# Help: Port Forwarding to view IP Camera (before I go insane!)



## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

My head is hurting! I've done the port forwarding exactly as per instructions. I made sure that the settings inputted of the camera, ie port and IP address are correct and match. Yet as soon as I remove the network cable the camera goes offline! 

Is there some setting I'm missing out?

(PS the camera's wifi isn't faulty because it used to work on my previous modem which didn't need port forwarding).

The camera is an Eye4 VStarcam and my router is a Technicolor TG589vn v3


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## Kursah (Jan 26, 2016)

Can you take screenshots of the camera IP config for WiFi and the router's port forwarding rules?

What port do you need to forward for the IP Camera to work?

Did you set a static IP for the camera? If not, I would start there....but regardless a lot of home-grade routers with DHCP use a longer-term lease, or even no expire so devices don't change IP addresses as often...but still static settings are the best way to go.

Can you ping the camera when the network cable is unplugged? Do you need to reboot it once you've removed the Ethernet cable in order to reinitialize wifi? Can you verify that WiFi on the camera is working even when Ethernet is plugged in? Maybe reset the device and re-enter all configuration items.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 26, 2016)

wireless Mac address allowed in firewall ?

edit
wired and wireless IP both probably different
You might have to assign the ip for the wired  to the wireless for it to work then bind it
look in your router config for mac and ip binding


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## rtwjunkie (Jan 26, 2016)

Kursah said:


> Did you set a static IP for the camera? If not, I would start there



I agree to that.  Setting a static IP is the way to go with anything like this.  I also go into the port forwarding menu to then list the port to be forwarded from the router.


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## jboydgolfer (Jan 26, 2016)

my guess would be JUST for a moment , to test it, forward all ports, and see if its the port issue, or elsewhere. Doing so would certainly remove the forwarding as a possible cause of the problem, also make sure that the port is forwarded for BOTH TCP&UDP. i used this method when i had an issue with the Old Teamspeak server  I hosted for TPU, and it helped a lot, but as im sure you know forwarding all ports should be undone as soon as troubleshooting is finished,

also, router make/model would likely be as or even more important than the Cam.**scratch that, i just saw you already added it in the OP, my bad.**


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## Sasqui (Jan 26, 2016)

Network topology?  Had a problem with a qnap NAS, turned out I was behind 2 NATs, set the Comcast router to bridge mode and it worked.  Just 2¢


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## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

Firewall is disabled so that's not an issue.
I can't ping the camera with network cable unplugged.
It reboots automatically after inserting or removing the ethernet cable.
I don't know how to verify that wifi is working with network cable plugged in, but the camera wifi worked when I had another router, so it's not a camera wifi problem.

Here are the router settings:










And the camera settings (don't go snooping if it works  )


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## Kursah (Jan 26, 2016)

Your Wireless Lan card has a different IP...and your port forward rules are to .125, your wireless is to .67. Fix that and you should be good.

Unless I'm missing something it appears that either your static config is only for Ethernet at the moment. Can you access the camera from .67 to reconfigure over WiFi?

Edit: Nevermind, that appears to be a config program you're running from your PC which has an IP of .67... at least that's what my eyes are seeing. 

How about after setting static config, reboot the device? Run a constant ping from our PC...open CMD from start, type *Ping 192.168.1.125 -t
*
Does it respond? Some IP camera's don't respond to ping...but most I've used do... Have you tried a different port to confirm another program/process isn't conflicting with that port?


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## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

Kursah said:


> Your Wireless Lan card has a different IP...and your port forward rules are to .125, your wireless is to .67. Fix that and you should be good.



I thought in the port forwarding I had to write the IP address of my camera not that of my own pc?

Anyway, I tried your suggestion.. sadly didn't work either.


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## Kursah (Jan 26, 2016)

Ya I edited my above post after re-reviewing your screenshots. Port Forwarding should forward specific ports to specific IP addresses. 

How about the things I suggested in my edit above?


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## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

Kursah said:


> Ya I edited my above post after re-reviewing your screenshots. Port Forwarding should forward specific ports to specific IP addresses.
> 
> How about the things I suggested in my edit above?


Totally missed your edit, sorry.
Yes it pings, with network cable attached though.


