What is P2P streaming?

Peer-to-peer streaming is an exciting new form of Internet stream distribution. It works by distributing a traditional stream broadcast in such a way that any spare and unused upload capacity of a client is used to share the broadcast with other clients in the audience.

By using P2P, all streams of the Trans World Radio broadcast are intelligently distributed over the entire network of clients making up the broadcast audience. As the audience grows so do the network resources available to distribute the broadcast without increasing bandwidth costs. This makes it possible to reach more users where Internet broadcasting is prohibitively expensive, such as in South Africa.

Simply put: by participating in the Trans World Radio P2P Internet broadcast and sharing of your upstream Internet bandwidth for stream peering, you allow more folks to listen and thereby assist in extending the reach of Trans World Radio's Internet broadcast...

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Forget the detail, I just wanna stream!

Follow the quick-step process outlined below:

1. Agree to sharing your upstream bandwidth when you are first prompted to do so by clicking the 'Continue' button.

2. Accept and allow the installation of the 'Rawflow Streamin Plugin' - depending on your version of browser (and/or configured browser security settings), the displayed Rawflow plugin information message may differ.

3. Once the Rawflow plugin has been downloaded you will be prompted to allow the installation of the plugin - allow the installation, a period of time will follow after which the plugin initialises, attempts to find a peer, connects to, buffers and then plays back the Trans World Radio stream...

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A detailed step-for-step installation process

To participate in the Trans vWorld Radio P2P Internet broadcast, you need to have completed a successfull installation of the Rawflow P2P plugin. The process of installing this plugin is a one-time event and is only required once, the first time you attempt to connect to the Trans World Radio stream. The process of installation folows below:

1. The very first time you connect to the Trans World Radio stream, you will be asked to consent to the installation of a 'Rawflow Streaming Plugin' that allows the sharing of your upstream bandwidth for stream peering. By clicking the 'Continue' button you consent to the commencement of the plugin installation and a 'cookie' is created to remember your decision the next time you stream Trans World Radio. If your browser disallows writing of cookies, you will keep being prompted this way every time you attempt to listen to the Trans World Radio stream. In such cases, we recommend that you confiure your browser to allow writing of cookies. If you do not want to install the plugin, but still want to listen to Trans World Radio without P2P, click the 'Continue' button anyway - you will have the option of not installing the plugin later in the installation process...

2. Assuming your browser is capable of displaying an embedded Windows Media player, you will now see an embedded media player, below which the P2P installation status text is displayed. If you do not see an embedded media player, you may need to check your browser security settings, check that you have Windows Media player installed or determine whether your browser can/is allowed to embed the Windows Media Player. An attempt is made to connect to the stream source initially, during which the 'Loading, please wait...' P2P status text appears below. If a successful connection can be made to the stream source, your browser will prompt you to allow the installation of the plugin/add-on: 'Rawflow Streaming Plugin' from 'Rawflow Ltd', while connecting to and then playing back the Trans World Radio stream. If you agree, the plugin will be downloaded and installed automatically, thereby allowing you to participate in the Trans World Radio P2P broadcast. If you do not agree, the plugin will not be installed and you will therefore not be able to connect to the Trans World Radio P2P stream, but will instead connect directly to the stream source, limiting how many other people can connect. If you choose not to accept the plugin, you will be prompted to do so every time you time you connect to Trans World Radio and your listening duration to the Trans World Radio stream will be time limited.

3. Having accepted and allowed the installation of the P2P plugin, this will now be downloaded and automatically installed - please consult the P2P status text for details. Depending on your version browser and/or security configuration, you may be prompted to allow the installation of the Rawflow plugin after it has been downloaded. Please be patient while the plugin downloads, this may take a while depending on your connection speed. Once the plugin has been downloaded, agree to the installation and your browser will automatically install the plugin. Depending on your version of browser (and/or configured browser security settings), the displayed Rawflow plugin information message may differ to that described but the process is the same.

4. After the plugin has installed, a period of time will follow during which the plugin initialises, attempts to find a peer, connects to, buffers and then plays back the Trans World Radio stream... The next time you connect to the Trans World Radio stream, assuming the successful installation of the P2P plugin, you will not be prompted for the plugin installation again but instead connect to the stream, after the search for a peer completes.

