Swann CCTV

[brian22cairns]

I can get a good 4G signal in my garage, it is near quite a few businesses and homes that's why I was thinking maybe going down the route of BT Hotspot

[gg30340]

I may be wrong but you seem to be confusing a 4g signal and a BTWifi hotspot and how they work. They are two different things.

4g is provided by a mobile phone company and has to be paid for. BTWifi is a wireless signal that you can use to connect to BT broadband.

If there is a BTWifi hotspot in range you could connect to it but you are relying on another person's hotspot being active 24/7 and you could fall foul of the BTWifi fair use policy.

Get wireless Internet | Find wi-fi hotspots | BT Wi-Fi

[brian22cairns]

I was under the assumption that if you have BT Broadband you become part of Openzone and all BT Broadband customers are also transmitting the BT Openzone signal, in effect all domestic customers are providing wifi access by using part of their bandwidth providing they have opted into Openzone.

Am I correct?
I could always not connect the system to the internet but then I wouldn't be notified through my phone App if anyone was trying to break-in, it would still record any break-in's on the hard drive but I wouldn't find out until I went down to the garage

[licquorice]

First of all you would need a device that can log in to BT Wifi such as laptop that would need to be on 24/7. Also, as far as I'm aware, the connection to the BT Wifi signal is cut off after a period of time for fair usage policies hence the device would need to log in again periodically.

[brian22cairns]

That was one of my concerns, no point in connecting if it loses connection after a while

[Keith_Beddoe]

If you have line of sight between the house and garage, then a point to point wireless link may be an option.

Search for KuWFi 2-Pack 300Mbps Wireless outdoor CPE about £54.

Read the reviews on Amazon, as there are people using it for similar purposes.

Says 1KM range.

• 【What CPE70R is】KuWFi CPE70R is an 300Mbps Outdoor Wireless WiFi Bridge support 1KM Long Range WiFi Extender with LED display to configure the PT/PTMP connection, AP + Bridge operation mode, more stable Support AP and bridge operation mode, simple to built the PTP/PTMP connections, meet with multiple Wi-Fi transmission scheme demands. Outdoor Wireless CPE Bridge Waterproof, dust proof, lighting protection. Operating Temperature: -30℃-55℃ Storage Temp: -40℃-70℃
• 【Multiple operation mode,suit for different network & environment】 Point to Point/Multi-Point Connection (1-4) for Elevator Monitor/surveillance networks: Connect an IP Surveillance Camera to CPE70R’s secondary port and utilize its long-range connectivity to send surveillance video back through the wireless network for extended surveillance coverage. Tethering a series of IP Camera to the CPE70R give you 'eyes on' places you might not otherwise see. Easy to set CPE with IP cameras & networks DVR

[gg30340]

Yes you are correct about how BTWifi connects and that you as a BT Broadband customer can use it for free. There is however no guarantee that the BTWifi signal will always be present and you will be subject to the Fair Use Policy.

I don't know if it is still the case but previously BTWifi "kicked you off" after two hours so if that is still the case the BTWifi would not work for you in this case.

I would not be relying on BTWifi for the security of my garage. It is not a robust enough system to rely on. You have absolutely no control over it. It can be turned off by the person transmitting the signal. It can stop transmitting because the owner of the hotspot is using all the bandwidth. It can stop transmitting because the owner has opted out of the system.

I would suggest that your best option is a mobile broadband package with unlimited data. They start at about £11 per month.

[brian22cairns]

That could do the job, there's a couple of trees in the way but as long as I can find a place where it has line of sight then it should do the trick.