Remote access to Wi-Fi security camera

[KenB888]

Purchased and set up a Wi-Fi security camera placed in my Motorhome, it all works fine when l am at home and can connect to camera with no issues, when trying to connect remotely when l am out and about it will not connect?
Contacted the App support team who suggested checking app is allowing usage when using mobile data, it is set up ok.

They also suggest turning off firewall setting in the router.

This is the problem, l have a BT 4g home router BT help page tells me to log into router, then into security, then into firewall switch and turn it off.

But when l do this there is no firewall switch showing, so l can’t do this.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@KenB888 

As far as I am aware, the BT 4G router does not support port forwarding, which is need to allow remote access to your camera.

I also believe that it uses CGNAT, which means that you do not have your own public IP address.

[KenB888]

Hi Keith

Thanks for your reply.

So just to confirm what your saying is, no matter what wifi camera l have it will not work with remote access using this router.

If this is correct looks like l have wasted my money.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Wi-Fi cameras usually connect to the Internet using either by opening a port on the router, or by using P2P which connects it to a remote server which links the camera with a camera app. That is the most common method as it does not require any changes to router settings, but I think it still requires a public IP address.

Which camera do you have, and does it rely on an app, to establish the link?

[Keith_Beddoe]

If your camera has the ability to send e-mail alerts when there is activity, and include the captured video as an attachment,  then that would work.

Some  upload to a Cloud service, and that would work, but there is usually an ongoing subscription cost.

[KenB888]

Camera is a Cinnado D1 Amazon purchase, had good reviews, yes it uses an app called Wansview.

[KenB888]

Camera does let me know when there is movement in area l have set up in app, plus it stores image onto sd card, just can’t connect remotely.

[rbz5416]

I'd be inclined to return the no-name camera to Amazon & replace it with something more mainstream. I have both Amazon Blink & TP-Link cameras connected to a TP-Link 4G router at an unoccupied property & both work fine. So you might need a better camera AND a full 4G router.

Being told to turn off your router's firewall should be reason enough to return the camera.

Edit: My setup uses a GiffGaff (O2) SIM.

[Keith_Beddoe]

That is almost certainly a PTP (Peer To Peer) camera, as nearly all of those are.

Unfortunately you will not be able to connect to the camera or the contents of the SD card, as your router does not have its own public IP address, so that the PTP remote server will only return the "shared" public IP address, and not the IP address of your home network.

If they offer a Cloud service, then that would normally upload any video content that contains movement.

CGNAT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier-grade_NAT is used by many mobile broadband providers as its cheap to implement.

I have a proper 4G router on the Three mobile PAYG network, which I use as a backup, and a faster connection than my BT ADSL. This has a fully routable IP address and allows port forwarding, provided I use the correct APN.

I do not think that BT have an alternative APN which is routable, with an alternative device. As they use the EE network, there may be an alternative APN, but that would still mean buying a proper router, and I am not sure if BT allow you to do that.

[KenB888]

Thanks for your reply.

Had the camera a while now so can’t return it, but it was cheap will put this all down to an old boy learning by his mistakes.