At&T stopping PLEX users!

General Discussions
1

Hello everyone,

I just want to ask anyone else, if they ran into this issue.

I have a Plex server running on CentOS at my home. It’s connected to a Gig feed via COX as the ISP.

I also have an At&t Apple iPhone 12 with the iPhone Plex app.

I can recreate this issue near 100%.

When I’m out and about using the At$t cell 5G (greater Los Angeles area), I start up plex, pick a TV show and start my streaming… works great for about 5 mins, then cuts off… like someone pulled the plug on the network connection. I look at the load bar, and it’s not loading. Stop the plex, close the plex, open back up, and the same thing happens again and again. the load bar looks like it’s buffering more than enough, but ultimately it’s “interrupted”.

I then close plex, open up a VPN over to my server. Same server locations. Then open plex, and I can play without any interruptions…

The thought had occurred to me that since At&t is a streaming provider, and they are technically in competition with everything and everyone that’s not with them, that they are probably treating non-att streaming packets differently. In other words, they are doing it on purpose to try and make your streaming experience as terrible as possible.

They do give their DirectTV streaming, priority and it doesn’t count toward your data plans… so would it be so hard for them to treat and disrupt other streaming packets? Would it be fair to even say they are ‘degrading’ other people streaming packets?

If so, this is pretty evil.

2

That is pretty evil, but even without net neutrality I’d bet that interfering with legal internet traffic like this so blatantly would be very much illegal.

I’ve got AT&T in Utah, so I can try it out on my end. You use the iPhone plex app? Let me give it a shot here…

3

Hm, seems ok. I resumed a 20 min video that I was half-way through. It streamed at 607 kbps (pretty low, but I’m fine with that), but was able to complete with no issue.

4

you could experiment and use any VPN as a test to see if att is ‘traffic shaping’ or otherwise interfering with plex traffic.

either a commercial vpn provider, or a direct vpn to your home/router.

use google for how to choose the best vpn type/provider (not really relevant here).

5

If streaming works flawlessly over your VPN as you said then AT&T is traffic shaping. Some providers have HD data options you can toggle. Make sure you have secure connections forced on your server. If all else fails there’s not much you can do besides switching cell providers. I heard T-Mobile rocks now!

6

Yep… pretty much ALL my test VPN services, don’t interrupt the video streaming…

I’m pretty convinced that AT&T is seeing that I’m streaming, and actively engaging in thwarting my streaming so that I’ll give up on it.

p.s. WiFi works great and VPN over anything works great… the ONLY problem is when I switch to ATT&T mobility cell signal, suddenly, I have issues.

So evil that this ■■■■ should be illegal.

7

I have AT&T 5G in Pittsburgh. The server is connected to Verizon Fios 1G internet. I could stream an entire 45min episode @ 8MB/1080p so no issues here.

8

What’s your account type with ATT? Many of them absolutely perform streaming traffic management.

Share client and server logs.

9

I like the loose use of the word, “management”… yeah… In other words, I’m thinking that we could sure use a bill of rights protecting the users from large corporations making our life’s difficult because they ‘don’t’ like what were doing with our internet!

I know, we can call it, “net neutrality!!” who with me!!

10

Are you paying for an account with unlimited streaming?

My expectation is that anything but a full-price post-paid account will get throttled and de-prioritized if it’s trying to stream.

AT&T around here is truly amazing if you pay for a big-$$ account. It’s not great if you don’t - but it’s exactly what they advertise it to be.

SNL 9/18/76 - Lily Tomlin - We’re the Phone Company, We Don’t Care! on Vimeo

11

Another thing to consider… although a remote possibility. Most mobile Plex apps won’t work beyond a few minutes if you don’t have a Plex Pass, or you haven’t paid for them in the app store.
Looks like you have the pass, but I wonder if there’s some manner of account disconnect?