I just set up a Plex server on an i7 6700k, 16 GB RAM.
The problem is, when streaming over the internet, the maximum stream quality on Client is 0.7 Mbps (328p), tested both Android Player on a smartphone and Windows Player on a laptop, in different networks that are capable of 100 Mbps).
My Server upload speed is only 4 Mbps, and while a client streams a video over Internet I can see in my Fritzbox Frontend that the 4 Mbps are fully utilized.
But on client side only 0.7 Mbps arrive and I can’t set it higher.
In the app settings I set 3 Mbps (720p) as quality, but it doesn’t work.
Is it normal, that I lose more than 3 Mbps from upload to download?
Very likely, your server is not directly reachable from the outside.
So the traffic is relayed over the Plex cloud servers. And this relay service is bandwidth-restricted (1mbps normal, 2 mbps with Plex Pass).
That was exactly the problem, thank you.
Now I understand what ‘indirect’ means on Client side.
Next problem though:
When I have Secured Connection set to Preferred, Clients will always use indirect mode.
Only if i disable Secure Connection, it directly connects and I have full speed.
I read about DNS Rebinding Protection and whitelisted plex.direct in my router configuration.
Unfortunatly, the problem still remains.
Then it may have to do with your DNS server (or more precisely the DNS server of your ISP). Set your router to use Google’s DNS servers instead (8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4)
Afterwards, reboot your router first,
then your Plex server
then all the client devices.
With a few minutes pause inbetween each.
