Plex buffers on my local Wifi but doesn’t on my friend’s

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.15.5.994
Player Version#: 3.95.2

Hello! I’m have strange buffering issues with my Plex setup.

  • (BUFFERS) When streaming original quality through local wifi via Apple TV
  • (NO BUFFER) When streaming 720p quality through local wifi via Apple TV
  • (BUFFERS) When streaming original quality through local wifi via Plex macOS client
  • (NO BUFFER) When streaming 720p quality through local wifi via Plex macOS client
  • (NO BUFFER) When streaming original quality from my friend’s house through his local wifi via his Samsung TV Plex app
  • (NO BUFFER) When streaming original quality through a wired connection via Apple TV

I can confirm the original quality triggers Direct Play. So what’s peculiar is if I’m able to stream original quality from my Plex server when I’m at my friend’s house through his local Wifi network (who lives 50 miles away from my server), why can’t I do the same within my local Wifi network?

My router (ASUS RT-AC68P) supports 802.11ac and I can get speeds of 400+ Mbps on my laptop (my internet service is 1 Gbps). This should mean I have the bandwidth for original quality, right? I’ve also tried playing with different 5 GHz channels on my router.

I’ve looked through my logs (with debug on, verbose turned off) and I can’t really find any faults with it. I’ve attached a log of me playing Capernaum on Original Quality while experiencing some extreme buffering over my local Wifi. Note that there is another user also streaming another media asset while this is happening.

Any suggestions? This issue has been plaguing me for at least a year or more so it’s not due to any recent updates. My current PMS version is 1.15.5.994

Thanks so much

plex log capernaum.zip (39.3 KB)

2

Just want to give this a bump, thanks

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It looks pretty clear to me that your WiFi doesn’t achieve the speed which would be necessary to stream High-Bitrate videos.

Your friend’s WiFi is better, so he has no issues with streaming the high-bitrate videos wirelessly.

You need to either resort to wired connections or improve the throughput of your WiFi by

  • change the channel number of your WiFi network
  • place the router closer to the clients
  • get a new router
  • get an additional device to use as “wireless access point” if the router cannot be relocated
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