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Residential Wireless Network Wi-Fi Cameras for Home/Consumer Use
Custom Video Security only offers professional-grade security cameras. In the past, we have installed these cameras for residential applications, but in the last couple years, consumer video surveillance brands such as Arlo, Ring, and Nest have launched new technologies that offer lower-cost equipment to be utilized for residential purposes. Although the biggest advantage is lower cost, care should be exercised when purchasing camera equipment, as the majority of these camera options may be lacking necessary features, which makes them not ideal for true security use.
Some features of professional-grade systems, which are almost always wired (whether by power or data or both), include:
Residential cameras that are not used for security are typically used to identify activity in the front yard, back yard, baby monitor, or kitchen. They are not ideal for facial identification, loss prevention, or license plate capture. Wireless network cameras are the easiest in terms of installation, but most wireless cameras still require a cable to be connected for power. Additionally, most wireless cameras are network-based, which means they require IP programming.
The consumer/residential camera brands of 2018-2019 have released do-it-yourself (DIY) solutions that avoid costly professional low-voltage installers to drill holes through your walls for concealing cable or stapling cable to the edge of the wall for neatly exposed cable. While avoiding the actual low-voltage installation, you would still need some technical IT expertise to program the camera settings to view/record and router/network settings to remotely view the camera(s) on a client device such as desktop, laptop, or mobile device. Remote viewing applies both inside and outside your local area network (LAN).
Since we can only stand behind the products we have used and sold before, these recommendations are solely based on other peoples’ reviews on Amazon. We don’t know if the reviews are from authentic buyers, or if they are paid reviews. We have not personally fully evaluated these products. The opinions expressed here are only based on the posted specifications of the products, some of which are clearly inaccurate. For example, one of the below products shows an icon of a microphone and the word “record,” but there is no built-in microphone, so audio cannot be recorded.
The most attractive consumer-grade cameras are completely wireless, powered by an internal battery.
Blink, now owned by Amazon, claims to have a 2-year battery life, indoor or outdoor version, and allows for free cloud storage of the footage for up to 2 years:
The obvious disadvantages of the Blink cameras are:
Another less-popular brand which is not owned by Amazon offers a similar indoor-only completely wireless camera. They admit a maximum battery life of around 90 minutes while not plugged in, but they state it can record and charge at the same time, as well as allowing for two-way audio. (Although it has a built-in microphone, it does not have a built-in speaker, so it’s a wonder how the person on the camera’s side is going to hear anything if it really has 2-way audio.) It uses a Micro SD card to store its footage, which is ideal if there is no Wi-Fi network, but it will require you to physically remove the card to review the footage if there is no Wi-Fi network. A Wi-Fi network is required for remote viewing.
Obvious disadvantages include:
A third option is this covert USB charger-style camera. It seems to be ideal as a covert nanny cam, but there are no actual ratings, so we don’t know if it actually works. It also uses Micro SD cards to store footage, so the same limitations mentioned above apply here, but in addition, there is no Wi-Fi connectivity for remote viewing or playback. Additionally, it must be plugged in at all times. This means if the power outlet is toward the floor, then the camera may not see what the person standing in front of it is doing.
For $39 per camera, a Custom Video Security IT technician can remotely login to your PC or Mac (must be on the same network as the camera) to program each of your purchased residential Wi-Fi cameras. This fee includes a one-time motion detection setup, so please be prepared to mount the camera after we program it. If your camera supports email notifications, then you will need to program your email address and email password into the camera’s software. For security reasons, you should never share your email password with anyone.
For an additional $49 per router or firewall, we can remotely configure the port-forwarding so that you can view the cameras remotely from your client devices. We will require your router’s admin user ID and password to perform this service, along with remote desktop access to a PC or Mac on your camera’s network.
Again, these are not our products, so we will not offer any additional testing, technical support, or attest to their quality, functionality, or durability of the cameras, especially since you are not purchasing the cameras from us. But since they easily solve the longstanding issue of eliminating the low-voltage installer, we are simply offering our technical services to help with the configuration of these devices. The majority of 1-star ratings for these products, aside from the manufacturers not standing behind their products, are due to lack of technical knowledge.
We obviously have not researched all the reviews and all the residential products on the market. This is not our business model, and as such we cannot give any additional free advice about residential cameras. We highly advise you do your own research and read product reviews before you buy anything.
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