Remote viewing of NVR connected by a cellular Modem

Fastb

Known around here
Feb 9, 2016
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Seattle, Wa
All,

I’m setting up a “Job Site Security System” for use by a General Contractor (GC) who does single family residential remodel projects. Each setup is temporary, for the duration of the project. 3 to 12 months long.

The GC wants to surf in during the day, and check on progress. At night, view live video if a burglary is detected, engage in two way audio, share info with 911, etc.

Using the homeowner’s broadband (the remodel customer’s internet connection) for the NVR and cameras isn’t ideal for a variety of reasons. (port forwarding through the customer’s router, cable/DSL/dish setups, security concerns, etc)

So we’re going with a cellular modem. (Cradlepoint COR IBR600LPE). For the GC to remote view video at any time, the cellular modem must be “always connected”. (right?) However, data traffic occurs even when the system is idle (ie: no remote viewing, no SMS or emails from the NVR).

Cellular connection: I use ~23MB/hour, or 560 MB per day
Wired connection: 2.9MB/hour, or 70MB per day

Nothing else is on the subnet. Just the NVR (connected to 3 cameras) and cellular modem.

Q: What is causing this traffic? What NVR settings affect idle traffic?

Note: I’m using P2P for remote viewing, until I set up port forwarding. If P2P constantly maintains an end-to-end connection, this overhead might explain the wired WAN traffic. But not the higher cellular WAN data usage.

Q: For remote NVR installations that rely on cellular modems, what data consumption do you see?

It would be slick if I could establish a connection to the job site only when I wanted to surf in and remotely view. But this cellular modem doesn’t seem to act like a cell phone – I can’t “call” the modem if it’s not connected….

Guidance? Advice?

Thanks!
fastb