You are using Discuss video call in odoo and it does not work when people are not using the same Ip address as you, here is the solution
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🎥 Why Video Calls May Fail
Video and audio calls — especially those built on WebRTC (what we use in Odoo.) — often rely on peer-to-peer (P2P) connections. This means your device tries to connect directly to another person's device to exchange audio/video data.
🚧 Obstacles to Direct Connections
- Devices are usually behind routers, which use NAT (Network Address Translation).
- Many networks (especially public Wi-Fi, corporate, or mobile) use strict NAT types or firewalls.
- Some types of NATs block direct incoming connections entirely — and that’s where symmetric NAT becomes a problem.
🔐 What Is a Symmetric NAT?
A symmetric NAT is a type of NAT that assigns a unique mapping for each outgoing connection. This means:
If you send data to different servers or IPs, you appear to come from different ports each time.
📦 Simple Example:
Let’s say your internal IP is 192.168.1.2:
- You send a packet to Google → NAT maps to public IP 203.0.113.5:40001
- You send another to Zoom → NAT maps to 203.0.113.5:40002
So there's no consistent address to reach you from outside.
❗ Why This Breaks Peer-to-Peer
- Other devices can’t predict how to reach you.
- Even STUN servers (used to find your public IP) won’t help — because your address changes per connection.
- So P2P fails, unless you use a workaround.
🛠️ Solutions to Symmetric NAT
To overcome symmetric NAT and ensure reliable video/audio, there are 3 main approaches:
1. 🌐 TURN Server (Traversal Using Relays)
See odoo documentation: https://www.odoo.com/documentation/18.0/applications/productivity/discuss/ice_servers.html
What it is: A relay server that both peers connect to when direct P2P fails.
How it works:
- Your device sends media outbound to a TURN server.
- TURN relays it to the other peer (and vice versa).
- Since both connections are outbound, NAT doesn’t block them.
✅ Works behind any NAT
❌ Adds latency and server bandwidth cost
❌ Not ideal for group calls (scales poorly)
2. 🛰️ SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit)
What it is: A media server that receives streams from all users and forwards them selectively.
How it works:
- Every participant sends their stream to the SFU.
- SFU sends each stream to others in the call.
- All connections are outbound, so NAT is not a problem.
✅ Perfect for group calls
✅ Low latency, scalable
✅ NAT-friendly
❌ Requires running a server infrastructure
📊 When to Use What
Scenario | Best Solution |
---|---|
Two users, both behind symmetric NAT | ✅ TURN server |
Group call with users behind any NAT | ✅ SFU server |
Corporate or firewalled environment | ✅ TURN or SFU (TCP/TLS) |
Mobile devices using CGNAT (4G/5G) | ✅ TURN or SFU |
Low latency, scalable group meetings | ✅ SFU |
✅ Conclusion
If your video call fails, lags, or won’t connect — the cause is often network translation, and in particular, symmetric NAT. But it’s solvable.
- Use TURN servers as a fallback when P2P fails.
- Use SFUs for group calls or scaling up.
To configure a TURN server, you can follow this odoo documentation: https://www.odoo.com/documentation/18.0/applications/productivity/discuss/ice_servers.html
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