Why is it so hard for Directv to fix Too Many Stream problems?

Not sure why it should show six devices.  but the too many streams issue is almost certainly caused by your ISP changing the IP address of your system. Whenever the IP address changes, your device thinks this is a new location because it does not have location services and so the IP address is all it can use. What are you using as an interface for the streaming service? 

Have you asked your ISP for a fixed IP address? Some ISPs automatically give you a fixed IP address, other might charge you for it.  What ISP are you using?

@TexasBrit 

While dealing with all of this I have recently read about the ISP issue. Which is now really starting to tick me off since we are using Directv because it was part of the AT&T bundle (internet, phone and TV) we signed up for.

IF Directv has an issue with dynamic IP's why are they teamed up with AT&T?

@Dremwolf  AT&T owned DirecTV until a year ago (at which point they spun them off as a separate company), so much of the connections between the two have existed for quite a while, and at least some have been kept in place so far. 

Your comment about bundles implies you have AT&T as your ISP.  If so, it seems odd that you are having this problem.  AT&T appears from all accounts to not change network addresses often.  (For example, AT&T is my ISP and my address has stayed the same for at least 4 years.)  Is AT&T your ISP and if so, what sort of internet service do you have from them?

Is this a new problem for you or has it existed since you got the service?  If the latter, what streaming devices are you using, and were you at home the first time you logged into the service?

(@TexasBrit - Assuming you are talking about IPv4 addresses, I am unaware of any ISPs that have given consumers - as opposed to business accounts - static addresses "automatically" in a very long time (20 years?), since they don't have them to give (with the possible exception of some smaller/local ISPs that might have snagged larger address pools than they needed).  Do you know of any that do?  Further, there are almost certainly many ISPs that don't offer consumer accounts statics at all, and I'd be pretty sure that all that do offer statics charge extra for them.  The way out of this will - eventually - be IPv6, but the transition is going very slowly.)

All I know is that I have been an ATT customer "for ever" and they have never changed my IPv4 address.

@Jrandomuser We use AT&T for internet, phone and TV (Directv). We are using their fiber services. This issue cropped up about 3 weeks ago. The only streaming devices we use are Diretv's set top boxes. No cells, tablets etc. The 2 PC's are hardwired to the gateway.

Since one of the agents said we were probably streaming too many programs and most streaming services only allow so many streams at one time. We have no streaming subscriptions. We only watch the channels provided under our plan. Just as one example previously we could watch FoxNews on all 3 TV's at one time and now we MIGHT be able to watch it on 1 set. If we turn another set on we get the too many streams message.

Do you have the "too many streams" message regardless of the channel you try to watch?  If not, your mention of Fox News may be significant.  The DTV info page on streaming limits is here.  In it, they mention that some networks - specifically including all Fox properties - limit the number of streams (regardless of DTV's limits).  The Fox limit is shown as 3, but if there is an issue with something being confused about the number of current Fox usages (for example, disconnections not being detected correctly), that could be impacting you.  (And if the last channel viewed was Fox News, for example, as soon as you turn on the streamer, it will connect back to that same channel, or at least try to.) 

I am a bit confused however - you say the only streaming devices you use are DTV's (Osprey/Gemini), but you also mention PCs.  Are the latter used for streaming also?

@Jrandomuser I am not well versed on what exactly is considered "streaming". But as far as the PC's are concerned they are used for reading emails, playing Pop-It, solitaire, Scrabble, watching videos on websites (news websites etc) and YouTube videos. None of the typical streaming services.

@DIRECTVhelp I saw where you replied to another subscriber who was having the same issue of too many streams while trying to watch TV as I am having.

"Jonathan, DIRECTV Community Specialist" replied to that customer with, "In-home streaming" feature works by identifying your home network through the internet IP address, so we recommend that you contact your internet provider to ensure you have a static IP address.

We are subscribed to your service via a internet, phone and TV bundle via AT&T. Since it appears it costs more to have a static IP why would I have to pay more for a service I signed up for via AT&T?

@Dremwolf It looks like I never posted the response I wrote to your earlier comment. Sorry. 

None of the things you mentioned doing on the PC would be relevant except possibly watching news sites. I would be surprised if Fox tracks things that closely, but as noted, they limit the number streams for their content, so that could conceivably come into play. 

As I’ve said (repeatedly) I agree that requiring a static IP address isn’t a reasonable “fix”.  However, as long as they want to allow unlimited streams at “home” but not elsewhere (to limit account sharing), there’s no really good solution to this issue.   (YouTube TV uses a different mechanism to allow “unlimited” at “home”, which just means it has different problems.)  

In my opinion (which DirecTV doesn’t care about), the problem is the unlimited streams at home.  If they didn’t choose to allow this, and just allowed some modest number regardless of where they were, this (particular) problem wouldn’t exist. That is how is was in the original offering - I only get 3 streams, but anywhere. If a subscriber wants more, they could then pay extra to get them - possibly with increasing cost as the count went up.  But I will guess that they won’t change this now. 

All that said, I am surprised that IP address changing is a problem for you if AT&T is your ISP. As I indicated earlier, their dynamic address assignment is very “sticky” in all cases I am aware of - mine hasn’t changed for years.  Can you get your IP address now and again after you see the issue, to confirm that the address changed?  (The website “whatismyipaddress.com” will show it to you.)

@Jrandomuser Well I spent another hour on the phone with Directv today. What a cluster _ck! Just cannot seem to get past the first agent even though it is an existing problem that was supposedly "elevated". After the 3rd phone call and my blood pressure medication working overtime I actually got forwarded to a technician. At least you could tell he was not reading off of a script.

While I raised this question 5 or 6 agents ago about there being 6 set top boxes associated with our account I was blown off that those extra 3 were just reserved since we can have up to 6. My first thought was that was a (Edited per community guidelines) answer as I am sure Directv has those 3 specific serial numbered boxes just sitting in a warehouse waiting for us to order them.

Well today Jelaun informed me or at first asked if I knew anyone in Indianapolis, IN or Nashville, TN. The 3rd box is in Arkansas. Those 3 boxes are in active use but for some reason are associated with our account.

When we first signed up for this bundle AT&T shipped the equipment and then the technician came out to install. He installed the equipment he brought from the office for our work order and we shipped the other equipment back to AT&T. At this point it appears they never took them off our account.

I have no idea why when those customers received those boxes they did not get removed from our account and then associated with their account.

Supposedly Jelaun is having those 3 boxes removed from our account. Could take 24-48 hours so we will see.

I'm giving them 7 days and then I am going to pay the outrageous prices and go back to Xfinity. Going through this hassle and there being no reasonable fix is not worth the headache or maxing out my blood pressure medication.

My thanks to you for taking the time to help me get this fuster cluck straightened out.

@Jrandomuser Regarding the IP address. When I go to that website I get a return of an IP address in Washington. (Other side of the country) When I go into the TV settings there is a different IP address. When I put the TV IP address in it comes back as a private address.

Yes - the IP addresses of the devices on your home network are private (probably 192.168.1.x, which is what almost all home networks use).  That’s because we long ago ran out of having enough addresses to give each device a “real” one.  Instead, games are played (technically NAT - Network Address Translation). The relevant address is the address your ISP shows to the public internet for your home network - your public address. You only have one of those. Your gateway/router uses NAT to map those private addresses onto the public address as needed.

Hello there, we apologize for all the inconvenience you had regarding the streaming errors on your service. We're aware of this case, please check your PM to investigate further and do a follow-up on the extra GEMINI devices that were found on your account.  Erika, DIRECTV Community Specialist