Troubleshooting: Losing Connection to Wired or WIFI Cameras

Troubleshooting: Losing Connection to Wired or WIFI Cameras

If you are having issues where your wired or WIFI cameras seem to be available sometimes and not others, here are some troubleshooting steps and overall considerations.

  • Make sure each camera has its own static IP on your internal network.  If the IP assigned accidentally is duplicated (eg. two devices have IP of 192.168.1.55) then an IP conflict will occur and one or both will appear offline.  You can either set a static IP in the camera interface itself, or use your router to assign a static DHCP address to your device(s)
  • Make sure your WIFI signal is strong where the camera is located.  Use a phone or laptop on your WIFI network and see how many bars you have where the camera is installed.  If it's not almost full, or changes a lot, your WIFI network is not stable.  WIFI cameras must have a strong stable signal or they will drop out occasionally.  This may also be happening with your laptop but you won't notice it when simply surfing the web.  Consider a separate, business class WIFI access point and ideally installed on the main floor or 2nd floor.  Signal repeaters sometimes help - other times they cause more problems.
  • If local access is OK but remote access is unstable, slow, etc. check your Internet *UPLOAD* speed.  Megapixel cameras require very high speed uploads.  ie if you have 50Mbps down / 1 Mbps up you might be able to support 720p video.   1080p may require more like 2 Mbps. We recommend for remote access that you use a lower speed and framerate for a smoother picture and also to save your data on your mobile device.  You will NOT be happy when you get the bill after watching a 1080p camera at full resolution remotely for an hour!  Remotely on a phone you shouldn't need more than VGA half CIF level and only a few frames per second.
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