Subscriber Discussion

Deciding Between Wired And Wireless CCTV

AO
Antonio Olivas
Mar 26, 2014

Morning,

This is always a theme the my IT department bring to table, wired vs wireless CCTV. They want to stop using cables in CCTV installations, either do I (clean installations) but to my knowledge wired IP cameras are more reliable and there is more options in the market than wireless. Can you assit me in this theme, so I can finally close this issue with IT

JH
John Honovich
Mar 26, 2014
IPVM

As many people point out in such discussions, you still need wired power :) There are a few totally wireless options (running off battery power / solar - see: Micropower, Solar Surveillance Pole (Sloan Genlux), Dotworkz Solar Surveillance Kits) but those are quite expensive.

In professional CCTV applications, rarely if ever, is wireless used indoors, simply because it's not cost competitive.

Outdoors, for cameras away from buildings, this does happen. PTP for short / simple connections, mesh for larger / more complex ones. See Favorite Wireless Surveillance Manufacturers

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Jon Dillabaugh
Mar 26, 2014
Pro Focus LLC

Running a low voltage wire (CAT5/6) will always be cheaper than high voltage power. It is almost a universal truth, with exception to outbuildings or cameras mounted away from buildings. In those cases, we still use wired cameras and utilize wireless PTP links for data backhaul. True wireless (WiFi) cameras that run on batteries are basically nanny cams without the bear.

MI
Matt Ion
Mar 27, 2014

Besides what's been mentioned already (John's point about providing power is my first go-to for this question), keep in mind that since it operates within consumer spectrums, WiFi is prone to all manner of interference from other consumer devices, which can greatly affect reliability. This may be improving with the new 802.11ac standards (which still uses 2.4GHz, but simultaneously with 5.8GHz), but anything operating in 2.4GHz is still prone to issues - as as extreme example, I've had a system where a laptop would lose its WiFi connection every time its 2.4GHz wireless mouse was used.

You could get into more proprietary, unfettered spectrums, but those will get really spendy... AND you'll STILL have to power the cameras somehow.

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Ross Vander Klok
Mar 31, 2014
IPVMU Certified

I am shocked that your IT would want to go wireless due to the bandwidth issues. If you are talking one or two cameras running a low frame rate at low resolution OK, I can see that. Our IT has a coronary when we want to do any wireless installation because it chokes the Wi-Fi in the area. Then IT gets calls from team members complaining that the network is slow. Does no one use wireless for any other applications where you are putting the cameras?

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