Incoming Connections 4G PAYG

[nginmu]

Trying to set up a system to remotely monitor IP video cameras on a farm.

There is no possibility for a landline at the farm's location, and the only cellular 4G provider that offers anything like useable signal is EE.

I set up a Huawei B593s-22 SIMcard router powered by solar panels, fitted with an EE 4G PAYG SIM. Topped up £25 and bought a 3Gb data add-on and a 100 mins talk add-on.

Attached a linux laptop to the 1st ethernet port on the B593. Firefox on the laptop accesses the Internet just fine, got 20ms-odd ping figures and 15Meg up and down speeds on the ookla speedtest.

Then, figuring I'd need some kind of way to accept incoming connections to be able to view local IP cameras from my home location (geographically remote from the farm) I decided to try and experiment with setting up a basic FTP server on the farm's Ubuntu Linux laptop using standard FTP ports 20/21.

In the router's settings I made sure ports 20 & 21 were forwarded to the LAN IP of the linux computer running the FTP server (192.168.1.4 - locked by MAC address)

It now seems, sat at home and trying various port scan tools and FTP clients etc, that although my probes can see my host at my SIM card's IP address is basically 'up', there is some kind of blocking going on & I can't get straight on through and connect to the FTP server.

So far I've read that this might be a pure and simple blocking problem, alternatively that EE doesn't so much actively block incoming connections as have to use carrier-grade NAT to handle limited IPv4 address space & thereby cause incoming connection to fail as an unavoidable byproduct.

Someone suggested that a fixed IP SIM card contract might be available which would obviate the problem. I'm guessing if it was available at all, that would be an expensive option?

I haven't actually tried attaching an IP camera to the system yet. Some of these IP cameras loudly trumpet the fact they don't need any complicated port forwarding to be viewable over the Internet. I have a (very cheap) one on order to try out with my existing connection.

Any information, advice, suggestion or comments related would be appreciated. Thx

[winston]

Hi,

Your setup can be simplfied by using products like Google's NEST CAM.  It can expensive at first, but it works. 

I do not think EE is currently offering any static IP SIMs, unless you are a coporate customer, and the rates for such SIM would be ridiculous too. 

W

[XRaySpeX]

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@nginmu wrote:

that EE doesn't so much actively block incoming connections as have to use carrier-grade NAT to handle limited IPv4 address space & thereby cause incoming connection to fail as an unavoidable byproduct.

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There, that's your answer. As EE mobile network uses CGNAT you share your external IP with many other network users & so can't be uniquely ID'ed.

EE don't offer static IPs on any of its networks.

You might be able to get round this with something like a D-Link IP Camera which initiates the exchange from within your LAN to a D-Link server where you view the image, rather than it being initiated from the Net outside towards your camera.

[nginmu]

Thanks Winston. I'll go & Google Google's NEST CAM :-)

Really very happy indeed with EE's performance just as a plain and simple Internet & voice phone solution for the farm, so I'll keep looking into it If I can get it to allow viewing of the cameras (6 stables, one camera per stable) it'll be fan dabby dozie :-)

But we'll see. Right then. Look into NEST CAM... here goes

[nginmu]

XRaySpeX - thanks

So I'm kinda left wondering about these cameras that say they don't need port forwarding set up to work. I'm guessing that even if that's the case they must still need some kind of way for an outside user to 'come in'?

Anybody know if Sky or something might help? I know this is an EE forum but.. if EE can't do it..

[nginmu]

something like a D-Link IP Camera which initiates the exchange from within your LAN to a D-Link server where you view the image, rather than it being initiated from the Net outside towards your camera.

mm.. kinda what I was wondering about vaguely. so such animals do exist.

[XRaySpeX]

I have a cheap one, the D-Link DCS-932L Wireless Day/Night Cloud IP Home Camera UK Model, and it works over the EE fixed Home BB network, either:

1. Viewed in a mobile app to a server running on 1 of my PCs, with port forwarding, but the IP keeps changing.
2. Viewed on D-Link's website (or app) directly to the camera, no port forwarding but it survives IP changes, as I described earlier.

[XRaySpeX]

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@nginmu wrote:

Anybody know if Sky or something might help?

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Sky being its fixed BB? Yes, just as well as EE fixed BB can.

[nginmu]

Thanks for that, I'll try that if the one I've got coming won't play nice

[nginmu]

re sky, I just half-saw an advert on the tv last night for sky mobile & wondered about it. I've only tried o2, voda, 3 & EE PAYG SIMs down the farm thinking they were the only mobile operators available. o2, voda & 3 were unusable. Seeing the advert for sky mobile I vaguely envisioned a satellite dish on the side of the hut lol

[XRaySpeX]

You've already looked at Sky Mobile !

O2 is the bedrock of Sky's mobile phone service which is what's called an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator). That means O2 provides the network infrastructure while Sky will deliver the service to customers. 

[nginmu]

OK so I've covered that option without realising. Thanks for confirming XRaySpeX

[nginmu]

just a link to some related info

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=46600

(but as noted earlier,

EE don't offer static IPs on any of its networks.

shame :-(

[nginmu]

Hey.. could I use this..?

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/camcorders/4gee-action-cam-1296228/review

http://www.4g.co.uk/news/skeegle-everything-you-need-to-know/

Anybody tell me anything about it?

Would it require a separate 4G contract SIM from EE for every single camera?

Any way to WiFi multiple cameras through one single 4G EE SIM? Maybe I'd have to replace my unlocked Huawei router with something supplied direct by EE?

I guess I could get round the need for external cell antennas on the router, by mounting the EE mobile dongle / router itself, in a weatherproof box up in the air outside the farm's main hut..

[jmitchel]

@nginmu I think you'll find EE have now stopped selling the action cam.  Each action cam would require it's own seperate SIM card and data plan.

Whilst that would probably work, the action cam wasn't really designed as a fixed web cam / monitor camera, more a wearable cam / cam that is attached to a bike etc.  The EE action cam was pretty much a 'Go Pro' type device that had a built in SIM card.

To stream live the EE action cam also requires a Facebook account, which IMHO was the downfall of the EE action cam and why it never really caught on.

[nginmu]

Thanks, appreciate the info, shame it's not good news :-(

If anyone has any ideas do let me know!

[nginmu]

Any thoughts as to whether a VPN might work? Do EE offer IPv6 at all?

There's some discussion here but it made my brain hurt:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php/33379-CGNAT-is-this-really-quot-the-future-quot

[jmitchel]

@nginmu VPN's do work on the EE network.  I use IPVanish here from time to time without any issues.

EE mobile are also in the process of rolling out IPv6 (it's dual stack IPv4/IPv6 as with all the other ISP's now using it) but no one knows for sure how EE are deploying it yet.  Apparently new pay monthly accounts are getting it first.

I have 2 EE lines and neither are showing any signs of IPv6 here yet.

[nginmu]

One thing's pretty much a given & that's that EE are my only worthwhile ISP here - so I might very well end up signing up for a contract regardless of CGNAT as I have no other realistic option. I'm your guinea pig lol

I used to know everything about telecoms and computers but that was pre- my son being born, 7 years went by wiping bottoms and I'm now as clueless as the next man. How would I go about looking to see if I had access to IPv6 on a new contract connection?