I'm an unproductive employee....Lets Rock!

My work has computer fire walls fueled with napalm because the radio is the Devil. It is a concrete bomb shelter without a window and I am 2 walls that are cement 1 foot thick each from outside. No radio reception & barely cell phone reception. What have any of you done to get radio. I don't want to use all my phone data. Really want to stream radio in somehow. Is there a way to get it other than cd's or mp3 as I want to get local news weather talk and music.

 

Is there an internet connection other than your phone?
Pandora, Spotify, Last.FM....lots of places to stream music if there is.

 

Download podcasts the night before to your phone and listen to them at work? I'll do that before a long flight.

 

Does youtube work? There is lots of music there.

 

Nope firewall burns you on that route.

 

Has anyone ever snuck an abundance of speaker wire in a loop around a room n plugged it into an antenna and radio to make a super antenna with any luck?

 

I say try that, or an amplified antenna.

Otherwise download whatever you want to listen the night before.

 

Got crazy firewalls at work too and this might not work for you but...... I buy a lot of equipment and sometimes "need"/like to watch demo videos to help make decisions. I decided to call the IT help desk and ask due to my needs. I was watching youtube in under 30 minutes. Might be worth a shot?

 

Satellite radios can come with long antenna cables. Any chance of setting up a radio within 20-30' of a door?

 

Different employer maybe?

 

Satellite radio, how unobstructed of a view is needed to get reception? Are they directional like satellite TV dishes or if they can see straight up they're going to work?

 

Basically Omni directional, so straight up will work. The satellite is over central US. I'm in Canada so just sticking the antenna in a south facing window works. If you don't have a door or window near by, maybe you can run an antenna through a roof vent above your work area. Car mount antenna are magnetic if that helps. Home kits and boom box antennas are usually non magnetic

You can go with a boom box version or just run a 3.5mm aux jack from the unit to another speaker source. Home kits come with AC plug but you can always buy any accessories you need.

 

I too deal with stringent firewalls at work. On top of that, the cell signal at work is poor. Even though we are 25 miles from Boston. Bret Hart said, I was able to get them to open the ports for Youtube to my computer.

Your work environment sounds like a military installation or a bomb shelter.

 

I listen to satellite radio and local radio using my phone and I don't use much data at all. I'd try it and keep an eye on your data usage.

 

Can you live stream a local radio station via the internet or are those blocked also?

 

That's the down side of Satellite radio is the fee, however the fee per unit comes down with a multiple receiver plan. Original plans are $12-15/mth. Each additional unit is like $7-8/mth. If you know someone with a subscription you can always see about joining theirs.

Having said that, there is ways around costly monthly fees. If you are paying for a subscription and it's time to renew (annually), never pay the asking rate! Threaten to leave, they would rather have pennies on the dollar than no pennies at all. I had a 6 month trail subscription in my Ford truck and then got a 6 month extension offer for $30 which I took. Here's the catch with this deal, If you do nothing before the end of this contract is up, you are locked into another year contract at regular price (for me in Canada it's about $16/mth for a year +tax) I called a few days before this extension subscription was due and threatened to cancel. My yearly regular price would have been over $220/yr and they offered me a deal of $150/yr. I said no thanks again and was then offered $125/yr. Said no again and then settled on a $95/yr plan. Game is, I need to call in again a few days before this subscription expires to play the game again or they start charging the regular price. A 20 minute call once a year is worth saving over 50% for me

Then there is the Sirius Satellite unit I bought used off ebay 8-10 years ago for $1 with free pick up. Seller wasn't sure if it worked anymore. Not only did it work, it had a lifetime subscription and is still going strong .

 

Every year Serius sends me a bill for $275 and I call and say I want to cancel, oddly they have a one day offer for $135 and I take it.

 

Ar

Are you on wifi though? I can't get that in here.

 

Buy the network administrator a sixer of some tastey brew in exchange for a mac-id level exclusion for your machine.