Weird Issue with shared library!

General Discussions
1

So I have come across a network issue I cannot figure out! I will be as detailed as possible but it is hard to explain. Any help is appreciated.

I have a Plex Server I share with 10 different people. 9 out of the 10 people can stream my content without a problem, however one of my friends cannot get any of my content to play. The interesting part is when I go to his house and log in with my plex account, I can stream content from other people I share libraries with but I cannot stream content from my library? It shows all of my content, but as soon as I select a movie or show, it buffers indefinitely and will never play the content. If I disconnect from his network and just use cellular, it loads instantly and plays all my movie and shows???

At first I thought it was blocking Plex in some way but if I can play other libraries and just not mine, there is something else going on.

Any thoughts?

2

let’s summarize that into a one statement summary if possible.

Of the 9 friends your server streams to flawlessly, neither you nor your 10th friend can stream anything from anybody’s server when at his/her house?

3

Almost. We can both stream other servers from his house, just not my server.

I was trying to word it in a way that shows my server IS accessible remotely, except when on his network. It is almost as if my server is blocking his network, or vis versa, but I do not think that is even possible.

4

Please separate wifi/local vs remote.

I would expect anything ‘local’ always works. If that doesn’t, the issue is beyond what I can do other than say ‘check your wifi & modem’

Your server (or ISP) might indeed be blocking and not realizing it.

Obviously start at the routers and firewalls. Make certain there are no blockages or missing ‘needed’ openings.

IF your ISP got blocked for spamming automatically by software, he’ll have to manually remove it.

5

Thank you for your help.

You are correct, anything local works completely fine.

So you are saying a software such as Norton or something like that could be blocking traffic from my server? I assume it would do this by my IP?

6

No, what he is trying to say is the Internet Service Provider may be blocking either your traffic to him, or his ability to get your traffic.

Many ISP’s limit access to customers that have their service on both ends. For example, if you have Comcast and he has Comcast, then Comcast might be limiting the traffic between the two of you. (I just chose Comcast, but it could be any ISP. The practice is relatively common.)

7

To be specific:

Most ISPs are designed for WAN (internet) to you (customer) connection. Their bandwidth is all vertically oriented. when you and friends try to communicate, it’s as peers horizontally across the network. This goes against their desired flow and will definitely be subject to some form of limiting.

The local cable provider prevents customers from communicating directly in any manner.

8

So is there not a way around the ISP blocking it? Also, I have other friends on Cox Communications internet that do not have any issues viewing my content.

9

Unfortunately, since some can stream but not others, it’s out of our ability to help. Either there are firewall or other connection issue with the person who can’t view your content.

10

Depending on his router you might be able to use a VPN provider. Of course if he is just using a web browser then he could run a VPN software solution on the computer.

That might be the only way around the problem.

11

Although it makes very little sense to me, I simply rebooted my modem through Cox Communications web site and this fixed the issue!

Made no changes on my friends network at all, just rebooted my modem and he is now able to stream my content without a problem.

Thanks for the everyones input.

12

@tsoden

If you rebooted it through their site (I think I know of whom you speak), they rebuild the connection and do a ‘cold start’ (is if a first-boot). It undoes all the nasties which have crept in. If you had any special configuration in the modem best to check it.

13

Well, after my modem reboot it only streamed content for about 45 minutes and stopped working again! So frustrating! I have run wireshark and found several errors between my friends IP and mine, but not sure what exactly to look for. So if anyone can point me in the right direction to understand wireshark, that would be awesome!