@joseph_1979

Hi Joseph,

No, it's a TP-LINK Omada EAP-650 Outdoor Access Point. It's very overkill for what I need it for, but stock was limited during COVID and my Ring products and other stuff like my phone, echo for listening to music when washing the car, etc. was struggling when I was at the front. I literally have an eero sitting on the other side of the wall and it struggles to get through the brick. Old homes are built different.

I have it setup so it mirrors my Wi-Fi SSID but also has a dedicated hidden SSID which I connect my Reolink/Ring to so it sticks to it instead of roaming back into the home. Once I start getting more EAP series Omada products, I'll be able to get the controller which will let them automatically manage their own channels and power output to maintain the home better. Wanted to do it much sooner, but had other jobs to do around the home first which has eaten into my budget. So it's going to be a next year job.

@joseph_1979

Hi Joseph,

Thank you very much. Super kind.

I don't have too many customisation options at the moment. I'm hoping to improve my network in the future to allow this, but this is how my setup runs at the moment.

Right now, my home is as follows.

Modem > Eero Gateway > TP-LINK 16-Port Switch.

One CAT5e cable runs from here to each room which connects to another switch to wire in all the entertainment devices and computers. I then have another eero at the front of the home, another at the back of the home, and a TP-LINK EAP650-Outdoor on the front of the house to provide better signal to my outdoor devices such as the Reolink Floodlight, Ring products, etc. Because my house is fully made of brick, it makes it very difficult to get Wi-Fi around and also makes it difficult to place ethernet cables where I want.

My hope in the future is to start adding EAP series around the home in lieu of the eero units and also wire up the Reolink products if possible. From here, add a Firewalla for better customisation. And finally replace all the CAT5e with CAT6A.

I don't plan on having indoor cameras. I just want a few around the exterior of my home including the Reolink Doorbell to replace my Ring products.

@joseph_1979

Thanks Joseph.

Learned a lot from this. Much appreciated.

Last question.

How do you have your cameras setup for external usage? Do you use the UID or another way to access them such as VPN, DDNS, etc.? I've read that the UID is fine at the moment security-wise. Some others say you should disable the UID and use them LAN only and then use a VPN to run the app instead so all the traffic is direct mobile to camera at all times.

@joseph_1979

Hi Joseph,

I installed Wireshark. Very confusing.

So I looked at all the stuff coming through and when I was locally connected through ethernet, I could see my computer sending stuff to the camera and sending stuff back to the computer over UDP. When I connected through iPhone hotspot, I found the same IP as earlier bouncing stuff back and forth over TCP and when I looked it up online, it was Cloudflare in Germany.

@joseph_1979

Hi Joseph,

I had a check using Terminal on my macOS when tethered to my iPhone and if I stream using the Reolink app, it shows a CloudFlare IP address. This is neither Amazon or Azure as you've mentioned.

It also uses TCP and not UDP as you've mentioned.

So I assume because it's not using Amazon or Azure like your camera, it's creating a direct connection?

@joseph_1979

Hi Joseph,

Reolink assures me that an external server is not used. The connection is made directly from the camera to the end device, and any limits in place, such as the 1GB, were on the ISP or mobile network of the user who made the claim, not Reolink. The only thing the external server is used for is Cloud Recordings if you have this enabled or as the address book to store the information regarding your cameras. This way, if you were to share the UID with a friend, they could automatically connect to your camera, etc.

I also tested both my iPhone, Android, and MacBook Air on external networks and they always allow me to view in Clear if they were left on that option last. I've never had them automatically switch over to Fluent.

There was also a person who wrote a blog and they claimed they installed the Reolink client on their computer at work, viewed the firewall logs both at home and on their computer, and it showed Reolink as establishing a direct P2P connection between their home and work. There was no Reolink IP or servers involved. So perhaps this is some older information you have at hand.

@joseph_1979

Hi Joseph and anyone else reading.

I was fortunate enough to gain a response from a Reolink developer who explained how the UID process works.

UID essentially is an identifier for the camera and stores the camera location within the Reolink servers. This allows you or a friend to add the camera from any external network and view it without trouble. Because the Reolink server is just used as a phone book, all traffic between the camera and the application should be direct, and for this reason, there isn't a 1GB limit. You could theoretically watch all of your cameras in high quality without any consequence other than your mobile data being hammered. Where does the 1GB limit come from? It's from a user who posted in the past because their ISP or mobile network limited how much Reolink traffic could be sent. It's not a limit that Reolink has put in place and as far as they're aware, does not affect the UK, US, etc. Unfortunately, this now acts as a rumour that is picked up every so often. This is why the 1GB limit is not mentioned on their website or product pages because it doesn't exist directly by Reolink.

@joseph_1979

Hi Joseph,

I don't own a Windows computer. I use macOS.

All of our phones are on 5G/4G typically, but sometimes they drop down to 3G in rural areas. However, a speed test still provides around 25Mbps which is fine for viewing the cameras.

I've read your posts but got confused about the public and private IP sections.

To break it down, am I correct in the following?

If the Reolink app is external, it will ping the P2P server for the Private (My IP) and Public (Amazon/Azure Server). It will try to make a connection through the Private IP using TCP which is a direct connection with unlimited bandwidth. If this fails, it will then use the Public IP with UDP which may have a 1G limit. If this is the case, is there a way of testing whether the app is connecting through Private/Public IP or not and would a VPN ultimately fix this? I could probably get a Firewalla to setup OpenVPN and then set this up on our devices for the Reolink app to use which should in theory make a direct connection as I assume the app would think the cameras are streaming locally? I read in your post that the default value over external networking is Fluent. However, if I set High on my iOS app, close it down, switch to 5G and open it again, it will prompt me with the message about playing in cellular but it starts streaming in High. Do I assume from this that it's making a direct connection and not using the Reolink servers?

Hi,

I recently purchased my first Reolink Duo Floodlight WiFi camera to start replacing my Ring products. To say I'm impressed is an understatement. It's honestly mindblowing just how good the quality is compared to my Ring products. I can't wait to start replacing my Ring camera one by one around the next year.

One of the reasons I purchased the Ring products is to provide security to my parents. When they leave the home, they are a little on edge due to recent break-ins around the area. So my Dad likes to review the camera throughout the day to make sure nothing is going on or one of us is in the home.

I read on Reddit and another website that there is a data limit with the Reolink app of around 1GB which can be chewed up by the high setting. What they claim is when you are on 3G or 4G, the app will use the UID to attempt to make a direct connection to the camera using UDP which allows for unlimited data to be transferred. If this fails, then TCP will be used to route the camera through the Reolink network which has a 1GB limit. However, from speaking with the support team, they are unaware of this limit and there is nothing mentioned on the website or the product pages. The app doesn't even mention how it's connecting to the camera when you are on the external cellular network. Apparently, you can get around this limit by creating a VPN within your home network to allow the Reolink app to use. Someone else mentioned that they tested this theory but just using the UID setting from their camera to the Android app, it showed a direct connection, they were never able to get it to run through a server.

I was just wondering if anyone from Reolink or a community member can elaborate on this.

I'm technical enough that I could create a VPN on my router to use but don't have a good enough setup where I can see incoming and outgoing connections, unfortunately. I would rather not use the VPN setup if I can help this.

Thank you!