ESPN BAMMedia Error 3 has been driving me nuts for months! I realize now that this was a rare error but I was told it was a generic error message. It might be but my use case is very rare.
First, let me explain how and where I got this error. Occasionally I was seeing this error on my 5 yr old iPad Air using the ESPN App. More specifically it was when I was trying to watch live sporting events. I resolved this error, or at least I thought I had, by updating the latest iOS and by reinstalling the ESPN App. It was annoying because it happened only on my ipad and only when we were at the beach.
I tried everything I could think of. Rebooting, reinstalling, updating, and playing with the permissions. are just some of the things I tried. I tried a few other things including VPN. I even called ESPN! I never do that. Would you like to know why I never call support for anything? It’s because I have a vast wealth of IT knowledge combined with crazy good troubleshooting skills. This is just another classic example of that.
I would like to point out that using a VPN is mandatory for me if I want to watch MLS. MLS hates the US Virgin Islands. It’s disgusting that we are not considered part of the US market and it’s arcane to think that we should be blacked out. If Austin didn’t have a team I would not care.
To continue the troubleshooting I use a mifi on the beach with the ipad to watch soccer on ESPN+ in the mornings. Other facts to consider is this only happen on the ipad and not my chromebook. It also would work just fine watching PL on Peacock. If I used my phone hotspot it would also not work correctly. If i turned on the mifi at home the ipad worked great off of it!
Here is what I figured out. My main phone is Android and I get very good speeds off that SIM card. My work phone is an iphone but with crappy T-Mobile reception. By crappy I mean not even 1 meg up and down. That is how much they suck STILL!
I basically stopped bringing my work phone to the beach because I really wasn’t using it. It turns out there was a correlation between my iphone and ESPN+ on my ipad.
The problem is actually the GPS. Apparently the GPS is not accurate enough on iPad and essentially I was being blacked out for all my Euro games. I was not receiving a blackout message so it is not very clear. However, that is exactly what was happening. At my house the GPS on the ipad was perfect. At the beach it just showed St Croix and water around it. I am in St Thomas which is only 35 miles North so technically that “ocean” on the GPS is still US territory. I don’t know but when I bring my iphone with to the beach the GPS on the ipad is very accurate.
You know what happens next? THE STUPID APP STARTS TO WORK!!!! This has been months of anguish. I was able to use my chromebook as a tablet for my wife and I to watch but the nits are half that of my ipad. Almost impossible to see in the sun.
The next time you get that stupid error message be sure to check your GPS settings and accuracy.