Remote Access not working on my iPhone thru Verizon cellular data?

Plex Media Server Remote Access
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1

Server Version#:1.43.2.10687
Player Version#:2026.9.0 (1704)
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>

When I try to view any of my 3 servers from the Plex app on my ios phone, I get the following error immediately when I hit play. “Error Occurred This item cannot be played at this time. The server has reached its configured limit for maximum simultaneous video transcodes.”

I have transcoding turned off for all 3 of my servers. I have 5 gig fiber, so I don’t use transcoding. I also have “simultaneous” set to Unlimited. I get this error when nothing else is streaming.

After doing some troubleshooting, I noticed I only get this error when using cellular data on my Verizon phone. It used to work fine thru cellular, but I just recently noticed this error. My streaming works fine from my phone when I’m connected to a wifi network. Port 32401, 32402, 32403 are all opened thru my router and Plex shows that they are “fully accessible outside your network.”

Any ideas why it doesn’t work thru verizon cellular? Are they blocking something?

EDIT: PlexAmp is working fine from the same server using Cellular Data. I also just connected my laptop at work to my iphone cellular data, and opened the plex app on my laptop. Movies play fine on my laptop using cellular data. So it looks like this error might be isolated to the Plex app on my phone. Is there a way to download logs from the phone app? The logs I attached are from my plex server.

Thanks for any help.

Plex Media Server Logs_2026-05-22_09-50-07.zip (4.8 MB)

2

Check the client quality settings and the server remote access “limit remote stream bitrate”

May 21, 2026 14:14:14.003 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.003 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Selecting best audio stream for part ID 53986 (language: en)
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.003 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] We're going to try to auto-select a subtitle for account 1.
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.003 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Audio Stream: 103634, Subtitle Stream: -1
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Selected protocol hls; container: mkv
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: analyzing media item 53983
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Direct Play is disabled
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): no direct play video profile exists for http/mp4/h264
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): no direct play video profile exists for http/mp4/h264/ac3
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Direct Streaming is disabled, so video stream will be transcoded
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.030 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.031 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.031 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): selected media 0 / 53983
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.031 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Calculated bandwidth of 7433kbps exceeds bandwidth limit. Changing decision parameters provided by client to fit bandwidth limit of 2000kbps
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.031 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Determining preferred transcode encoders through transcode only decision.
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.063 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Reducing playback quality for 1904kbps stream bitrate: video resolution to 1024x426, audio channels to 6, quality to 8, disable audio DS as 640kbps is > the 327kbps available
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.064 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Clipped max bitrate to 1555Kbps based on client-requested limit
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Selected protocol hls; container: mkv
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: analyzing media item 53983
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Direct Play is disabled
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): no direct play video profile exists for http/mp4/h264
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): no direct play video profile exists for http/mp4/h264/ac3
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Direct Streaming is disabled, so video stream will be transcoded
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Clipped max bitrate to 1555Kbps based on client-requested limit
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.065 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Audio Direct Streaming is disabled, so video's audio stream will be transcoded
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.066 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to profile or setting limitations
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.066 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] MDE: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): selected media 0 / 53983
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.067 [547131236576] DEBUG - [Req#ebfded/Transcode] Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=28244 codes=(General=2000,Neither direct play nor conversion is available. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=4010,This item cannot be played at this time. The server has reached its configured limit for maximum simultaneous video transcodes.)
May 21, 2026 14:14:14.069 [547985686752] DEBUG - Completed: [174.201.182.231:1187] 200 GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?directPlay=0&directStream=0&directStreamAudio=1&protocol=hls&fastSeek=1&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F28244&session=9e2ad18b-154c-42d0-9ddb-da3a533427dd&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&mediaBufferSize=50000&hasMDE=1&subtitleSize=0&videoQuality=60&videoResolution=1024x720&audioBoost=100&autoAdjustSubtitle=1&boostDialog=0&normalizeLoudness=0&subtitles=none&maxVideoBitrate=2000&location=wan (16 live) #ebfded TLS GZIP 111ms 703 bytes (pipelined: 2
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Thanks for the help. My Limit remote access was set to Original (No Limit) on all 3 of my servers. I think you found the problem with the client quality settings. I checked the Plex App under Settings - Video & Audio - Cellular Quality. It was set to 720p. I set it to maximum and everything started playing fine. Everything used to play fine, an app update must have changed this setting to 720. I guess since my server has transcoding turned off, it couldn’t transcode it to 720? Thanks again for the help.