BI slow/inaccessible when off local WIFI

[SOB]

I'm still a bit of a noob but learning a ton thanks to this forum! Been laboring for a few days, searching and reading posts, to better streamline my remote viewing and alerts. I have two, soon to be three, cameras on a dedicated BI computer, dual NIC setup, and Zerotier installed for remote VPN security. I also have the BI app on my iPhone and it works fantastic when connected to my local Wifi. I have push notifications setup to alert me when there's movement and send me a snapshot. On my local Wifi network I get the notification and snapshot and if I want to see more I can pull up the BI app.

This works great on local Wifi network. However when I'm not on local Wifi but instead using my cell data, I get the push notification but no picture. If I go into BI it is DEATHLY slow if it works at all. Most the time it won't even log in to BI. To be sure, I'll run a speed test of the cell network and sometimes I'm getting 60-120Mbps, sometimes more like 15Mbps but you get the point, should be enough to at least log in to BI. Sometimes I'm in a bad cell area and of course don't expect to be able to connect then. However the main reason I want these cameras is so when I'm away I know if something is going on. Not being able to pull up the snapshot or the alert has been very frustrating.

I've been through the BI utilization wiki page multiple times, BI PC is at ~10% CPU usage, I've even dropped down the streaming quality setting in the BI app for when I'm connected over WAN. Still can't seen to get it to be reliable and I'm leaving for vacation next week.

Recently I started looking into using UI3 thinking maybe that will be more "efficient" when off the local network. With my iPhone I can get connected to BI over UI3 when on local network (using the BI PC Zerotier LAN IP in chrome browser) but as soon as I turn off Wifi and go on cellular I can no longer connect to BI via UI3 using either the zerotier LAN or WAN IPs.

I must be missing something here.... any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[wittaj]

That is one of the negatives about the BI app is the only way to get a picture with the push when away from home is to either port forward or keep your VPN on when away from home.

Because of that, many of us went to the Pushover app ($5) that allows us to get an image regardless of whether we are on home LAN or away.

What is your home internet upload speed?

 

[TonyR]

+1^^^ re: Pushover and the upload speed.

I just came from a tanning salon client whose BI install is great in-house or away when on her iPhone for 5 years now but recently VERY slow or not loading when away from the place and on her cell.

Checked her DSL and it was still at 5.0MBPs down as it was in the past BUT...the upload had gone from about 1.0MBPs to .3MBPs or 300K...... I'm having her call her ISP BrightSpeed (CenturyLink) and complain when she gets back in town.

 

[SOB]

Thanks for your replies. My VPN is always on whether at home or away. So I should be getting the BI snapshots, right?

I started reading about the pushover app recently and that's part of my latest learning process along with using UI3.

I just checked and my upload speed on home internet is (yuk) <1Mbps. Not sure why it's so slow but that would explain a lot of my problems. I rebooted modem and it's more like 3-5Mbps. Still not great... I'll called my ISP (T Mobile home internet, best/only option where I live) and there is an issue with the tower they are working on. However, this isn't a new issue, it's been ongoing since I first setup the BI app. I guess I'll wait and see when my upload speeds are back up to normal and go from there...