5. If after above described installation process you do not connect to the Trans World Radio stream, it may be that the plugin has timed out - try to refresh of your browser by hitting F5 to force a reconnect to the stream. If your problem continues, please consult the advise further below in this FAQ.

6. The process described above is dependant on the browser used - if you use a Mozilla-based browser such as Firefox, you will not be prompted for the installation of the Rawflow plugin (not yet implemented) and instead connect directly to the stream source, bypassing participation in the peering network. Direct streaming connections are time limited to 60 minutes per streaming session, P2P connections not. It is recommended that you stream using P2P by using Internet Explorer.

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What if I am behind a firewall?

Under certain circumstances, the P2P streaming employed for Trans World Radio may continue to serve a broadcast to users behind firewalls that block outgoing stream connections. Under such circumstances firewalled users receive, rather than serve stream connections to peers.

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What about security?

There is no way for a virus or any other harmful file to affect computers as a result of the participation in this broadcast. No writing to disk of the received stream broadcast occurs and on this basis, security concerns of virus/spyware propagation via file archive may be dispelled. The received streams are not cached to a client's hard drive and no files (except anonymous usage data) are ever exchanged by client and server. For more information concerning security of Windows Media-based Internet broadcasts, click here

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What is the bandwidth usage?

The amount of a client's bandwidth that contributes to the shared broadcast depends on many factors, including the bandwidth capacity of the client's Internet connection and the demographics of other audience members. Bandwidth usage may vary as the P2P system adapts used bandwidth as based on availability of the network link. In other words, when uploading a large file, any clients connected to a specific peer shall be instantly redirected to other peers where there is sufficient bandwidth available to serve the required streams. Under circumstances where no peers are discovered in time, the client shall establish a direct connection to the stream source.

The Trans World Radio stream is encoded at a fixed bitrate of 32kbps - an hour's listening will consume about 16MB of downstream bandwidth. The upstream bandwidth consumption is dependant on the extent of user peering, where no user peering occurs, no additional bandwidth is required to receive the stream broadcast.

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What are the P2P client requirements?

The P2P client control is delivered to the user by one of several delivery methods. For users of Internet Explorer, the primary delivery method is via the installation of an ActiveX control. For users of other browsers, the P2P client can be delivered as a Netscape style plug-in, or using the Java Web Start technology. Supported browsers include the following:

Internet Explorer v4 and up
Mozilla-based: Netscape v6 and up, Firefox (still under development)
Other: Safari, Camino (for MAC OSX) (still under development)

Supported platforms include the following:

Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 2003
Linux 2.2 or above for i86 (mid 2007)
MAC OS X (mid 2007)

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Why does the P2P client control does not install?

If the Rawflow P2P control does not install successfully, you may need to configure the browser security settings to allow this - click here for a brief tutorial of how to allow the installation of ActiveX controls for Internet Explorer

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How do I disallow peering?

Peering is enabled by default after a successful installation of the Rawflow P2P plugin. Assuming you are not behind a firewall that blocks peering, your upstream bandwidth may be shared by others. This is a small price to pay for the free service provided by Trans World Radio to its Internet audience... If you have not accepted the installation of the P2P plugin, or are using a Mozilla-based browser such as Firefox, your listening duration of the Trans World Radio stream is time limited to 60 minutes as the streaming connection is direct to the stream source. By having accepted and installed the P2P plugin, your Trans World Radio listening experience and that of other streaming peers, is made possible by the sharing of your upstream bandwidth with the stream peering community and as a result, you are entitled to listen to the Trans Wrld Radio stream indefinitely.

To not allow user peering, do not accept the installation of the Rawflow P2P plugin. If you have already installed the P2P plugin and wish to remove such, please contact Antfarm's Internet Radio Support by clicking here

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I'm still having problems....what now?

Contact Antfarm's Internet Radio Support by clicking here. Please provide a detailed description of your problem and any error codes that are displayed. In addition, to assist with the resolution of your problem, please provide us with the following additional details (if known):

Operating System - Win 98, 2000, XP (SP1/2), Vista, MAC, Linux
Internet Browser - IE, Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Mozilla, Safari
Media Player version - 6/7/8/9/10/11
Internet connection type - dialup modem, ISDN, ADSL, wireless, corporate access

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