Can I use a 3 sim and a 3g router for a CCTV DVR system if 3 share their IP addresses

Mad_Mike

Sorry about the title folks, but I'm totally stumped as to how to even describe this.


Scenario....

1 pc(Win XP), 1 dvr(Win 2000) and a server running Windows server.

Really bad broadband in the area, so decided to try 3 broadband. Turns out its better than existing solution (digiweb), so went ahead and bought a 3G router (Edimax 6200)

Modem plugged in to router, pc's connected, no probs. All have connectivity.

Now, the DVR is accessed using a client software and it uses specific ports. I set up port forwarding for these ports, checked my IP and put this into a remote pc using the client software. No connection


My BIG question here is, if my IP is shared with numerous other 3 broadband users, how can I even connect to the DVR?? Is this even gonna work? Surely somebody has used 3 with a router and opened ports and had success, but I just dont understand how I can try access an IP like 111.222.333.444 and maybe port 1000, when there are lots of other users all using the same IP address??

watty

You probably can't

also it's probably against their T&C to run a server.

You must have been on a mis-installed or antiquated Digiweb system for 3 to be better.

I've had digiweb "Metro" for about 5 years and I rarely ever get worse than this:

I can "open" (forward actually) ports. But a use a hosting service. I only use port forwarding for VPN (secure email) and VNC over VPN (occasional remote admin).

With 3, it's like all the Modems are inside a big router, unless THEY open and forward a port it won't work.

You would have to have a hosted server outside 3 and continuously "upload" stills via HTTP or FTP client to it, and then connect to that to view.

Any amount of streaming will eat 3's upload cap too, quickly even if it did work.

Also if more users join your mast, your connection will drop frequently or not connect at all.

Mobile Internet or Mobile WiMax from ANY provider is totally unsuited to this kind of application. You need DSL, fibre or Cable. If you only access occasionally, such that traffic is no issue, then Metor or some other quality fixed wireless will work.

Mad_Mike

Hi watty. Cheers for the reply

My initial description should have been clearer, but anyway, it looks like this isnt gonna work at all.

The DVR is monitoring CCTV cams and recording to disk. Very occasionally, maybe once a day it needs to be accessed remotely using client software, so there is no uploading to web or ftp involved. The live stream can be viewed over the client software on one specific port and normally its used for no longer than 4 or 5 mins.

The server is just an internal server which is acting like a router for other pc's to access the web, so "running a server" is not an issue. I just described it incorrectly

The Digiweb pack is Bizwave and the MAX it will do is 1 meg down and 256k up!! Realistically, it achieves about 700k down and 150k up. With a 3 sim card, we can get approx 2.5 meg down and about 300k up, so we thought we were in luck and bought the Edimax router only to find that this one limitation with the CCTV system is stopping us from changing over.

Needless to say, its in an area where there is basically NO broadband options and 3 have added it as part of the NBS and all would be great if we could overcome this issue. As it is, the current limits are imposed as its just being tried with an old E220 Huawei modem. I'm sure if we tried a newer modem which supports 7.2 down and 2 up, we would even get better figures, but looks like there is no point now

watty

Technically anything you need to "open and forward" a port to is a "server", not a "Server" in sense of big box serving web pages, but a "server" none the less.

The Bizwave you have is pretty old. Most areas have much more capabable stuff. In fact the 3G can easily get worse as customers join in your area. With about 20 simultaneous attempts to download or view web page at same time, the speed will drop to 50kbps!

The E220 does support 7.2Mbps with up to date firmware, but if you are any distance from mast you need "Y" cable for USB. Offical (non-Apple, non-iPad) USB ports only supply 500mA max and if the E220 needs to run at full power it uses about 700mA.

Never connect via a hub unless the hub has at least 1A supply of its own (500mA per socket).

Mad_Mike

watty wrote: »

Technically anything you need to "open and forward" a port to is a "server", not a "Server" in sense of big box serving web pages, but a "server" none the less.

Ah yeah. True. Just thought my bit about the Windows server was throwing you, but totally agree.

watty wrote: »

The Bizwave you have is pretty old. Most areas have much more capabable stuff. In fact the 3G can easily get worse as customers join in your area. With about 20 simultaneous attempts to download or view web page at same time, the speed will drop to 50kbps!

The problem is, this area doesn't have much else available and that's why the 3 NBS is in the area. Also, as part and parcel of this, the 3G signal is reasonable enough as the area is *so* sparsely populated, with literally a handful of houses within miles, and most of them wouldn't even know what broadband was!!

watty wrote: »

The E220 does support 7.2Mbps with up to date firmware, but if you are any distance from mast you need "Y" cable for USB. Offical (non-Apple, non-iPad) USB ports only supply 500mA max and if the E220 needs to run at full power it uses about 700mA.
Never connect via a hub unless the hub has at least 1A supply of its own (500mA per socket).

Yeah, I was going to do this, as I upgraded a few E220's before, but the download speed isn't even an issue. It was just to try get an upload improvement over the Digiweb one of approx 150k. Again, we could get a newer modem and use the "Y" cable, but it looks like this is a dead end anyway.

Pity really. If it was O2, VF or Meteor it would probably have worked, but none of them have coverage in the area

cgarvey

Mad_Mike wrote: »

My BIG question here is, if my IP is shared

You can't directly, as you've already guessed. There are some workarounds, but they involve additional equipment/expense. For example you could have the network, the DVR is on, connect to a VPN somewhere (like, say, on a VPS somewhere) and connect to that. You'd need a router (which could simply be a very old 'headless' PC running IPCop) which supports that, and you'd need somewhere to host the VPN (i.e. a rented VPS or something like that).

You'll need to set up the router to reconnect all the time (because, with 3, the VPN connection will be dropped quite a bit!).

All quite messy, additional expense, and not very reliable at all; but all possible!