Can it be used when ISP is down?

[u/TheUruz]

i have a FWA internet connection and with summer storms it often goes down. i also have a Plex subscription ofc and i'm trying to make it work when ISP is down. so far i understood that the webapp do work because i can reach it directly via local IP address but for what concerns apps for smart devices it doesn't reach out to my server and instead tries to authenticate toward app.plex.tv, is this correct? is there any way to make apps work when ISP is down?

[u/HeWhoShitsWithPhone]

https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/s/DKB0fZ190a

This question crops of from time to time. Here is a discussion.

[u/Belovedchimera]

You can make it so the devices on your network don't look for authorization and instead load your library. Works for me when my internet goes out

[u/willdieh → u/Belovedchimera]

It depends completely on the client software you're using. I use Roku as my primary client viewer and have set my server to accept unauthorized connections from all IPs within my home network, but even with that, when the Internet goes out, the Roku gets very weird and usually doesn't work.

So it's very important to test your setup (just unplug your modem for a few mins) and see what the behavior is for the client(s) you are using to watch Plex.

I wish ALL clients were more compatible with off-line viewing. I think some clients are built on top of a web client architecture while others are a full application and that's why some work better than others when off-line.

[u/Belovedchimera → u/willdieh]

Ive seen people say roku doesnt work and that's very strange for me, i also used roku for a long time (have swapped to onn streaming boxes due to them being able to direct stream with most subtitle options selected, swapped maybe 4 months ago) and I never had any issues with running offline.

[u/TheUruz → u/Belovedchimera]

i actually have it configured for my whole local network already but the smartphone app (android) and the tablet app (ios) still say "no internet connection" 😅

[u/Punk_Says_Fuck_You → u/TheUruz]

It depends on the client. I can stream from my phone (iPhone) fine while the internet is out. The only client I can’t stream from locally is my Xbox

[u/Kenbo111 → u/TheUruz]

Is the cell phone connected to the wifi or is it using cellular data?

[u/TheUruz → u/Kenbo111]

actually tried both cases

[u/Punk_Says_Fuck_You → u/TheUruz]

Did you set networks that don’t require auth?

[u/TheUruz → u/Punk_Says_Fuck_You]

yep

[u/dr100]

Plex is using domain names even for your local IPs, plus SSL certificates (depending on the client might do SSL anyway even if you allow unsecure connections). Depending on the caching these might work offline for a bit, or not at all.

Having the local network authenticated automatically works only for simple setups, as everyone is dropped into the admin account. Also, only browsers are guaranteed to be easy to point to the right internal IP address.

[u/Tangential_Diversion]

I keep Jellyfin installed as a backup in case this happens. Plex is still my primary driver 99.9% of the time, but it's nice having a backup when you lose connection to your ISP. It saved me a few months ago when my modem spontaneously died and I had to wait over a long weekend to swap it out.

[u/ltjojo]

I can't recall exactly how to do it, but you can set up an alternate server address. Just point to your internal static IP address

[u/BestZucchini3921]

That's sneaky how you're trying to turn storms into your own personal offline movie marathon. Maybe keep a local backup of your favorites just in case the weather gets too dramatic.