[Solved] Blue Iris Android App Liew Viewing slow to load over OpenVPN connection

[wepee]

Hi guys,

I have successfully set up my OpenVPN server running at my office network using an ASUS RT-AC86U router.
I am set up FULL- Tunnelling from my home to my office.

Both my home and office sites are using the same ISP fibre networks, its download & upload speed is the same only 30Mbps

At the office, I have only 3 x1.2MP + 1 x 2MP cameras running.

When I use BI App on my android phone. Loading the live view is painfully slow, about 20s to 30s delay.
The app seems to be non-responsive when I press the camera's icon to watch live viewing.

Is the cause of the slow response problem lies with my 4G mobile network?
I did an iPerf3 test, the bandwidth varies from 3 to 6 to 12Mb/s.
However, viewing through UI3 is fast, at about 1-5 seconds, the web browser will load the live viewing camera streams

Appreciate someone can give me some advice.

Thank you.

 

[aadje93]

Just a shot in total darkness, but are both your sites running different subnets, so you have static routes setup on the VPN client on phone? That may help as the routers don't have to guess, but you tell them we're to send traffic.

 

[wepee]

Just a shot in total darkness, but are both your sites running different subnets, so you have static routes setup on the VPN client on phone? That may help as the routers don't have to guess, but you tell them we're to send traffic.

I did not set up any static routes.
Do you need to create static route within my Asus router?
For faster-improved speed & response?

I created a firewall Inbound rule within Windows Defender Firewall..........
I just tell my Windows Defender Firewall, hey, you there, I am telling you to open
the door for the incoming iperf3 program, its traffic at port 5201.
Only to allow traffic from 192.168.254.0/24 tunnel subnet to come in.
Keep all doors closed for the rest.

By default, all windows 10 PC at 192.168.88.0/24 cannot connect to other devices on a different subnet: 192.168.254.0/24,
although my ASUS router which OpenVPN server is running allows it.

My ping will not work here, you will get time out on my Windows 10 PC(running BI)

However, if I ping to a non-windows device, like a wireless AP or client, I will get a ping reply.

 

[looney2ns]

I was running into this, and uninstalling, then re-installing the app fixed it. YMMV

 

[aadje93]

i think a clean reinstall will fix most of the app problems, could be a caching issue. As you can acces the UI3 without issue, and didn't happen to have static routes that could bog you down that would create extra traffic potentially. I read a bit to fast, as UI3 is fast, then app should be fast too, so the problem lies mostly in the app configuration/caching of the app itself.

Do you run your phone in some kind of power saver mode, try to run it in a "high performance" mode.

Also its best to have your office in a different subnet then your home. So not both in 192.168.1.x/24

but home for instance 192.168.1.0/24 and office 192.168.2.0/24

 

[wepee]

I was running into this, and uninstalling, then re-installing the app fixed it. YMMV

I did uninstall the BI App on my Android phone and the result was the same as before.
BI app loaded the dashboard quickly, but as soon as I pressed the "camera" icon at the bottom,
the app would load slowly, it took about 20s to finish loading then only display the camera live feeds.

 

[wepee]

i think a clean reinstall will fix most of the app problems, could be a caching issue. As you can acces the UI3 without issue, and didn't happen to have static routes that could bog you down that would create extra traffic potentially. I read a bit to fast, as UI3 is fast, then app should be fast too, so the problem lies mostly in the app configuration/caching of the app itself.

Yes, I did uninstall the BI app on my Android phone but the result is still the same no change at all

Do you run your phone in some kind of power saver mode, try to run it in a "high performance" mode.

No I don't

Also its best to have your office in a different subnet then your home. So not both in 192.168.1.x/24

That is one of the criteria that I learned from setting OpenVPN server in pfSense.
You cannot have the SAME subnet for the office & tunnel network. It has to be differrent.
My office PC is at 192.168.88.0/24 subnet and the tunnel network is using 192.168.254.0/24 subnet.