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## Kursah (Jan 26, 2016)

That's the thing, I want you to configure it, double-triple-quadruple check you're configuring the wireless adapter...many IP cams I've configured have a separate NIC and WiFi adapter setup stage...different MAC addresses also since they're different pieces of networking hardware.

I am almost at lunch at work I'll see if I can research more.

But anyways until then, I'd say reconfigure all network settings available, maybe make the wireless adapter .126 and leave your camera's NIC at .125 so there's no network confusion. Does the camera use a built-in wireless adapter or an external adapter?

Also try a different port, try something random in the 40,000-50,000 range. Just to make certain we don't have a conflict blocking the data stream.

Is there a reset button on the camera? Where's the config page where you set it up for SSID and configuration that way? I didn't see that in your screenshots.

Edit: No lunch break today..    So I can't take extra time to research your hardware, so hopefully someone else can. But I have a feeling we have a Wireless NIC configuration or option issue here...maybe a limitation or failure...but we'll soon find out!


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## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

There's only this (see pic below). I make the camera search for wifi (while wired obviously - it was the same even with the other router). It does see my wifi, I press ''Set'', it asks me my wifi password, tells me everything is OK, to remove the network cable, and that the camera will work in a minute. When I do so it says the camera is offline... :/


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## Kursah (Jan 26, 2016)

How long have you left the camera unplugged?

Have you manually rebooted the camera after finishing this configuration? I'd make sure its configured as above, then cut power, power back on and test. You probably already have though...


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## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

Kursah said:


> How long have you left the camera unplugged?
> 
> Have you manually rebooted the camera after finishing this configuration? I'd make sure its configured as above, then cut power, power back on and test. You probably already have though...



Yes, I've been trying to make this work all afternoon, that's why I said I feel like going crazy. I'm cursing the moment when I decided to change ISP, since the camera didn't need any port forwarding with the other ISP's router, I just plugged it in, did the one-time routine of setting up wifi as per my last screenshot and it worked.

Now it works only if I keep it connected by network cable to the router, because the router is apparently blocking its wifi.

I hope I can solve this quickly, I need this cam because I use it as a baby monitor


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## dorsetknob (Jan 26, 2016)

Did you try binding the camera's IP and mac   in your router ?
and then enable wireless mac filtering  with the camera mac bound ?


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## sneekypeet (Jan 26, 2016)

@AthlonX2  does a lot with IP cameras, maybe he has a simple fix for you.


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## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Did you try binding the camera's IP and mac   in your router ?
> and then enable wireless mac filtering  with the camera mac bound ?



 ok this is embarrassing, but how do I ''bind the camera's IP and mac in my router''? I went through all the menus of the router, can't find anything which sounds similar.


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## Potatoking (Jan 26, 2016)

I do IP cams for livining, so I may offer some advice.
the camera has LAN and WIFI?, you wanna use wifi?
Does the camera have web interface? can u acess it on both lan and wifi?
What ip is the camera using when on wifi?
why are you forwarding port 3777? we usually just leave port 80 and forward it to 3777

to test open ports I use this tool:
http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/


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## Kursah (Jan 26, 2016)

Depends on if your router allows it.

Many do so I'd assume it should. You should be able to check your connected devices (sometimes combined...sometimes separately land and WiFi) and verify IP and MAC address. You should also be able to find out the MAC address of the device by looking in software and/or for a label attached to it.

With that information you should be able to find manual/static IP assignments/management and add an IP address...it should have you assign that IP address to a MAC address of the device.

This would be forcing a static address through DHCP. Usually go to DHCP and scroll down, look for the static or manual assignments section if you're allowed. 

I would say also look in your router for connected devices. You should hopefully see it. You might also see it taking a different IP address. 

If your router doesn't have such a feature...download Advanced IP Scanner and scan your network...see if you can locate what IP that camera is taking from DHCP if its ignoring the IP config from your app. It could very well be connected and we just need to validate what IP address its on. Does the camera keep an error log you can review?


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## Black Panther (Jan 26, 2016)

Potatoking said:


> I do IP cams for livining, so I may offer some advice.
> the camera has LAN and WIFI?, you wanna use wifi?


Yes.



Potatoking said:


> Does the camera have web interface? can u acess it on both lan and wifi?


I'm not sure if I'm understanding but I don't think so. This camera works with a type of cloud system ie once I manage to get it connected with the router I can access it using only username and password, with no IP configurations, from any computer even from abroad.



