Slow playback outside network (less than 4Mbps with a 40Mbps upload)

[gnapier21]

Server Version#: 1.24.3.5033
Player Version#: Google Chrome at app.plex.com

I’ve noticed some very slow playback from my server outside my network. My server has a ton of horsepower (32 core/64 thread Xeon) and a video card for transcoding if needed. It works flawlessly inside the network. I can stream 4k no issue to my TV. I have 40Mbps upload speed on my Internet (I check it to make sure I’m actually getting it…and I do).

When I try to stream from the server over the Internet, I can’t get 4 Mbps. I’ve set the upload speed under remote access at 40Mbps so it won’t rate limit there. I also turned off relay to be sure it wasn’t relaying and getting rate limited that way. If you try to download a file from it, it runs at like 2 or 3 Mbps as well (same speed as streaming). I test this inside my network and you can download a file from it lightning fast (as you would expect). As for streaming, the issue happens whether you are doing direct play or hardware transcoding (so…anytime, really).

I’ve got a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 for a router. QOS is turned off (but I’m tempted to turn it on and manually put in my server IP and pass it as the highest priority as a test). I’m drawing a blank here on where to look next. I’m “assuming” this isn’t the usual behavior. Today I tested from my work which has a 1 Gb symmetrical connection. I tried to watch something at 4Mbps (at it’s formatted bitrate so direct play) and it just buffered every 10 seconds.

Ideas on where to look next? I’m about to connect it directly to my ISP’s modem, grab an external IP and test…but, that doesn’t thrill me to even set this server on the Internet even for 15 minutes to test it. I’d like to eliminate anything else I could be missing first.

Thanks in advance!

[tom80H]

Do you get the same result if you’re using a native client (instead of Plex via a browser)?
Have you set a remote/internet streaming quality in your client?

What information is showing in the “now playing” tile for that playback on the Plex server dashboard? → focusing on remote vs. indirect (despite your configuration) and transcoding details

Server Status and Dashboard | Plex Support

[gnapier21]

It doesn’t matter what I’ve tried with it…I have a app on a TV (Roku built in) in my RV connected to a hotspot getting 75 down and 20 up or my 1Gb connection at work. I’ve not tried the native client as it’s my work PC at work and “shouldn’t” install it (not like I’d let that stop me though, haha). I will give it a go later.

It does show Direct Play, just like above. I’ve seen the issue with transcoding as well (showing (hw)).

I might have corrected my own issue though. I didn’t realize I was using UPnP instead of port forwarding and changed that this morning. I was able to stream about anything 720p afterwards and some 1080p that is around 10Mbps (the 19 Mbps was a no go, but that’s fine, I might try to transcode it to a 720p high stream and see what it does).

So, I’ll shoot an update after I do some more testing during my lunch today and see if that corrected the issue.

[gnapier21]

Well, not sure what the problem was but it seems to be gone. It’s been around what feels like years.

Between changing the UPnP to a static port forward and using the Windows app I don’t seem to have issues currently.

Thanks for chiming in. I hadn’t considered the Windows app before yesterday. Appreciate the help!