Linksys Priority By Device Solved Plex Crashing My Network

[DrMacintosh]

Hi all! So I noticed a few weeks ago that my home network would “crash” occasionally whenever I would try to stream content via Plex on my local network. My client is a 2nd Gen AppleTV 4K.

 

One behavior was: After starting playback, the content would load, but shortly after my server and home network would go offline. All devices would loose connection until my router came back online. The routers would not “reboot” per se, at least according to the status LEDs, but they completely lost connection.

 

Another behavior was: Playback would start fine, but usually after a few minutes, playback would stutter and a “your connection to the server is not fast enough” message would appear. Sometimes it would stabilize, other times it would just lag and crash the network again.

 

Server: 2018 Mac mini running Plex Media Server v.1.87.2.87-87488d5a

Router: 2x Linksys Velop MX4200

 

Anyway, the solution seems to have been to ENABLE “Priority By Device” in my Linksys Smart Wifi App. Assigning my server to the priority list seems to have completely stabilized my network. I watched Oppenheimer (4K @ ~45Mbps), an episode of Bobs Burgers, and am currently watching South Park while typing this. The network appears completely stable.

 

tldr: If you have a Linksys router and your network is crashing when watching Plex, add your server to the “Priority By Device” list in your Linksys Smart Wifi App.