Multiplayer is broken

Multiplayer does not work if my friends and I are trying to play together, either on the same WiFi connection, or on different ones. There only way we can connect is thorough a friend of a friend's world, and only that one world. I am playing on a ZTE ZMax Pro, my friends has an LG (I couldn't get him to let me know the model number), and a tired friends has a Samsung Galaxy J3.