If you're having trouble seeing or sending media streams in an Evercast room, your network may be blocking connections to our servers. TURN network relay is a feature that helps mitigate such situations by routing your connection through a relay server.
This article explains what TURN is, how to check whether you need it, and how to enable it for your room.
What is TURN?
Certain network configurations and firewalls can make it difficult for Evercast to establish a connection to a room. When that happens, you may have trouble streaming into a room or seeing streams in a room.
TURN (Traversal Using Relays around NAT) is a fallback that routes your connection through an external relay server. Because the relay uses standard ports and protocols that almost all networks allow, it can bypass any network barriers to allow you to see and send media streams.
If you received a warning about using TURN
If you saw a banner in your room warning you about your network configuration, it means Evercast couldn't establish a direct connection and is using TURN instead.
While TURN keeps you connected, it comes with some drawbacks:
- Because audio and video travel through an extra server on the way to or from the room, stream quality may be lower than with a direct connection.
- You may experience higher latency, which can affect real-time collaboration.
TURN is used as a fallback for when a direct connection isn't possible and will not be used otherwise. To avoid it, you will need to adjust your network or firewall settings so Evercast can connect directly. See our Firewall access rules article for the specific firewall settings required.
How to know if you need TURN
If you're getting connection errors when trying to join a room, or if a room feels unusable even though your internet connection seems fine, you can run our network test to help diagnose the problem:
- Go to https://app.evercast.us/connectivity-test.
- Click Start network test.
- Review the results.
Once the test finishes, review the results to see whether your network configuration may be affecting your connection. If you see a Potential connection issue warning, some part of your network configuration is blocking a direct connection to Evercast.
If the test shows connection issues, or if you regularly can't see or start media streams, enabling TURN may help.
How to enable TURN on your account
TURN must be enabled by Evercast Support. To request it, contact your account manager or the support team and let them know you're experiencing connection issues. If possible, include the results of your network test (see above).
Once enabled, TURN will be used automatically whenever your network requires it. You don't need to change any settings on your end.
Note
TURN is currently only supported by the Evercast web app.
Confirming TURN is active
Once you're in a room, you can check whether your connection is routed through TURN by opening the connectivity info panel.
Click the signal icon in the top right corner of the room, or hover over your name on your participant tile.
Look for the Connection field. If it shows Relayed, your stream is routed through TURN. If it shows Direct, you have a direct connection.
Still having trouble?
If you've enabled TURN and are still running into connection problems, please contact the support team with:
- A description of the issues you’re encountering
- A screenshot of your network test results
- The link to the room you're trying to join
We'll help troubleshoot from there.