Tom or anyone, I know this is a older feed if you have time can you help. I have a part time business at home with several cameras to keep me safe and I’m retired. This problem has gone on for over 10 years with the cameras disconnecting or losing video all the time. I have Comcast as the internet provider at 300mbps, Netgear modem CM 1200, Netgear router Nighthawk X6 R 8000, several foscam cameras, and 2 computers that run all the time for the business and camera viewing. Comcast wants a fortune for a second ip address told me I was unable to run a switch off modem. I was able to run one so I don’t lesson to them any more. Do you think the Ubiquiti Edgerouter X would help and still keep the router? I also have the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 I up graded from. I use the Blue Iris software for the camera system with the remote access with my Cell phone to monitor cameras away from home. If so can you send a simple diagram of setup.Thanks Keith
Before doing anything it’s probably a good idea to understand why your cams are disconnecting in the first place, wouldn’t expect that if they are all wired, wireless is hopeless don’t bother. Could be your cams, wiring, pcs etc.
It’s usually a good idea to put the cams on their own network, either get a second router, plugging everything into that or setup vlans.
If you have the knowledge pfsense and a switch will meet your needs.
Failing that you might want to consider an NVR for your cams, I don’t use them but my thinking is it may perform better if you have the same family of cams.
Unfortunately you are in the similar place I was a couple of years ago with consumer kit but enterprise requirements, I now have a cupboard of old kit I can’t give away.
neogrid, The problem with the camera is the brand I’m just trying to make the best of what I got. I did put all wifi cams on a different ip range worked for a little while then back to same issue. One thing didn’t do was change the port numbers not sure if I need to do that now. I have 2 cameras on my garage one wired one not had no problem for along time. I had this problem years ago found that the router was duplicating ip addresses when I shut a device down then turn back on. I made all my cams static ip then got rid of all the extenders I had, cause you couldn’t set them up static. In the past I could never hook up a switch to modem cause I thought Comcast was stopping me so I found that if you hook up the switch then shut down modem and router restart them I was able to run ethernet from modem to a cheap Dynex 10/100 switch then to router. I could then come off the switch to a near by device to speed of 100 mbps way better than wifi. I was never able to hook to the modem that had 4 ports until I learned to restart them. Maybe I can use the ethernet cable for the 2 cams on garage the same way. My only issue is if I can still connect to the cams remotely threw Blue Iris. The cams on ethernet are hooked up directly to the router. I quess I need to temporarily hook up a cam to see. Another option is my other Netgear r7000 but I think the only way I know is set one up as a access point so the cams may be on one router and tv’s etc on the other. I tried this once don’t know how to get the remote for blue iris to work. It’s been so long one issue with that one router will have ip numbers in the 10.0.0.1 and the other 192.168.0.1. So if I keep all the cams on the r8000 so I don’t have to change all the ip addresses of each one and in Blue Iris. If I remember right I can’t connect remotely threw Blue Iris that way. If I switch routers this may slow everything down defeat the purpose. I know I’m not a genus so this long drawn out explanation maybe wrong and this has gone on for a long time. I was in the lower level of my house some years ago when I heard my dog barking found a man laying down on my porch trying to make friends with him. I had to confront him by myself lucky he didn;t have a gun. I called the cops but the cams were not working right so had no evidence for them. If you have any more thoughts or need more info please let me know. Thanks for your help.
There is an english expression to let sleeping dogs lie … but it means something completely different over here !!!
If you want to keep your kit without adding too much.
If you have a second router you can create a 2nd network on another subnet say 192.168.50.0 with the main network on 192.168.0.0. On your second router plug the WAN port into a free port on your first router. You will need to switch off the the ability of the 2nd router to receive an IP on it’s WAN side.
Assign a static IP to your 2nd router with DHCP on, then you need to add static routes on both routers, so that traffic can flow between the two.
I had such a configuration with my Asus routers in the past, to monitor your cams if you use OpenVPN then you need to add the router on 192.168.50.0 for your 2nd network. I will say my setup was far from satisfactory but did work with patchy wifi.
Your PC can be on either network, but if you want it on both you need a 2nd ethernet port. You can always get a cheap dual port card off ebay.
Saying all that, I might be more inclined to do a factory reset of the router and cams however, you likely need a better understanding of how your router works and its various settings, look on the Netgear site they have a wealth of info.
Search for adding a second router and/or static routes you will soon get the idea.
neogrid, I know another one don’t open up a can beans. I will have to look into that I always have fun with Netgear produces. I can’t remember for sure when I tried this the router would not let me use subnets in the same to near range. This may have been when I rented equipment from the ISP Comcast where they had a cheap modem with router in it and I purchased my first Netgear router. You could only use subnet # of 10.0.0.1 on one and 192.168.0.0 on the other. I already ordered an 8 port Netgear switch (GS308E) only $25.00 from Amazon. Do you think I can run off the router instead of the modem to run one ethernet to the cams on the garage? I already have one wire out there and used a temperary one to the other cam and the video drops have decrease allot. I know 2 cams are wired to the router now they work fine to remotely access them with Blue Iris software. Your idea to factory reset may help too I had one cam had a bad pixelated video for a long time. I read a blog of resetting the cam will fix it they were right it works great now. I spoke to soon that cam I reset still has dropped video so I think your first inference wifi sucks is right. To make things worse the Foscam only runs on 2.4 GHz where my internet is slower. I think the problem is worse on the weekend when everyone is at home working on their computers. My dad always said run it until it dies then buy a new one and I have a box haff full of cams when it’s full I’ll sell them on eBay for parts. I think another English saying you can’t beat a dead horse comes to mind. I knew this day would come so about a year ago I purchased a NVR with 6 cams that was on sale. I think my Dad would be proud of me. I will try the Netgear switch see if it helps and that’s my last investment into this fiasco. If you have any input for that would be good. I know after researching the switch I need to make sure to program the switch ports for the max output for better performance. Will I can’t think of anything else so let me know your thoughts when you have time. Thanks Keith1
Does this happen to any camera or just to some of them while the others work fine?
Could some of them be problematic or installed in a problematic location with bad wifi signal?
Not sure about your modem / router set-up, perhaps your ISP has limited what you can do in some way. At least in the UK, we can use our own modem and router and set-up any addressing scheme we wish. Doesn’t sound right that you plug your cams into the modem, sounds like you have a modem+router in one box with a second router connected to your modem.
You probably need to know what your kit is doing to better understand your network.
The switch you bought if it’s a managed one will only work on one subnet, if you wanted vlans your router would need to support that too. Right now it just looks like you have additional ports.
I just viewed my neighbours new cams and the quality is pin sharp, mine is a bit low res and 10 years old. So I’m beginning to think the quality of new cams have moved on.