Troubleshooting my Foscam IP camera over Sprint

[Terry Cole]

I'm not the best with networking, so please bare with me. If I could get some help, it would be much appreciated.

So I've been doing consulting work recently, and one of my clients asked me to do this project. He wanted a security camera set up on the east coast, that he could monitor from anywhere in the US. Naturally, I thought of portforwarding. I found the Foscam FI9900P (I believe that's the name; I don't have it on hand at the time of typing this up) for a pretty low price, not really accounting for the specs. Since the only viable option in the designated area is Sprint service, I also advised my client to pick up the Netgear Zing, the only Sprint mobile hotspot device which supports portforwarding out of the box. My overly-simplified idea was to simply portforward the router, connect the camera to it, and call it a day. As with most things in tech, this didn't work immediately. So it was back to the drawing board. I used some different programs, got a fresh device (the same hotspot, the last one was defective) and I finally got the camera working on my home network, which was not portforwarded. I verified that the Sprint hotspot was working, and I thought it would be simple from there. This is where I am now, and why I'm running into problems.

What I need to do is have a video feed which can be checked on every-so-often, so I don't need to worry about insane data charges. Right now I have been unsuccessful in even getting the camera to show up as a connected device on the router, but I do know that the camera and AirCard function normally independently. If I could get some help setting this up it would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time.

 

[nayr]

Problem #1: Mobile Data Providers do not provide a routable IP address, you cant forward ports to em or run any hosted service off em

I wont even bother with Problem #2 because your not going to get what your looking for with this kinda connectivity.. your best bet is use that sprint connection to mail still images offsite on motion or a schedule.

You might be able to setup a Point 2 Point VPN link going outbound from the remote site, but its going to have to be permanently connected to reverse a tunnel out it so expect data charges just to keep the VPN alive.

 

[Terry Cole]

Thanks. Out of curiosity what's problem 2? Also, what would be a viable alternative to sprint?

 

[nayr]

The rest of your problems? well it'll be the Foscams, exposing Foscams to the internet with port forwards and lastly charging someone for such bad service.. I presume this is like vacation property or something similar, well your going to need to step up to something a bit better, there wont be anyone around to restart it or tinker with it.

It sounds like you do not have a viable alternative for internet service, satellite internet has the same restrictions.. when working on a remote site with poor connectivity its best to have local storage and monitoring, and use the cellular service for transmitting still imagery when there is actually something worth sending.. this typically means a NVR of some sort hooked up to some physical sensors to prevent false alarms.. like trip sensor on a drive with a camera looking at it.

Unless someone within a few miles has decent internet and you can setup a point to point wireless link to provide him with something better than mobile data.. have you done a speed test onesite to see if you can even get enough bandwidth for outbound video?

 

[Terry Cole]

I haven't been to the site itself, so I cant do a speed test. My client has told me that WiFi is not an option, and sprint is really the only one. Should I tell him that this isn't really something I can do? I've been trying to get this to work for 4 months with no success.

 

[nayr]

yeah thats not a simple task to accomplish, as you've found out.. if they really want that live video feed and you cant go on site then this is not a job I'd take... if they want video surveillance of a remote location with connectivity limitations then its going to take a more carefully designed approach to work with the resources avilable, going to be near impossible to do without going onsite and seeing what you can work with.

alot of simple IPCamera setups with bundled NVR would get you most of the way there, just use sprint to email images when something moves.. they wont get a live feed but thats kinda unrealistic given the conditions.. stuff a big enough hdd in it and someone can eventually get onsite and pull the raw video.

 

[fenderman]

You can contact sprint and see how much they will charge for a routeable IP address. Some companies charge an insane onetime fee for this, verizon for example charges 500.

 

[Terry Cole]

So you think I should abandon the idea of trying to use sprint? I think the idea of sending images might work, but I'm not sure I see how the NVR would help. Could you please explain?