AT&T is reporting that my cameras are using data even though I record to my own computer drives. Why?

[Weather_Junkie]

Hi All. Network question. I just got a new Arris router/modem for the house and was trying out AT&Ts Smart Home Manager app. It shows my cameras using a ton of data which are a mix of wired and wireless. Three POE cameras --> switch--> router and two others are wi-fi. As an alternative for now, in the AT&T app, I blocked all five cameras from using the internet (still working fine on BI through the network) but all are still using data reported by AT&T. Port #3 in the image are the three wired cameras plugged into the switch with the other two wi-fi and this is over a 24-hour period. I run and record my cameras 24/7 which is why it's in the GBs but I still don't know why internet data is being used. Any ideas?

One more thing. I do have the whole Stunnel thing going on so I can access my cameras with the BI app on my phone but, I never really use it so I can't imagine it's responsible for using all that data.

 

[The Automation Guy]

I think that graph is showing all data passed over those ports which would include data passed along the LAN to other destinations like your NVR/computers. This is completely normal and doesn't mean that traffic is heading out of the WAN port. You need to double check and make sure the WAN port data is much less.

If it really is only the WAN data, then something is wrong. How are you "blocking" the camera's from the internet? Is it just the 80 and 443 ports (http and https) or is it some other method?

 

[mat200]

Hi All. Network question. I just got a new Arris router/modem for the house and was trying out AT&Ts Smart Home Manager app. It shows my cameras using a ton of data which are a mix of wired and wireless. Three POE cameras --> switch--> router and two others are wi-fi. As an alternative for now, in the AT&T app, I blocked all five cameras from using the internet (still working fine on BI through the network) but all are still using data reported by AT&T. Port #3 in the image are the three wired cameras plugged into the switch with the other two wi-fi and this is over a 24-hour period. I run and record my cameras 24/7 which is why it's in the GBs but I still don't know why internet data is being used. Any ideas?

One more thing. I do have the whole Stunnel thing going on so I can access my cameras with the BI app on my phone but, I never really use it so I can't imagine it's responsible for using all that data.

HI @Weather_Junkie

Is the Blue Iris system attached to the switch?
How are you viewing the cameras?

 

[SouthernYankee]

Local Camera video traffic should not go through the router.

 

[Weather_Junkie]

I think that graph is showing all data passed over those ports which would include data passed along the LAN to other destinations like your NVR/computers. This is completely normal and doesn't mean that traffic is heading out of the WAN port. You need to double check and make sure the WAN port data is much less.

If it really is only the WAN data, then something is wrong. How are you "blocking" the camera's from the internet? Is it just the 80 and 443 ports (http and https) or is it some other method?

For now, I'm just blocking their wifi access using the AT&T app that has control of my network. That's probably why the cameras still show up normal in BI since that's really inside my network. As far as open ports, I have all closed except the one I set up for Stunnel fakeout.

I guess since the AT&T app allows me to monitor and control my network which the installer dude said was easier than signing into the router itself, it's just keeping track of device usage on my network and not what I'm downloading from the internet. Correct?

 

[Weather_Junkie]

HI @Weather_Junkie

Is the Blue Iris system attached to the switch?
How are you viewing the cameras?

My three POE cameras are plugged into the powered switch just so I can get them to the router/modem and then the other two are on the wifi. I access all the cameras on BI through my PC in the house. I don't access the cameras from any other computer outside the house but set up Stunnel so that I can sometimes get on the BI app to check a camera.

 

[Weather_Junkie]

Local Camera video traffic should not go through the router.

All my cameras record to my local PC drives so I'm assuming that the router is the only way to get my cameras not only to those drives but also the BI program that runs all of it. Am I doing it wrong?

 

[pozzello]

make sure you have disabled any cloud service access on the cams.
you didn't mention the brand/model of camera, but on hikvisions, it's 'hik-connect'.
also disable UPnP, as this opens ports on your router for incoming connections.
constant internet probing may be making connections into your system...

 

[Weather_Junkie]

make sure you have disabled any cloud service access on the cams.
you didn't mention the brand/model of camera, but on hikvisions, it's 'hik-connect'.
also disable UPnP, as this opens ports on your router for incoming connections.
constant internet probing may be making connections into your system...

I have three Amcrest, one ReoLink, and a Dahua. All the UPnP settings in each camera are defaulted to off (box not checked).

 

[The Automation Guy]

For now, I'm just blocking their wifi access using the AT&T app that has control of my network. That's probably why the cameras still show up normal in BI since that's really inside my network. As far as open ports, I have all closed except the one I set up for Stunnel fakeout.

I guess since the AT&T app allows me to monitor and control my network which the installer dude said was easier than signing into the router itself, it's just keeping track of device usage on my network and not what I'm downloading from the internet. Correct?

The LAN network (hard wired network) and the WLAN (wireless network) are not the same. Blocking LAN devices from the WLAN does not prevent them for reaching the internet. It doesn't do anything actually.

So right now those cameras definitely have access to the internet. It still doesn't fully explain the numbers that your see unless they are connecting to a cloud service and uploading video. However they are definitely "phoning home" meaning they are reaching out to Chinese servers by default.

 

[samplenhold]

Am I doing it wrong?

Probably. But without a diagram of your network, it is hard to say. As @SouthernYankee stated, "Local Camera video traffic should not go through the router."

There are numerous threads here about isolating your cameras from the internet. It is discussed in the Cliff Notes. Either use VLAN to put your cameras on a separate subnet, or physically isolate them by using the two-NIC process for your BI computer.