Using a Cellphone as a Hotspot for a DVR in a remote location

[MountOlympus]

Hello,
First Post.

I am wanting to setup a set of cameras and a DVR to record video at a house I own in another state.
Currently the home has no power except for a few hundred watts of solar power.

I want to set up a DVR and 4 cameras at the location so that I can keep an eye on the property with my cellphone from 1000 miles away.

To do this I envision buying a cellphone just for this purpose and using it as a Hotspot for the DVR.
But I am not sure if this would work or how to do it.
I'm thinking a cellphone that allows it to be a hotspot, and a wireless router that gets internet connectivity from that cellphone.
Then the DVR connected to the Router.

Can someone please give me some advice on this?
Thanks

 

[noah way]

Eye Trax | The Leading Security Camera Supplier

Eye Trax is a leading video surveillance camera supplier that helps you keep an eye on remote parts of your business.

eyetrax.net

 

[eibgrad]

Putting aside any commercial AIO solutions for the moment, I'd be less inclined to involve a cellphone, but instead just use a router that supports a USB cellular/4G modem. Involving an actual smartphone brings other issues best avoided (batteries, wifi being disabled when the display is inactive, etc.).

I'd also consider finding a neighbor willing to allow you access to their wifi router for a reasonable monthly fee. I'm sure many ppl wouldn't mind having their internet connection subsidized by someone else. The nice thing here is it's bound to be cheaper, and probably more reliable. I'd also be concerned about remote access when using cellular. I don't know how common it is among the major carriers. You *might* have to find a solution to that as well, such as using a commerical VPN provider that supports port forwarding.

There's also Starlink. IIRC, it's still in beta, and may not be available everywhere. But if it is in your area, it might very well be "solar friendly" given it's an Elon Musk company! It's not cheap, but given its capabilities, and relative simplicity, it may be worth the cost.

 

[MountOlympus]

Eye Trax | The Leading Security Camera Supplier

Eye Trax is a leading video surveillance camera supplier that helps you keep an eye on remote parts of your business.

eyetrax.net

These are more expensive than I wanted to go.

 

[MountOlympus]

Putting aside any commercial AIO solutions for the moment, I'd be less inclined to involve a cellphone, but instead just use a router that supports a USB cellular/4G modem. Involving an actual smartphone brings other issues best avoided (batteries, wifi being disabled when the display is inactive, etc.).

I'd also consider finding a neighbor willing to allow you access to their wifi router for a reasonable monthly fee. I'm sure many ppl wouldn't mind having their internet connection subsidized by someone else. The nice thing here is it's bound to be cheaper, and probably more reliable. I'd also be concerned about remote access when using cellular. I don't know how common it is among the major carriers. You *might* have to find a solution to that as well, such as using a commerical VPN provider that supports port forwarding.

There's also Starlink. IIRC, it's still in beta, and may not be available everywhere. But if it is in your area, it might very well be "solar friendly" given it's an Elon Musk company! It's not cheap, but given its capabilities, and relative simplicity, it may be worth the cost.

Thanks,
Any opinion on this one?

Cudy N300 WiFi Unlocked 4G LTE Modem Router with SIM Card Slot, 300Mbps WiFi, LTE Cat4, EC25-AFX Qualcomm Chipset, 5dBi High Gain Antennas, FDD, DDNS, VPN, Cloudflare, Plug and Play, Not for Verizon​

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085S2147W/?tag=snbforums-20

 

[eibgrad]

Thanks,
Any opinion on this one?

Cudy N300 WiFi Unlocked 4G LTE Modem Router with SIM Card Slot, 300Mbps WiFi, LTE Cat4, EC25-AFX Qualcomm Chipset, 5dBi High Gain Antennas, FDD, DDNS, VPN, Cloudflare, Plug and Play, Not for Verizon​

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085S2147W/?tag=snbforums-20

I don't have any specific recommendations. Not every USB/4G capable router is going to support every available USB/4G dongle. Even whether you use OEM or third-party firmware for the router can make a difference. That's something you'll need to investigate yourself.

 

[sfx2000]

Well...

A couple of things:

1. Wireless Providers (T-Mobile, ATT, Verizon) generally do not allow any kind of port forwarding.
2. LTE, here in the US, tends to be IPv6 first, and IPv6 is normally either CG-NAT'ed or just RFC1918 addressing (for example, my ATT iPhone 11 is assigned 10.146.65.70 for IPv6, the IPv6 is global, but all ports there are filtered).
3. T-Mobile is even more interesting, as they only assign an IPv6 address - there is a CLAT client on the phone that you will see IPv4, and it again is RFC1918 non-routable - for me it's 192.168.12.0/24 for my T-Mobile 5G Home Internet (backup broadband connection, my primary is still CoxHSI)

LTE Internet is not like DSL or Cable (or Fiber for that matter) - just need to be aware of the capabilities and limitations.

