Is there a plan for your to fix this or can I have player source code and hire a developer?; we really are at a crossroad here and would appreciate your help.

Mayte

[admin]

Hello,
Your best approach will be to control the data via external application which can throttle data usage.
The best part is that if your app prevents the SignagePlayer from accessing the net, it will just play off the local cache.
There are many root and non root apps that will allow you to both throttle as well as limit data usage as this is something that is not part of the SignagePlayer, but part of your Android.
We can add a limit on pings back to our servers but I doubt that will solve much of your issues if you are dealing with limited data access.

regards

[mayte]

The thing is even if data is throtle we might run out of data because we also tether and offer hot spot to taxi riders, so running out of data is not that uncommon.
Since our data plan offers free social (Whatsup and FB) and that is what we offer to taxi riders, even when out of data riders can whatsup and FB; problem is SignagePlayer  goes crazy and takes 10-15 minutes to start presentation; and then it frezzes at some videos (is not the videos as that never happens when data available or wifi). Presentation should start immediately from cache when no internet connection or when not hearing back from server (like when out of data) and still polling in the background in case connection reestablished. I can hire a developer to take a look, if only I had the source code, or better yet you should work on fixing this. It sounds to me that there are a lot of entries in the forum regarding internet connection and presentation failing to play.

In the other hand, as you mention adding limit on pings back to your servers will save us money, since 2GB at month are only for pining back to server, when most of the time no one is monitoring; again that should be on-demand from the Studio.

Regards,

Mayte

[HVL]

Anything new on this topic ?

Have a client with limited data usage.

and 4 days into the month they run out !

Atm all they have is weather update. 3 Html pages with text (that rarely changes) and a news feed.

Looking for a way to limit the data flow and have it run on a buffer for say 1-2 hours before doing an update of data.

Any way to control this thru the player or an ext app that works well with signage player ?

Any help would be much appriciated..

Regards

Hvl.