Internet CCTV – What Else Do I Need?

Here are a few other things that you will need to consider before buying a Camera Pack

“Do I need broadband?”

Yes – you will need a broadband connection at the property where the camera is located,  and also at the place where you will be viewing the images on a PC.  These days broadband can be obtained for less than £20 or around 25 euros per month in mainland Europe.

The basics

If you have a standard phone connection already, converting it to broadband is easy.  It does not require a visit by an engineer – everything is done at the telephone exchange.  We can arrange the service for you through one of the many suppliers – in the UK it usually takes a week or so to get it up and running, in mainland Europe somewhat longer.  Your telephone calls will be unaffected.  You will be given a username and password to use with the broadband service – do not lose this as we need to program your equipment with this information.   Note – when the camera is connected to the broadband line and transmitting images, it does NOT run up a phone bill – with broadband there are no additional charges however long a camera (or PC for that matter) is connected to the internet.

Some things to look out for in a broadband package:

Most standard broadband packages will work with our service:

Speed – most companies quote download speed – our service uses upload speed not download speed.  You should look for a package with at least 256Kbps upload speed.  Nowadays, many UK exchanges can offer faster broadband known as ADSL2+.  If you can get this, you should, as it is often little dearer than normal broadband and yet much faster.

You do not need a static IP address – a dynamic IP address is fine, but having said that, if you can get a static one it makes life easier.  if you don’t even know what one is, don’t worry about it – what you get will work!

Modem/router – we supply a wireless modem/router unless you already have one that is suitable (in case you haven’t come across this device before, it’s a small, intelligent box that controls access to your cameras, and sits between the cameras and the phone socket).  If you don’t yet have broadband, we prefer to supply our own router instead of getting the broadband supplier to, unless theirs is free as part of the package, because it makes the set-up process easier for us both.

We will find the best broadband package for your internet CCTV camera system.

Broadband in Spain:

Along the south coast, in Andalusia, broadband is widely available in and around the main towns.  Getting a phone line may take some time, though, if you don’t have one already.  Landline broadband prices are similar to the UK.  If you can’t get a landline, or if your property is further back from the coast, you may need to go for radio broadband.  Iberbanda / AVI is one of the main suppliers.  They will do a survey to see if their service can reach your property, and if it can’t, you won’t pay anything.  If you can get this service, it costs around 40 euros per month and can be set up in two to three weeks.

“Do you supply everything else that I will need?”

Yes – our package includes everything you will need to get up and running.  There’s the camera itself, or more than one if required, cables and adapters.  If we supply the modem/router, it will be a high-quality one. The camera makes up the main part of the cost of the package.  If your property is rented out regularly and you are worried about people plugging a phone into the phone socket that the camera uses, all you need to do is bar all outgoing calls which takes a single phone call to set up.  We can show you how to do it.  Call barring can be switched on and off at any time, by using a PIN code provided by your phone company.