Potatoking said:


> What ip is the camera using when on wifi?
> why are you forwarding port 3777? we usually just leave port 80 and forward it to 3777


The default IP of the camera had been 192.168.1.68 but then I changed it to 192.168.1.125 to test when it didn't work.
Its default port had been 81 but my router wouldn't accept port forwarding to port 81 and when I contacted my ISP they told me that port 81 wouldn't be available. So I tried plenty of other ports, the last screenshots happened to be those of the last port I was using ie 37777.

@Kursah  would the mac address look like 48-02-2a-03-87-dd or would that be something else?

Whenever I asked my ISP they always quoted these instructions which I followed to the letter:



> 1 - Open a web browser and enter the following URL  - 192.168.1.254
> Login as advanceduser with password advanced.
> 2 - Click on 'Toolbox' and 'Games and Application Sharing'.
> 3- Click on Configure at the top right corner
> ...



I tell them it didn't work and they'd send me the same instructions once more!


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## dorsetknob (Jan 26, 2016)

yes the physical addresss is the Mac address
ie 48-02-2a-03-87-dd


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## dorsetknob (Jan 26, 2016)

Some where in your router settings  you may have a IP and Mac binding page (settings)

mine says ARP Binding   enable /disable button  ( Enable it )
then add the mac address ip address enable it and save

in your wireless 2.4ghz settings   
enable wireless mac filtering  then add the camera Mac  physical address
save enable save

You can possibly check it by checking your ARP list


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## remixedcat (Jan 27, 2016)

Does it work over a VPN or cell connection?

Some routers and ISPS don't support reverse NAT 

Does your router also have a 1:1 nat setting?


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## Potatoking (Jan 27, 2016)

For cloud you should not need any port forwarding.
I tried this from different manufacturer and it worked but not great.
If you have static public IP adress, i would suggest using it instead of the cloud
Can you ping the camera when on wifi?
If not use advanced IP scanner to find camera IP when on wifi.


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

Well, I just installed a wifi printer - I thought it wouldn't work in view of the above problems, but it works flawlessly.

Just tried advanced IP scanner - it doesn't see the camera when the ethernet cable is disconnected. It shows up only after I connect it by cable to the router.

EDIT: It does show up, but as offline (grey icon instead of blue)


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## Sasqui (Jan 28, 2016)

Wonder if you got a bum camera.

This may be helpful:


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

Sasqui said:


> Wonder if you got a bum camera.
> 
> This may be helpful:


That's exactly my camera, and that youtube shows exactly the steps to set it up.
I would have thought it was a bum camera too, but it worked fine before I changed ISP and router!

I notice, at 0:58 in the video when the pull out the ethernet cable, the yellow led flashes a bit but the green led remains lighted?

Because in my case when I pull out the cable both leds go off.


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## Sasqui (Jan 28, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> I would have thought it was a bum camera too, but it worked fine before I changed ISP and router!



Something is not playing nice with the router it sounds.  Do you have a second router to re-test the basics?

Edit: You could even daisy chain off the ISP router for testing LAN purposes.


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

Sasqui said:


> Do you have a second router to re-test the basics?


Unfortunately no...
But the router didn't mess up with my wifi printer. Isn't that the same thing ie wifi from a device accessing the router, whether it is a camera or a printer?


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## Sasqui (Jan 28, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> But the router didn't mess up with my wifi printer. Isn't that the same thing ie wifi from a device accessing the router, whether it is a camera or a printer?



In theory, yes.  But these are computerz lol.

Does the camera have a hard reset button?


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## dorsetknob (Jan 28, 2016)

something as simple as enable upnp in cam and router
no one mentioned that yet !!!


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> something as simple as enable upnp in cam and router
> no one mentioned that yet !!!



uPnp is enabled in the router. There's no option for it in the camera settings.


I'm thinking the screenshot below could provide some clues. I mean I just cleared the intrusion detections some hours ago before trying to get the camera to work again... and there are all these intrusions? I think it's the router blocking the camera there...
Thing is, I don't think I have an option to disable intrusion detection from the router. I've been trying to find it... (I'm logging in the router as an advanced user not ordinary user). I'll contact my ISP to see if it can be disabled...


