Plex client (web or Mac) can't reach any server due to wifi limitations

Plex Players Desktop Players
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My wife is currently in hospital on a public wifi that you have to imagine is quite locked down. Netflix works fine, but she cannot connect to a Plex server. We have access to two Plex servers, our own (located at home but in the same city as the hospital) and a friend’s (located half-way across the world). Both servers are configured to allow remote access and I can verify both servers are working with remote access right now in venues other than the hospital, so the limitation must be on the hospital WiFi side.

I asked her to open up the https://plex.tv web browser and sign in to our account, and she said she has the same error, she gets “No content available / Check your network connection and verify that any media servers are online.” I would have thought that the web browser version just used port 80 and so would be like Netflix as far as the wifi is concerned.

My server has remote access enabled, no NAT issue, port 32400. Not sure what my friend’s server is like.

Are there any options to make this work? The fact that neither server works and the web version doesn’t work makes me think no, but I’d appreciate any suggestions.

Indirect Connection due to work Firewall
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VPN
If they allow VPNs, install a VPN client on the iPad and connect it to to the VPN provider’s network before launching the Plex app.

Mobile Network
If you’ve a generous mobile plan, bypass the WiFi network and use the mobile network. You could use a phone as a hotspot.

Change Remote Access Ports

  1. Find out if they’re blocking 32400. Try to login directly to your Plex server. In Safari on the iPad, go to http://pms_public_ip:32400/web and see if she can login. If she can, try using your server’s public IP address as the manual server address in the Plex iPad app.
    Have her go to Open Port Check Tool - Test Port Forwarding on Your Router and enter the public IP address of your Plex Server (see Settings → Remote Access), and port 32400. This will test connectivity from her iPad. Edit: Never mind. That site tests from their server, not the iPad.

  2. If they’re blocking 32400, see if you can find an unblocked port and change your Plex server to use it. FWIW, I enabled the Plex server on my Nvidia Shield, configured it to use port 443, and was able to stream remotely to my Android phone on the mobile network.

Talk to IT
Ask their IT department to allow Plex. The worst they can do is say no.

Access my Server from Work through firewall using Plex Web
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Hi! I wanted to let you know that the port.443 trick worked. Thanks very much for the advice. Really appreciated.

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