Radio file quality from abroad‏

[Alexis Fotiadis]

Hello all
 
Thanks to those keeping get_iplayer updated & running. The list & posters were invaluable when 
trying to get it working on a new laptop w/ new Windows, and it's been working smoothly since - 
a different broadband provider fixed my most common bug-bear of download failures due to lousy 
wireless stability.
 
I'm currently out of the UK, and found that downloading radio programmes works ok, but for some 
reason the only quality I can get is flashaaclow (48kbps), even though my options file is set to 
--modes=best,flashaachigh,flashaac,flashaaclow,flashaudio.
This is the case for all progs, even Radio 3 which is always flashaachigh. I'm fairly certain I 
didn't have this problem when I previously used (now sadly-defunct) Radio Downloader when abroad; 
the quality was as normal.
 
Does anyone know whether this is standard, i.e. radio listeners abroad only have access to 48kbps? 
Further to that, is there any way of telling what bit-rate radio progs are streaming at when played 
directly on the BBC site?
 
Cheers
 
Alex