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Networking through mobile hotspot - Sprint????

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Trying to solve an issue and could use any help available. Here is the issue:

 

A site wants CCTV which is remotely viewable. The customer already has a Sprint Mobile Hotspot at the site and wants to use this to establish remote connection with the dvr. We planned to network an access point to the dvr to establish this connection. The issue is, do Sprint Mobile Hotspots allow port forwarding and will they allow the amount of data that is required to stream the video?

 

We contacted Sprint and they said you can't port forward, but the device documentation indicates otherwise. Has anyone used a Sprint Mobile Hotspot for this application before?

 

Thanks!

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hi. hotspot is a worldwide wifi service. you cant add a service to it.

 

you can add the dvr to his network and then have free wifi from any hotspot / fon / cloud wifi area. he needs to add his account (which is at the router point) this will be his log on name and password. to use at any hotspot location.

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I use Sprint wireless broadband devices at 3 locations. While I don't use the devices like the Sierra Wireless Overdrive Pro, I use USB and PC Card devices connected to a 3G/4G Mobile Router (we've been using TopGlobal routers).

 

Bandwidth is an issue at every location (referring to speed). At these locations we do not have live video streaming all day long for fear of using all available bandwidth for video streaming. The business owner (and myself on occasion) spot check live throughout the day using a smartphone &/or pc. Playback of recorded video is slooooow at all 3 locations, especially if the dvr is recording at higher resolutions and frame rates. It's more important to us to have better quality recorded video than better Internet playback capabilities though. If an incident happens and we need to save recorded video we're doing it on-site anyway.

 

You're correct about the Sprint Wireless Hotspot devices allowing port forwarding. As far as Sprint allowing the amount of data that's required to stream the video, I'd imagine it all depends on the data plan that's subcribed to. I'd just be concerned if other people/devices need to use the Internet connection throughout the day. You may find that all available bandwidth is used for video streaming if it's being accessed all day long.

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In my experience, cellular and "hi speed" telephone internets are inferior in live viewing DVRs. If it's only one camera you want to view with a choppy picture on a smart phone, it's fantastic. I've tried viewing remotely on a wifi-connected smartphone and the speed wasn't a whole lot better either. Smartphones + DVRs = Great for general observation, bad for ninja-speed viewing/playback.

 

We just have to wait for cellular technology to catch up.

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In my experience, cellular and "hi speed" telephone internets are inferior in live viewing DVRs. If it's only one camera you want to view with a choppy picture on a smart phone, it's fantastic. I've tried viewing remotely on a wifi-connected smartphone and the speed wasn't a whole lot better either. Smartphones + DVRs = Great for general observation, bad for ninja-speed viewing/playback.

 

We just have to wait for cellular technology to catch up.

 

That would be LTE. I have seen upload speeds on LTE networks at +10Mbps

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1. you dont need a static IP address if you have dynamic addres, you can use ddns service

2. it depends on the device

3. sprint is true unlimited if you are grandfathered in.

 

i have 15 sprint devices on my network (not the exact device you are asking about) and 5 of them are true 100% unlimited. the rest are capped at 5GB/month.

 

i have seen some mobile wifi devices that allow you to open ports and i have seen others that dont let you open ports.

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I recommend static over DDNS for reliability issues. All of our Sprint systems are static and they are also all Government accounts. FYI 4G accounts are unlimited

 

recommending a static ip address and saying that you need one are two different things.

 

my vote is static, but in scenarios where static is not possible, DDNS is a great option.

 

does it fail? i suppose it can.

 

however, i have setup DDNS many times (and have been using it at home for 8+ years, w/o any issues.

 

residential and even businesses with dynamic IP addresses from the ISP do not change as often as some people think they change. i have seen some dynamic account have the same IP address for 3-4 months before it changes from the ISP.

 

thank you for letting me know that 4g from sprint is unlimited. the sprint devices that i have in place at work are not 4G ready and they are in remote areas that i am not always able to access (these devices have static IP addresses). when i upgrade these devices, i will do my best to make sure i find 4g ready equipment. i am not using the standard usb devices that sprint sells at all their stores, so finding what i need in 4g may not happen for a while.

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DDNS is just one more thing that can go wrong and when your doing cellular networks their is already enough to go wrong.

 

correct, i am not disagreeing with you, but it is not NEEDED as you say it is.

 

by saying need, you are implying that you can't do it w/o a static ip address.

 

that is wrong information.

 

you should say something along the lines of...

 

"a static IP address is not needed, but it is highly recommended."

