1: How many wireless ip cams can an average N router support assuming minimal other activity? Also assuming you can find ipcams that support 802.11N. Looking for a minimum of four cameras at 640x480, minimal activity on 3 indoor cams, plus one outdoor cam. Do-able?
2: Any experience (good or bad) using two (or more) 802.11N routers at the same physical location, one dedicated to video & vdv, and the other for websurfing, email, etc, but still internetworked?
Thanks!
VDV & 802.11N wireless questions
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ryan - Posts: 1015
- Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:52 pm
- Location: Palo Alto, California
Re: VDV & 802.11N wireless questions
Hi jrflash,
Unfortunately this isn't a question I can really answer. Theoretically, yes, an 802.11N network could easily support 4 cameras. WiFi is notoriously fickle however, and a lot of factors will influence the sort of performance you actually get. The quality of both the router and the wifi on the cameras will obviously have an impact, how far away the cameras are from the router (far enough to start losing signal strength? Likely). The actual amount of bandwidth you will need will vary based on camera as well - the quality of the stream, the type of stream (mjpeg vs. mpeg4), and so on and so forth.
At home I run anywhere from 1-3 cameras at 640x480 and run my computers off of a wireless G network without problem. So should an N network support 4 cameras + email? Yes. If your N router is flakey and the cameras are all far enough away to only have 20% signal? Obviously not. Networking is a bit of an art to get right I'm afraid. Even in my small apartment a single wall seems to knock the signal down quite a bit.
Multiple networks should be fine, assuming you get them set up correctly (so devices on one network can properly see devices on the other), but I'll be like a textbook and leave that discussion as an exercise to the reader.
Hope that helps,
- ryan
Unfortunately this isn't a question I can really answer. Theoretically, yes, an 802.11N network could easily support 4 cameras. WiFi is notoriously fickle however, and a lot of factors will influence the sort of performance you actually get. The quality of both the router and the wifi on the cameras will obviously have an impact, how far away the cameras are from the router (far enough to start losing signal strength? Likely). The actual amount of bandwidth you will need will vary based on camera as well - the quality of the stream, the type of stream (mjpeg vs. mpeg4), and so on and so forth.
At home I run anywhere from 1-3 cameras at 640x480 and run my computers off of a wireless G network without problem. So should an N network support 4 cameras + email? Yes. If your N router is flakey and the cameras are all far enough away to only have 20% signal? Obviously not. Networking is a bit of an art to get right I'm afraid. Even in my small apartment a single wall seems to knock the signal down quite a bit.
Multiple networks should be fine, assuming you get them set up correctly (so devices on one network can properly see devices on the other), but I'll be like a textbook and leave that discussion as an exercise to the reader.
Hope that helps,
- ryan
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kram - Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:45 pm
Re: VDV & 802.11N wireless questions
If you get a *good* router, the firmware should allow you to set bandwidth speed limits for each IP address in it's DHCP list, as well as set limits for app's. I use a Linksys WRT54GL (old school). Many of the newer routers do not support many of the features of the GL, and are flakey at best.