Steam Link works better with internet than no internet?

[Minimon100]

I know this is going to sound strange but my current setup is my gaming PC is upstairs connected via LAN cable. I have a steam link downstairs also connected via a LAN cable so I can play games in the living room while on the sofa. Everything has worked perfectly without any lag for the past couple of years.

However, recently we had our internet go down for a whole day(first time in two years) and I thought “not to worry, it’s all on the local LAN so steam link streaming will work fine”. It does work fine on the local LAN without internet. I can still stream my PC to the Steam Link downstairs but the experience is worse.

For example, I will get random stutters and the red signal icon in the bottom of the screen. It’s never consistent and I cannot figure out why the stuttering would be work on local LAN than using it while the internet is working.

TLDR: Does anyone know why Steam Link Streaming works better when internet is active on local LAN vs when internet is not working but operating on local LAN?

[_I_]

may be something on host freezing when looking for something on teh internet