Home Sharing over Long Distances?

Hi,

I had always been under the impression that home sharing onle works with members who meet the following requirments:

-online

-on the same network (i.e. the household wifi)***

-using an authorized computer

-logged into the same apple id with home sharing turned on

The second bullet point has always annoyed me since I've gone off to college now and am several states away from my 'Home Network'. The only time I can share itunes files with my family is when I go home for holidays.

However the other day I noticed that my iTunes started downloading a movie that my brother had told me he was going to purchase off of the itunes store. Of course, the internet in my apartment comlex went out before I could complete the download and I have been unable to connect to my brothers computer ever since.

Any ideas as to what was going on here (why was I able to start downloading items from my home network that is several states away), and even any ideas on how to re-establish the connection?

Thanks.