I’ve made sure the remote access it accessible outside the network.
My upload speed is 10Mbps, download is 900Mbps.
Other participants network speeds are ok as well.
I thought it might be because of my upload speed, but a friend of mine tested it with 20Mbps upload speed from where the server is and I see it as 328p max as well.
Am I missing to setup something or there is a limitation for media streamed from personal server?
10 Mbps upload isn’t that much if you want to stream from multiple users outside your home network. High quality 1080p remuxes can easily take 20-30 Mbps; even a decent transcode/optimized version will take 4-6 Mbps. With your upload bandwidth this will basically allow 1 optimized stream in 1080p resolution… if there’s more parallel streams, Plex will curb down the bitrate and resolution to get them through that bottleneck.
Check the server dashboard while streaming. This should tell if there’s an issue with the remote setup (despite the „green light“ remote access status indicator)… do those remote streams show as remote or indirect/relayed?
Beyond that… check the internet streaming quality in the player app to see if this is set to a lower quality.
Similarly… have you applied a per-stream restriction in the remote access settings of your server(s)?
I don’t have an option to select upload mbps from the server at all. Does it default to a lower value because of the free plan as some sort of limitation?
No, this is only an additional restriction Plex Pass members can set to avoid a single user using your entire upload bandwidth. Plex will always use what bandwidth is available (approx. 80% of that to be correct, leaving some buffer for other activities in order not to lock up your internet access).
The limiting factor in your case seems to be the remote access configuration.
If Plex falls back to an indirect connection, this means the client and server couldn’t establish a direct connection and therefore use a Plex relay server instead. Those relayed/indirect connections are limited to 1 Mbps (2 Mbps for Plex Pass members).
You should review your remote access setup in order to allow a “direct” remote connection. Common remote access troubleshooting steps are:
If supported by your router, use a manual port forward instead of UPnP (automatic port forwarding)… those manual forwards tend to be more reliable
Verify your router’s public IP address and the specified public port (see #1) is accessible from outside your home network (you can check this using a service like canyouseeme.org)
if the router isn’t visible, this implies there’s a problem between “the internet” / your ISP and your router
if the router is visible but still fails to connect, this implies there’s a problem between your router and the Plex Media Server
Review if your router gets a routable public IPv4 address from your ISP. It doesn’t have to be a static IP but you’ll need an IPv4 address that’s preferably not part of a CGNAT setup (simplified: the ISP shouldn’t manage their backbone like a local network, assigning their routers private IPs)
