Playback freezes for 2-3 minutes when streaming on cellular data

[vichwoods 0]

embyserver.txtThis issue started last week.  I'm not much of a tinkerer or power user, so I don't fiddle with settings much; I just install with default and leave it alone.  I've been using the same configuration for well over a year with no problems.  Perhaps this is somehow related to recent Emby Server update or Emby App for iOS update.

My configuration:
Emby Server 4.10.1.0 (Windows 10)
Emby App for iOS 2.2.58 (iPhone 16 Pro)

The issue:
When I stream over cellular data on my iPhone, playback will operate normally for a few minutes but then will freeze for 2-3 minutes before resuming again.  The UI is still responsive, but the video, audio, and duration timer are stuck.  If I just wait, then the video will resume playing after 2-3 minutes.  After a few minutes of playback it will freeze again for 2-3 minutes.  I can also cause the freeze to happen immediately by using the progress bar to seek to another part of the video; the player will freeze for 2-3 minutes before playing the video at the new position.  I can unfreeze it by manually selecting another quality setting.  The freeze time seems to get worse the higher I set the streaming quality.  It becomes a problem around 4 Mbps, which is well below the max throughput for my ISP and cellular plans.

Things I have tried.  None have resolved the problem.
Uninstalling and reinstalling both Emby Sever and Emby App for iOS.
Installing Emby server on a different Windows 10 machine I have.
Rolling back to Emby Server 4.10.0.40
Tested on my iPhone using Emby Web through Safari browser.  The symptoms are a little different but playback and seeking are not stable.  Lots of freezing, high latency, and buffering.

I've attached log files for a test where I played the first 10 seconds of a video at 1080p 4 Mbps quality over cellular, then used the progress bar to seek to another point in the video (triggering the freeze), and then waited 2min and 15sec for the video to unfreeze before resuming playback for another 10 seconds before exiting the video.

Thanks for any help you can provide.  This is extremely frustrating since I cannot seem to isolate the problem to the either the server or iOS app or even a piece of hardware.

embyserver.txt emby_ios_1791924103004.143.txt ffmpeg-transcode-2fc31d95-0d09-4f22-8d0a-c2a2c0686bc0_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-cff48bd2-4c72-45a9-b33c-d6fafd3b6599_1.txt

Edited 2 hours ago by vichwoods

[Luke 43324]

HI, perhaps you need to lower the quality setting a little more?

Quote

It becomes a problem around 4 Mbps, which is well below the max throughput for my ISP and cellular plans.
 

Yes but you could be getting hit by ISP throttling on either side of the connection. Have you looked into that?

[vichwoods 0]

All playback functions seem largely fine at 1 Mbps.  It starts to exhibit the symptoms I describe at 2 Mbps, and at 4 Mbps the problem is very apparent and repeatable.

I had considered the possibility that either my ISP or cellular provider were throttling me, but they're the same providers and plans that I've had for years; I suppose it's always possible that they've changed something.  I can stream 4k Youtube videos over cellular without any hiccups, so I figured my cellular throughput wasn't being throttled.  Do you have any suggestions for how to investigate ISP or wireless provider throttling on my own?

[vichwoods 0]

24 minutes ago, Luke said:

HI, perhaps you need to lower the quality setting a little more?

Also, prior to last week, I've never had a problem streaming Emby over cellular at 1080p 4 Mbps (often times even higher).

[Luke 43324]

Quote

Do you have any suggestions for how to investigate ISP or wireless provider throttling on my own?

You have to test streaming data from the same port that emby server is using, so that's why the youtube test doesn't really tell you anything.

What you could do is use the web app and download a file from your server, and then watch the browser's download manager to see how fast it's going.