So that being said - this makes hosting any services on site a real challenge...

If the Cameras log into a public internet server (cloud or other), then things are a bit easier, but one is not going to be able to access those cams directly without some technical gymnastics...

For example - set up a VPS in the cloud (Digital Ocean, Linode, etc), and there one can set up a VPN endpoint (LT2P-IPSec, Wireguard, OpenVPN, etc) and there, have the remote router connect out to the VPN endpoint - this will work, but the devil is in the details, and there one has to do it "right" or either it will fail, or the hosts can get compromised...

GL-Inet has a few devices - the PULI XE-300 looks attractive here... if not that one, take a look at the Spitz, X-750V2.

The reason, why I recommend them, is that they support OpenVPN and Wireguard (both as client and server), so that solves a lot of the first part, getting the on-site end-point going) - they're also battery-powered, which is useful for OP's use case, where power is intermittent.

GL-XE300 / Puli

IoT 4G LTE Gateway with backup 5000mAh battery, designed for continuous charging ensuring uninterrupted operations.

www.gl-inet.com

GL-X750 / Spitz

A 4G dual-band wireless router for smart home and rural areas. Large storage compatibility with built-in maximum 128GB MicroSD card slot.

www.gl-inet.com

Both can be found on the Amazon via their store...

https://www.amazon.com/stores/GLiNet/page/29597346-5A47-46F8-8B58-B041C1CC63A9?ref_=ast_bln

 

[MountOlympus]

Well...

A couple of things:

1. Wireless Providers (T-Mobile, ATT, Verizon) generally do not allow any kind of port forwarding.

Wow.
So are you saying they only will allow URL's directed to ports 80 and 443 (and the various UDP ports etc) only ?!?!?

That would seem crippling to many
When did this begin ?

 

[sfx2000]

Wow.
So are you saying they only will allow URL's directed to ports 80 and 443 (and the various UDP ports etc) only ?!?!?

That would seem crippling to many
When did this begin ?

They allow outgoing, deny incoming connections.

What this means is that if the DVR is port 8080/tcp, and you try to port forward to the internet, it will fail.

 

[CBarbie]

I use pfSense and have worked with this setup before.
Netgear 4G modem - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5ASNTE/?tag=snbforums-20
Small low power PC running pfSense (could be the cheapest Netgate device). I setup a VPN tunnel to my home pfSense.

When everything is powered on, the modem connects to the Cell network. The output of the modem is just like a cable modem, ethernet, which goes to the attached PC running pfSense. pfSense starts a secure connection to my home network.

When it is connected, I have an additional subnet on my network. Warning, if the remote location is compromised, someone may have access to your home network.

 

[sfx2000]

Netgear 4G modem - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5ASNTE/?tag=snbforums-20
Small low power PC running pfSense (could be the cheapest Netgate device). I setup a VPN tunnel to my home pfSense.

GL-Inet devices pretty much do the same thing - and the VPN client is built in for site to site - and yes, have the remote site initiate the connection to home, as mentioned earlier, one will be pressed hard to find a wireless operator, at least here in the US, that will allow inbound connections on a consumer account.

(one might be able to set up something with a business account, but that does add a significant cost...)

 

[MountOlympus]

GL-Inet devices pretty much do the same thing - and the VPN client is built in for site to site - and yes, have the remote site initiate the connection to home, as mentioned earlier, one will be pressed hard to find a wireless operator, at least here in the US, that will allow inbound connections on a consumer account.

(one might be able to set up something with a business account, but that does add a significant cost...)

This is a bit confusing?
Millions of people have DVR's and surveillance systems at home and they remotely access them via their cellphones and remote computers.

Isn't that allowing inbound connections on special ports?

 

[sfx2000]

Millions of people have DVR's and surveillance systems at home and they remotely access them via their cellphones and remote computers.

Isn't that allowing inbound connections on special ports?

Yes, but they are on DLS or Cable Modem connections - which do allow inbound from the internet.

4G-LTE do not.

I have tried to explain this several times over, but somehow you are clearly not understanding the message here.

So...

Fine - try to do what you want to do, and then come back and read thru the thread again when you find out it likely doesn't work...