YouTube says I'm Offline but I'm not (Affecting Brave, Chrome, and Mobile)

The issue exists on all accounts and all devices that attempt to access YouTube ONLY on my home network. If the device connects to mobile data, there is no connectivity issue.

Issues first started in the early morning 2024-10-29.

It was discovered when a 10 hour "white noise generator" video halted playback and I woke early to the silence.

Initially thought it was limited to my phone, so I checked to see if the app was up to date and it was. I then assumed it was my account possibly because when I checked on my PC, the issue remained.

In the afternoon, my daughter stated she'd had issues, but assumed it was our home network WiFi not reaching her room and switching to mobile resolved it. I switched to mobile on my own phone and found the same.

No issues on mobile data. The issue ONLY persists when a device is connected to my home network either though WiFi or a hard-line cable.

MOBILE DEVICE BEHAVIOR

When connected to WiFi, the YouTube app will respond with:

There was a problem with the server [429]

The "Retry" link does nothing. No videos can be played. I can access the account button but no menus inside work. No other functions in YouTube work and I only receive the same message above.

PC / LAPTOP BEHAVIOR

Two separate devices in different rooms with different accounts, both with cabled connections to the router.

Issues exist both in my preferred browser (Brave) as well as Chrome. All extensions are disabled on both once issues appear.

  • both in Chrome and Brave, all extensions off
  • can open
    • YT home page
    • bookmarked pages (subscriptions, playlists, direct links to videos)
    • links to videos from search engines
    • links to videos from the current window IF opening them in a new tab/window
  • cannot open
    • account button
      • response: "Unavailable offline"
    • notifications
      • circle spins
    • any video from the same window
      • attempts to open next video in playlist (autoplay) or even a suggested video in the same tab results in "Connect to the internet. You're offline. Check your connection."

ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE

I have followed the following guide to try to resolve the issues:

https://www.howtogeek.com/903835/youtube-youre-offline-check-your-connection/

The following are true:

  • internet is working
  • YouTube is NOT down
  • browser extensions are disabled
  • don't have a VPN
  • have flushed and reset my DNS
  • have logged out and back in twice (had to do this by clearing cache since I can't open settings)
  • disabled IPv6 on your computer
  • have shut down router for extended period to "release" the IP address and let it get reassigned
  • browsers (and mobile apps) are up to date
  • I've rebooted all devices multiple times

CHRONOLOGY

2024-10-29: First day of issues as stated in opening of this ticket.

2024-10-31 after 1800: issues TEMPORARILY resolved themselves. Had friends over and while a few videos were played, I had no browser extensions activated on PC. Mobile devices on WiFi also worked.

2024-10-31 0046: foolishly activated all browser extensions on my PC. Shortly thereafter, all issues returned.

2024-11-01 0118: Issues persisted 10/31, but late in the evening, issues again (temporarily) resolved. Activated no browser extensions.

2024-11-01 1157: Everything was working. Let things run for hours in the morning. Activated the following browser extensions as test:

  • Adblock Ultimate
  • SponsorBlock
  • uBlock Origin

2024-11-02 1030 (ish): With no issues the previous day, I once again enabled other extensions.

  • Return YouTube Dislike
  • Playlist Helper
  • PocketTube Playlist Manger
  • PocketTube Subscription Manager. Within 10 minutes, all issues returned.

2024-11-03 0830: Issues persist. Anticipating them to again "resolve" in a couple hours.

2024-11-03 1230: Realized I had left PocketTube Playlist Manager on...thus, nothing changed for the rest of the day.

2024-11-04 0830: Mobile devises were working.

2024-11-04 1030: PC was working on YT. Gave it a half hour and then activated uBlock Origin.

2024-11-04 1230: After having no issues, turned on AdBlock Ultimate.

2024-11-04 1400: After having no issues, turned on SponsorBlock.

2024-11-18: Throughout the rest of 11/4, every hour or so I turned on additional extensions.

I'm currently running

  • Enhancer for YouTube
  • Multiselect for YouTube
  • SponsorBlock for YouTube
  • YouTube Playlist Quick Delete
  • Return YouTube Dislike
  • and a couple others not-related to YT at all.

I did have uBlock Origin and Adbl;ock Ultimate running, but some guys on r/brave_browser chided me because with Brave, neither of those should be needed. However, while I did have those running, I encountered no issues.

I have removed both PocketTube manager extensions -- Playlist and Subscriptions -- because there's a problem at least with one of them. I don't feel like dealing with no YT running at all for 12+ hours.

I also posted a review on PocketTube Playlist Manager linking to this page and giving the extension two stars.