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Not sure of Sprint, but both Cricket wireless, and Verizion (both 3G and LTE) use double NAT unless you buy a static IP allocation.

 

Basically, rather than having a directly connected public IP, you are on the LAN side of a carrier provided router, with no options for setting port forwarding rules on it, only ports selected by them to allow browsing, while blocking server-side applications (like DVR's and NVR's).

 

The only way I've been able to make a double NAT connection like that work is by using a tunneling client like Hamachi (which works by creating a virtual NIC on your PC, and then translating all traffic into something that looks like browsing traffic to the ISP), but that's only an option with a PC based recorder, and viewing client.

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Not sure of Sprint, but both Cricket wireless, and Verizion (both 3G and LTE) use double NAT unless you buy a static IP allocation.

 

Basically, rather than having a directly connected public IP, you are on the LAN side of a carrier provided router, with no options for setting port forwarding rules on it, only ports selected by them to allow browsing, while blocking server-side applications (like DVR's and NVR's).

 

The only way I've been able to make a double NAT connection like that work is by using a tunneling client like Hamachi (which works by creating a virtual NIC on your PC, and then translating all traffic into something that looks like browsing traffic to the ISP), but that's only an option with a PC based recorder, and viewing client.

 

i had a wireless card from verizon about 2 years ago that gave me a public ip address and everything was open.

 

i know this for a fact because the card was connected to a geovision PC and all i was able to connect to it from the internet...no ports no router, etc...nothing, just the card in the PC and connected with the connection software.

 

our parent company uses AT&T and they are able to open a few ports on their cards AND change DNS servers.

 

alot of wireless carriers (albeit it with certain cards) hijack/bypass the DNS servers used and redirect it to their DNS servers.

 

i have had a long battle with Sprint regarding this issue and even made it to their highest tech support department before given the final answer.

 

a really funny/interesting piece of information regarding that DNS issue is that i started a forum topic on another forum and the people on that board gave me a solution that required me to install some software on the PC (it installed as a service). the tech person told me he would give me a call back in a few hours/the next day.

 

when he called me back, he told me he found an online discussion with a user that had the same issue as me. he proceeded to give me the url to the thread i started a few days prior. once i told him it was me, he that it was somewhat ironic/odd.

 

just goes to show you that different carriers/equipment have different settings.

 

sorry that i got off topic a bit.

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Yes, it seems to be a YMMV sort of situation from cellular carriers in regards to DNS and double NAT issues. I remember getting a public IP a few years ago on a standard 3G USB modem from Verizon, but recent checks one of one of our 3G dongles, and my 4G LTE phone, show both of them getting a 10.x.x.x private IP allocation, which will break the ability for DDNS to work.

 

Just something for people to be aware of if they can't get a cellular connection to work, and probably part of why thewireguys suggested getting a static IP, that way you wil eliminate a number of variables.

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All of our Sprint cards are Static IPs with public IPs.... I work directly with Sprints field engineers when we deploy 3g/4g solutions. Only issue we have with Sprint's static IPs is they block port 80 which is a easy fix.

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Yes, it seems to be a YMMV sort of situation from cellular carriers in regards to DNS and double NAT issues. I remember getting a public IP a few years ago on a standard 3G USB modem from Verizon, but recent checks one of one of our 3G dongles, and my 4G LTE phone, show both of them getting a 10.x.x.x private IP allocation, which will break the ability for DDNS to work.

 

Just something for people to be aware of if they can't get a cellular connection to work, and probably part of why thewireguys suggested getting a static IP, that way you wil eliminate a number of variables.

 

agreed.

 

however, i was under the impression that we were talking about public IPs and not something NATed.

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All of our Sprint cards are Static IPs with public IPs.... I work directly with Sprints field engineers when we deploy 3g/4g solutions. Only issue we have with Sprint's static IPs is they block port 80 which is a easy fix.

 

they are static IPs with public IPs?

 

am i reading that right?

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All of our Sprint cards are Static IPs with public IPs.... I work directly with Sprints field engineers when we deploy 3g/4g solutions. Only issue we have with Sprint's static IPs is they block port 80 which is a easy fix.

 

they are static IPs with public IPs?

 

am i reading that right?

 

Yes

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All of our Sprint cards are Static IPs with public IPs.... I work directly with Sprints field engineers when we deploy 3g/4g solutions. Only issue we have with Sprint's static IPs is they block port 80 which is a easy fix.

 

they are static IPs with public IPs?

 

am i reading that right?

 

Yes

 

ok

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