Hotspot causing netflix services to fail

RouterOS General
1

I am assuming netflix / has made some sort of application change that has caused this but would like to see if anyone has input-

We have large hotspot deployments in which users connect game consoles to the service and stream netflix. Up until recently ~2-3 months there have been no issues. I have confirmed disabling hotspot fixes the recent issue, and here is what I have found -

When running netflix application the application does a series of 4 checks to verify internet connection. These tests consist of dns query and subsequent TCP connection with IP given in DNS reply.

Example -
With hotspot disabled, all tests work fine:
DNS Query for playstation.nccp.netflix.com
DNS Query response
TCP SYN to address contained in DNS response

With hotspot enabled, 3 of 4 tests always fail:
DNS Query for playstation.nccp.netflix.com
DNS Query response
TCP SYN to address of actual DNS server

Again, this previously worked and disabling hotspot now fixes the issue - looking for any ideas on things I could possibly try in mikrotik config to battle this behavior?

Thanks
-dan

Mikrotik Hotspot and Netflix apps
2

Hi Dan. Does the game consoles in question have a web browser capable of logging in? That has always been my challenge. Without the web browser, the game consoles have never been able to login directly on my systems. If no login, then no games or netflix. They have been using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) through a Windows or Mac computer.

3

Yes, PS3 and Xbox - both have browsers and all functions work fine, except the behavior with netflix as a result of some sort of recent change on the console or netflix app.

4

With the web browser, they should have no problems. Nothing seems to be blocked by the hotspot once you are logged in. In a way, I wish it would block torrent sites so I would quit getting the nastygrams from Paramount about my customers uploading pirated motion pictures.

Have you changed RouterOS versions in your routers lately?

5

Is there any update on this issue ?
I have the same issue and my Router OS version is 6.36
Please advice

6

We had to abandon hotspot to resolve, never looked back (still using mikrotik).

7

Thank you so much for your reply.

Could you please let me know what you used instead of Hotspot to let customers connect to the Internet ?

Please advice.

8

You could still use hotspot, we have mac address login option for users who want to authorise devices like this, or you could simply add those domains to your walled garden listing?

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