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## dorsetknob (Jan 28, 2016)

my cam is a foscam and to access the settings page i type in a lan address   in my case its http://192.168.0.101/
this is the Ip address assigned by DHCP  and i have bound it to the camera's mac address in the router
so any time the router is rebooted  this is the ip address the Cam gets
that takes me to the webpage and i can access the cam settings there
For viewing from another device not on my lan   ie friends or family pc  i use Noip.com free account

edit
have You allowed/enabled  the cam access through your firewall (s)  And the win firewall even if the win one is disabled
also anti virus software could be another culpret

Your system may be blocking the cam and its data stream


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

This is weird. I contacted my ISP (on fb chat) and she told me that by default Intrusion Detection is disabled on their modems! I told her that it is not so in my case. I even did a hard-reset of their modem and reinstalled it from scratch and that option remains enabled... duh...


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## Sasqui (Jan 28, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> This is weird. I contacted my ISP (on fb chat) and she told me that by default Intrusion Detection is disabled on their modems! I told her that it is not so in my case. I even did a hard-reset of their modem and reinstalled it from scratch and that option remains enabled... duh...



I put my Comcast ISP router in Bridge mode* and plugged an ASUS N66U into it.  Problem solved 

* that's what many people were trying to do but they disabled it.  Turns out 1 month before I wanted to do it, they released new firmware that allowed it!


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

I'm not going to buy another router to bridge it, and then find it doesn't work.

ISP chat on fb told me that there's a disable button next to ''Intrusion Detection''. I sent them a screenshot showing there's no such button and she told me she'll contact someone more knowledgeable. I think she's confusing Intrusion Detection with Firewall, which has such button.  



dorsetknob said:


> have You allowed/enabled  the cam access through your firewall (s)  And the win firewall even if the win one is disabled
> also anti virus software could be another culpret
> 
> Your system may be blocking the cam and its data stream



I created an exception for the port in windows firewall but it still doesn't work.
I don't think it's a pc problem, this camera used to work fine on this pc some weeks ago with the other ISP's router, so it must be a router issue.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 28, 2016)

"Script Support jockies you have to luv em else you kill them"

edit 
mine is set up to use port 80
windows fire wall allowed then win firewall disabled (don't use it )
comodo firewall allowed

Is the cam blocked on all pc's or devices on your lan. if so  then it does point to a router config problem


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> "Script Support jockies you have to luv em else you kill them"


Didn't quite get what you mean? 

Anyway in this link there are screenshots of all the menus of my particular router, just in case anyone might notice something I might be missing...

http://screenshots.portforward.com/routers/Technicolor/TG587nv3/

By the way... I can see no option on those screenshots to disable Intrusion Detection either, so I don't think the ISP representative who spoke with me was correct.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 28, 2016)

!st line Service support Staff    they read out solutions to problems from a script  till they get a problem thats not scripted for  " like yours"


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## Black Panther (Jan 28, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Is the cam blocked on all pc's or devices on your lan. if so  then it does point to a router config problem



It's blocked even on my android tablet. It used to work on it before using my previous ISP's router.


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## Ahhzz (Jan 28, 2016)

Have you tried putting that address in DMZ, just to see if you can hit it at all?


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## Sasqui (Jan 28, 2016)

Worth a shot, though your ISP may not agree.

https://disqus.com/home/discussion/wwwdevrandomzanet/unlocking_a_tg589vn_v3_vdsl_isp_locked_router/


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## Black Panther (Jan 29, 2016)

Sasqui said:


> Worth a shot, though your ISP may not agree.
> 
> https://disqus.com/home/discussion/wwwdevrandomzanet/unlocking_a_tg589vn_v3_vdsl_isp_locked_router/


Hmmm, will they notice if I do that?

And I guess I need 2 routers to do this?

Nvm I'm afraid to do it, lest I end up without an internet connection!


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## Sasqui (Jan 29, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> Hmmm, will they notice if I do that?
> 
> And I guess I need 2 routers to do this?
> 
> Nvm I'm afraid to do it, lest I end up without an internet connection!



