Consistently reliable Wifi cameras ?
 

Old topic, I know... Emphasis on "reliable". I have 3 brands of cameras I'm using at home, 3x D-links, 2x Amcrest and 1x "can't remember".. By and large the "push" features work well on the iphone and always alerts me to people at the door, or whatever I need... But when it comes to responding to a ping and getting a picture, it's totally hit and miss... That, from a camera that JUST alerted me, so it should be up.

Most of them work 70% of the time. The rest of the time, they don't connect from my phone. Sometimes for a few minutes, then they work again, most of the time they just stop working for the day until I reboot them - the damn things continue to alert me though... Not super useful when you think you have a credible alert... I have tons of bandwidth, as far as I know that is reliable (when I work from home it never drops)...

Just curious if you guys found a brand/model that *consistently*, without fail, always connects you and gives you a picture. I'm starting to think it could be my wifi router...

I have a "homeboy" that is in a house a state away and has been working great. No problem connecting and requesting video.

If they never drop when you are at home what makes you think it's your WIFI router?

Sounds like you are saying you have trouble in areas where the reliability of the connection is questionable.

Try running them through a server.

Basically build a box that all the cameras connect to and let that stream.

See if they are on the compatibility list here.

http://blueirissoftware.com/technology/

Are you running static IPs for them?

I use Netgear Arlo, they work flawless.

No, I use defaults which I'm pretty sure is dynamic... Do you think it would make a huge difference ? The connection and whatever IP is used is managed by the respective apps, and the effing things still ping me with activity and push alerts... What is less reliable is the actualy video streaming live... I'll get 2 out of 3 working, and 3rd one nada, all day. I get home and try again and it's good - makes no sense... I'll see if I can access the feed via browser instead. The damn things work fine when I'm home.... But then again a rotating 2/3 work fine from the phone, you'd expect all or nothing...

Upload bandwidth issue?

On one out of 3 ? I've got 150 down 25 up.... Nah, it's like when one fails, it'll fail for a few hours, or all day seemingly, and "reconnect" eventually when I remember to check again (or I reboot it)... It's odd, both brands do it - different app too - but never at the same time so it's not my internet...

I wonder if they drop offline and don't always recover quickly, or after I look at one and quit the app, that causes some hanging... By and large they work, but often fail right when I want a peek ! ;-(

I have noticed last time I worked from home, I'd lose RDP to my work PC (via VPN) for a second 2-3 times a day. Quick glitch. Could be at the other end, dunnno, but if it's a small drop maybe that affects the cameras... they do not do well when losing Wifi (say when the modem goes down) and only respond after a reboot... I think they are dropping off...

My d-links were 100% good with a new Netgear N router, switched to Comcast supplied router and they go down about 10% of the time

Sounds right. Had no issues with same cams on FIOS with my own router, this is a comcast router...

There is a profound difference in technology for FIOS networks as compared to traditional Cable Broadband that directly relates to consistency of throughput.

The big weakness I've seen in almost all of these cameras is piss-poor software.