Issue with Fire Cube and Tailscale

Channels Fire TV
#1

I have a new Fire Cube I'm trying to setup for travel. For some reason it won't find my Channels server using Tailscale (through my phone's hotspot), even though the phone itself will find the server as will my Ipad when connected to my phone's hotspot. It keeps giving the no server found message after typing in the IP address.

In the back of my mind I think I had a problem before at home using port forwarding because the hotspot was on the same subnet mask as my home network. If that's the case, I have no explanation for why my iPad would work connected to the same hotspot. I've also tried turning off WPA3, just in case, to no effect.

Ideas? And yes I've double checked the IP address and tried it multiple times. I even setup a new IP address through Tailscale for the Channels server.

Edit: It was some sort of weird conflict being in proximity to my home network. Walking a block or so from my house, where I was out of range of the home network, and everything worked fine.

#2

Just an update. The phone is a Pixel 6a, but I just tried the wife's Samsung S23+ with the same results. Odd that the iPad works but the others don't.

#3

Are you using a Tailscale exit node or subnet router? MagicDNS?

#4

I don't know what those things mean! :thinking:

On the Channels DVR server I'm using the integrated Tailscale support. On the phones and iPad I'm using the Tailscale app. That lists the IP address of the server, which I'm then trying to input into the Channels app when it asks for an at Home IP address.

Then to test at home I have the Fire Cube connected to the phone's hotspot, with Tailscale turned on for the phone. This has been how it's worked in the past, and works still with the iPad.

#5

OK, just needed to get an idea of what your setup is like -- in Tailscale terms, it sounds pretty basic. When you look at the Tailscale "admin console", are all of the devices in question showing as "Connected":

screenshot-login.tailscale.com-2024.01.22-10_22_06
screenshot-login.tailscale.com-2024.01.22-10_22_062538×207 65 KB

#6

Yes, and I even changed the IP address on my Channels server to make sure it was giving current information.

BTW, I realized I only need to walk a block or two from my house to test being away from my home network. That did the trick. I wish I could remember what that issue was from back when I was doing port forwarding (again I think it was a subnet conflict), but it apparently also affects Tailscale. Oddly though, everything else seems to work using the hotspot on my phone, but connecting to my Channels DVR server.

#7

You can test it sitting in front of your dvr server.
Just use a phone/tablet on cellular with wifi disabled.

#8

Yes, I thought I said it worked on my phone connected only to cellular. But working on my phone is not what I want. I want it to work on a device connected via a hotspot. I don't want to go out of town and then discover it doesn't work.

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