 

[The Automation Guy]

That is one of the criteria that I learned from setting OpenVPN server in pfSense.
You cannot have the SAME subnet for the office & tunnel network. It has to be differrent.
My office PC is at 192.168.88.0/24 subnet and the tunnel network is using 192.168.254.0/24 subnet.

Just to be clear, you actually need three unique subnets. Both the local office network and the local home network need to be on different subnets - perhaps 192.168.88.0/24 at work and 192.168.1.0/24 at home as an example. You then need a third unique subnet for the VPN tunnel to connect the two sites together - 192.168.254.0/254. If your home network and office network are running the same subnet - even if the tunnel subnet is different - you will definitely have issues.

 

[wepee]

Just to be clear, you actually need three unique subnets. Both the local office network and the local home network need to be on different subnets - perhaps 192.168.88.0/24 at work and 192.168.1.0/24 at home as an example. You then need a third unique subnet for the VPN tunnel to connect the two sites together - 192.168.254.0/254. If your home network and office network are running the same subnet - even if the tunnel subnet is different - you will definitely have issues.

Just wondering are you the same guy who help me in snbforum.com?

Everything is already in order, before I submited my post to the forum for help:
My OpenVPN tunnel subnet = 192.168.254.0/24
My home network subnet = 192.168.1.0/24
My office network subnet = 192.168.88.0/24

 

[wepee]

Yesterday, I even tried on using ZeroTier VPN network.
And the result is exactly the same.
BI app is still slow to load camera live feeds.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Just wondering are you the same guy who help me in snbforum.com?

I am not the same guy. That's actually one forum that I've never really been active on.

I'm at a loss here. Do you mind running a speed test while on the 4g network - both while connected to the VPN and not connected to the VPN. I'm not sure if this will actually show anything (even if there is a problem), but I'm curious.
Given that you have slowness with both the regular VPN and ZeroTier, that points to some network issue vs some VPN configuration issue. It might very well be the 4g provider has some speed restrictions set when they detect a VPN connection.

 

[wepee]

I am not the same guy. That's actually one forum that I've never really been active on.

I'm at a loss here. Do you mind running a speed test while on the 4g network - both while connected to the VPN and not connected to the VPN. I'm not sure if this will actually show anything (even if there is a problem), but I'm curious.
Given that you have slowness with both the regular VPN and ZeroTier, that points to some network issue vs some VPN configuration issue. It might very well be the 4g provider has some speed restrictions set when they detect a VPN connection.

Below is the speed test connected on my 4G mobile network (without VPN)
I will inform you later about the speed test when I connect thru VPN using 4G.

 

[wepee]

I am not the same guy. That's actually one forum that I've never really been active on.

I'm at a loss here. Do you mind running a speed test while on the 4g network - both while connected to the VPN and not connected to the VPN. I'm not sure if this will actually show anything (even if there is a problem), but I'm curious.
Given that you have slowness with both the regular VPN and ZeroTier, that points to some network issue vs some VPN configuration issue. It might very well be the 4g provider has some speed restrictions set when they detect a VPN connection.

Below is the speed test connected on my 4G mobile network using VPN

 

[wepee]

I have a breakthrough on my problem.
I have pfSense firewall running at home.
I have another BLUE IRIS server running on my home network.
When I got OpenVPN server running on my pfSense firewall, and I remotely accessed via 4G mobile network,
BLUE IRIS APP was running like it supposes to be FAST. Yes, as if I was using the APP on my local network.
There is no delay whatsoever. BLUE IRIS APP just works like clockwork!

So, I am going to do more testing and investigating as to what causes BLUE IRIS APP to run SLOW when
I am using my ASUS router at my office. Remote viewing over the 4G mobile network is super slow.

 

[wepee]

[Update]
There's nothing wrong with my ASUS RT-AC86U router. Its VPN server is fine.

I end up reinstalling Windows 10 on my CCTV PC at my office.
I suspected that it something got to do with SoftEther VPN and a faulty old Realtek driver from BIOSTAR mobo manufacturer
Once I had my CCTV PC reinstalled with Windows 10. My long-standing problem is solved forever.
What a relief.......phew........