Roon (Server) 2.0 build 1413, ARC 1.0.53 build 272
ARC cannot establish a connection to the Roon server in a foreign WiFi network. It works in cellular mode only.
I have opened a port on my home router and the Roon server thinks everything is fine. On the road with CarPlay I can (usually) stream my local music – it doesn’t always work because the connection is supposedly too poor, but that’s not the main problem here.
The situation now is that I would like to listen to music with Roon being at work in my office outside of my home. On the Macbook, I can access the Roon server at home with Roon via Tailscale in the WLAN: I can browse through the library but of course I can’t play anything. With ARC on the iPhone, on the other hand, I can’t connect to the Roon server at home in the same office network, although I also try with Tailscale. Only when I deactivate WiFi on the iPhone can I connect to the Roon server with mobile data using ARC.
Yes, it should actually work. In exactly the same scenario, I can access the home server with Plexamp - but why should I settle for good when there’s better…
The basic settings in the router and network should therefore be correct.
Thanks for your suggestion!
Restarting the iPhone - and of course installing the just updated Roon or ARC versions - was the last thing I had tried before creating this thread.
@Holger does your office network use a VPN or some other type of access control? Is your office network a virtual office or actually in a physical office location? If physical, the network access controls in that location may prevent external VPNs from operating across that network.
@Robert_F My office is in a hospital with critical infrastructure, the network is vital in the truest sense of the word and should be secured accordingly.
On the other hand, I can use all imaginable Internet services there with my private Macbook via Tailscale without any problems. For example, I can stream Qobuz and content from my Synology at home with Plexamp. Plexamp accesses the same music library as Roon and runs on the same server.
Does ARC use such an exotic network protocol that it would have to be filtered for security reasons?
Regardless of this, I will try to establish a connection to the Roon server at home in the WLAN of friends with ARC and report back. However, I won’t be able to try this out until next week.
@Holger, Tailscale works with Roon ARC on a mobile handset, but I’m not sure Roon can work over it via a desktop OS or computer. I am running Tailscale between my Roon Server (a W11 PC) and my iPhone 14 for ARC as port forwarding has been a contentious issue on my network. Maybe switch to using a phone instead of your Mac to reach Roon?
That’s what I’m trying to do: I want to connect to my home Roon server in the company WLAN with my iPhone and ARC. Tailscale should tunnel this connection via WireGuard.
But that doesn’t work: I can only access Roon with ARC on the iPhone when I’m using mobile data. As soon as I’m in the WLAN, it doesn’t work.
@Holger, I was referring to using the mobile network and not the hospital WiFi network, as you noted. Unfortunately I am not able to understand how your hospital’s WiFi and network security are configured allowing Tailscale for your Mac but not for your iPhone.
@ Robert_F, I had the opportunity to try out other Wi-Fi hotspots from friends. Out of four Wi-Fi networks, I was only able to connect to one with ARC. On the other three, I received an error message saying that something was wrong with the port sharing of my Roon server. I see this as misleading, as my Roon server tells me that everything is configured properly and that I can access the server securely with ARC.
I made all attempts with the following variants on the iPhone:
Standard Wi-Fi setting
VPN with Tailscale
VPN with Wireguard directly to the router
My friends are not particularly tech-savvy and have made no effort to harden their networks or make any additional security settings – their routers worked with the default settings.
As I said, I can’t connect to anyone else’s Wi-Fi network. Connecting via mobile data with my iPhone worked in all cases (but I had to explicitly disable Wi-Fi on my device). Unfortunately, my data quota is quite limited, so I couldn’t simply stream permanently via mobile data.
I guess you are using the same IP range in the foreign Wi-Fi network as in your home. E.g., both ends of the tunnel are in the range of 192.168.x. If so, change the private adress range at home to something like 10.x.x
I recently put a new modem into operation after problems with my provider. For technical reasons, the technician assigned a new IP address range for my home – he couldn’t say why this was absolutely necessary. In any case, it took me several hours to get all the peripheral devices up and running again. Virtual and real servers, Docker containers, network printers, speakers, etc. Although the router is a DHCP server, I have assigned a fixed IP address to each device in the internal network…
Is your suggestion actually a solution to my problem, or just a shot in the dark? I don’t have the time or inclination to sacrifice another half day on suspicion. @Robert_F Perhaps someone from Roon support could comment?
@Holger, Roon staff typically do not monitor this part of the forum. I can suggest opening a Roon support request by following the link in the Support section, or I can move this thread to the Tinkering section where other users may have some additional ideas.
@Robert_F please move this thread to the Tinkering Forum. Maybe I’ll get another hint there. I can still create a support ticket if all else fails.
Thanks a lot!
