Using the 3G & 4G technologies you can control and communicate with CCTV, Access Control and alarm systems.
The communications can be a device reporting back to base over the network or an end user connecting to the device to download surveillance footage for example.
Where the device is communicating back to base this is known as machine to machine (M2M) communication. Another name for this is the Internet of Things (IoT).
The benefits of using the mobile communications network over other technologies include upload speed and cost. Where ADSL is used, the upload speed from the modem is not sufficient to enable smooth CCTV viewing of high resolution cameras in our experience. Where you may look at deploying Fibre, Ethernet over Copper or NBN you need to consider the plan cost and availability of these solutions in your area.
If you want to log onto the device from your computer or smartphone you need to be able to find the device on the internet.
There are two issues that stand in the way of this connection:
1. You require an Access Point Name (APN) that enables the modem to be able to:
a) access the internet and
b) be accessed over the internet, meaning you can log onto the devices connected to the modem from a computer on the internet.
2. You need to find the device if the Internet Protocol (IP) address changes. This is known as dynamic IP addressing where the IP address will change periodically. If you do not know the IP address of the device you need then you will not find it. In this case you need to subscribe to a service that will keep track of the IP address as it changes. This is known as dynamic domain name service (DDNS)
When you have the correct type of SIM card and the dynamic DNS sorted out then you will require a modem that will support the following:
Dynamic DNS: Where your service provider does not allocate a Static Public IP address, you will need us a Dynamic Domain Name Service and put the service details into the modem so it will update the IP address.
Port Forwarding so you can go from the internet to your devices. This is known as Network Address Translation (NAT). Where you have many devices on the remote network you may require Port Address Translation (PAT) as well.