Just a thought. Here, if my router got buggered, I could walk into a nearby service center and swap, they don't ask many questions about equipment.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 29, 2016)

Isp provided routers are often locked to account by registering the MAC
if you try another you might have to spoof the mac address of new router


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## dorsetknob (Feb 25, 2016)

@Black Panther

you get your problem sorted


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## Black Panther (Feb 25, 2016)

Nope. I've even chatted at length with ISP, and they told me the best thing was to bring both router and camera to their tech office. I'm suspecting my router might be a bit borky, especially since now it also refuses my phone (it allows other wifis, and my phone can connect to other routers).
I'll let you know how it went.


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## Sasqui (Feb 25, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> Nope. I've even chatted at length with ISP, and they told me the best thing was to bring both router and camera to their tech office. I'm suspecting my router might be a bit borky, especially since now it also refuses my phone (it allows other wifis, and my phone can connect to other routers).
> I'll let you know how it went.



I was just dealing with a Comcast router (Xfinity).  The tech was helping my GF set it up and turned off the "Broadcast SSID" button (moron).  I turned that on and it work for a little while, then the two SSID's dissapeared!  I logged back into the router and it was all setup right, I save d changes on each channel and they showed up again.  But now, the connections were not secure...  Checked the router 10.1.1.1 (IIRC), and sure enough WPA security was turned on and password set.  What a POS!


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## Black Panther (Feb 26, 2016)

Just came back from ISP tech. They spent more than an hour, first checking whether I did the port forwarding correctly, then trying other settings, trying another modem...

Finally they got the camera working, but they had to change the router's security to be only WEP to do so 
They told me the camera doesn't support any higher wifi security...


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 26, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> Yes done, and SSID was never changed.
> Btw now I have only WEP - and a crappy password which I really want to change (it was the only method my ISP found to get my IP camera (aka baby monitor) to work...  http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...before-i-go-insane.219536/page-2#post-3422636
> 
> 
> ...


WEP might be the problem...

Can you wire the camera?


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## Black Panther (Feb 26, 2016)

FordGT90Concept said:


> WEP might be the problem...
> 
> Can you wire the camera?



With wire it works well.

On wifi it works only if router security is no higher than WEP.


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## Sasqui (Feb 26, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> Finally they got the camera working, but they had to change the router's security to be only WEP to do so
> They told me the camera doesn't support any higher wifi security...



Can you confirm that with Eye4?  I broke out my HooToo last night (similar camera) and can't get it on Wifi.  Maybe a similar problem...

Edit:  Documentation on my HooToo says it does support WPA2


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 26, 2016)

Black Panther said:


> With wire it works well.
> 
> On wifi it works only if router security is no higher than WEP.


I'd leave it wired and change the router security to WPA2.  WEP can be cracked in a matter of seconds...it's practically unsecure.  WPA2 should fix the problems with your Lumia.


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## hat (Feb 26, 2016)

WEP? That's basically like leaving the spare key to your house under the welcome mat... it seems your router is quite shoddy, you may want to invest in something a bit better.


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## Black Panther (Feb 27, 2016)

FordGT90Concept said:


> I'd leave it wired and change the router security to WPA2.  WEP can be cracked in a matter of seconds...it's practically unsecure.  WPA2 should fix the problems with your Lumia.



I can't do that because I use the cam as a baby monitor, I have to change its place to where the baby is.
The Lumia's problems started way before I switched to WEP.



hat said:


> WEP? That's basically like leaving the spare key to your house under the welcome mat... it seems your router is quite shoddy, you may want to invest in something a bit better.



The router is my ISP's. I could get a second router but I really can't afford to spend more money right now, especially since I don't know if it'll solve the problem. 
I'm more thinking the ISP tech found an easy way out by changing it to WEP, telling me that it was the cam which doesn't support WPA2.

The router's got intrusion detection, and it can't be disabled. I told them that I noticed that the router was detecting the camera as an intrusion since whenever I tried it on Wifi (while on WPA2) I'd get like 200 intrusion detections within minutes.
But I don't think they're allowed to disable intrusion detection. I know I can but only by changing the router's firmware, and that way it would no longer work with my ISP and I'd end up without internet.


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## dorsetknob (Feb 27, 2016)

@Black Panther 
got a spare laptop and old webcam ?
I have an idea if you have


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## Ahhzz (Feb 28, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> @Black Panther
> got a spare laptop and old webcam ?
> I have an idea if you have


Or an old Android phone....
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-A-Wi-fi-Webcam-From-An-Old-Android-Phone/?ALLSTEPS


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