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Security Camera System app does not work when viewing on same network as Sonic internet modem

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:43 pm
by louisma715
Not sure if anyone has this issue....

So i have a security camera system with NVR setup connecting through a POE switch that is directly connected to Sonic's internet modem.

I'm able to view my cameras live on my VVMS app on my smartphone when i'm not connected to the same network that my camera system is on.

When i'm connected to my home wifi, i'm unable to view my cameras on my app. I'm unsure of what to look for as this should work.... i have friends that have comcast internet and they are able to do what i can't. this is obviously an ATT issue....

Reach out to Sonic support and they only suggested to post here on the forum....

Would anyone know what i can try?

Re: Security Camera System app does not work when viewing on same network as Sonic internet modem

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:47 pm
by Larns576
That's weird, usually people have trouble viewing when NOT on the local network. It does sound like a local configuration issue tho, not ISP (ATT) related. I have read that people have had difficulty opening ports or forwarding ports, etc with the supplied ATT router. Perhaps it's a configuration issue on the app. Hopefully someone can offer better advice on what to do as I no longer have their router to test for you.

Re: Security Camera System app does not work when viewing on same network as Sonic internet modem

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 11:02 am
by cmeisel
I have a similar observation and it did start very recently. I’m almost 100% sure that this problem didn’t exist in the beginning when I got fiber installed. I am 100% sure that I used the same set up with cable and never had this problem. I used two services for this example.
I have cameras installed on the outside of the house that are also connected to the main recording unit using PoE. the unit has a direct ethernet connection to the sonic Eero.
I have a subdomain configured home.xxx.com (DDNS) to always resolve my main sonic external IP. I am running a special program on a computer is on 24/7 to ensure that the IP is always up-to-date.

When I’m connected to my wireless in-home and I start the camera program and I point it to the local IP (192.168.x.x) it will connect without any problem. But I never had it set up this way because I want to be able to connect at all times so I always configured the app to connect to home.xxx.com.
With sonic (and this may be started recently) it can never connect less I’m outside my home network ( for example use my cell phone without Wi-Fi)

The second service that has the same problem is a machine in my house that I always connect to using VNC. Same problem here, local IP works external is not working unless I’m not on the sonic network. I know for sure that the setup worked because when I use VNC for my phone to connect to the machine, which I do daily, I have many times randomly used the first or second entry on the VNC app. The first entry is the domain name the second entry is the local IP.

Things I have done and verified:
- When I ping home.XXX.com always resolves to my external sonic IP, 100% of the time.
- From day one I had set the correct port forwarding on the Eero just like I had them on my old router.
- Instead of using home.XXX.com I have tried to just put in my external sonic IP… that also doesn’t work
- I have rebooted the ONT
- I have rebooted the eero
- I thought it might be DNS related so I replaced the sonic DNS with Google and it made no difference.

I agree that it is less likely to have something to do with sonic but maybe with the Eero unit. But it is 100% a problem that I didn’t experience before with XFINITY cable and again I believe also not with sonic in the beginning.

P.S. I am on pure sonic fiber not sonic over AT&T

claus

Re: Security Camera System app does not work when viewing on same network as Sonic internet modem

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 2:44 pm
by sysops
cmeisel wrote:I have a similar observation and it did start very recently. I’m almost 100% sure that this problem didn’t exist in the beginning when I got fiber installed. I am 100% sure that I used the same set up with cable and never had this problem. I used two services for this example.
I have cameras installed on the outside of the house that are also connected to the main recording unit using PoE. the unit has a direct ethernet connection to the sonic Eero.
I have a subdomain configured home.xxx.com (DDNS) to always resolve my main sonic external IP. I am running a special program on a computer is on 24/7 to ensure that the IP is always up-to-date.

When I’m connected to my wireless in-home and I start the camera program and I point it to the local IP (192.168.x.x) it will connect without any problem. But I never had it set up this way because I want to be able to connect at all times so I always configured the app to connect to home.xxx.com.
With sonic (and this may be started recently) it can never connect less I’m outside my home network ( for example use my cell phone without Wi-Fi)

The second service that has the same problem is a machine in my house that I always connect to using VNC. Same problem here, local IP works external is not working unless I’m not on the sonic network. I know for sure that the setup worked because when I use VNC for my phone to connect to the machine, which I do daily, I have many times randomly used the first or second entry on the VNC app. The first entry is the domain name the second entry is the local IP.

Things I have done and verified:
- When I ping home.XXX.com always resolves to my external sonic IP, 100% of the time.
- From day one I had set the correct port forwarding on the Eero just like I had them on my old router.
- Instead of using home.XXX.com I have tried to just put in my external sonic IP… that also doesn’t work
- I have rebooted the ONT
- I have rebooted the eero
- I thought it might be DNS related so I replaced the sonic DNS with Google and it made no difference.

I agree that it is less likely to have something to do with sonic but maybe with the Eero unit. But it is 100% a problem that I didn’t experience before with XFINITY cable and again I believe also not with sonic in the beginning.

P.S. I am on pure sonic fiber not sonic over AT&T

claus
In this case, what you are experiencing is exactly what is described very well here: https://community.sophos.com/kb/en-us/115191#Cause

In short, the NAT port forwarding rules that are set up to access the camera from the outside, don't work properly on the internal network. When the client (your internal device) receives a response, the source address is on the internal network, rather than the WAN IP address it sent the request to.

A possible solution is to add a static DNS entry to your router (assuming it is handing out DHCP with the DNS servers set to the router's IP address) so that from inside the network, home.XXX.com resolves to the device's internal IP (e.g. 192.168.42.5).

I'm not sure if that's what is happening in the case of louisma715 because that software may be accessing the cameras in a different way. For that case it'd be helpful to know more about the setup and what software and URL the app uses to access the streams.

Re: Security Camera System app does not work when viewing on same network as Sonic internet modem

Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 8:43 am
by cmeisel
The latest eero update fixed it all works fine now. I can resolve ddns address Internally now.

Re: Security Camera System app does not work when viewing on same network as Sonic internet modem

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:18 am
by cmeisel
louisma715 wrote:Not sure if anyone has this issue....

So i have a security camera system with NVR setup connecting through a POE switch that is directly connected to Sonic's internet modem.

I'm able to view my cameras live on my VVMS app on my smartphone when i'm not connected to the same network that my camera system is on.

When i'm connected to my home wifi, i'm unable to view my cameras on my app. I'm unsure of what to look for as this should work.... i have friends that have comcast internet and they are able to do what i can't. this is obviously an ATT issue....

Reach out to Sonic support and they only suggested to post here on the forum....

Would anyone know what i can try?
Did you try again now ? It all works for me now and I don’t know if it was sonic or eero that fixed it

Re: Security Camera System app does not work when viewing on same network as Sonic internet modem

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:25 am
by ngufra
i am using blue iris for the security cameras and from the android app it works from inside lan or from wan.
I have one port forward rule on the router.
The app can detect and connect with private or public address (i have a ddns)

Blue iris can also find home ip without ddns and without static ip through "ips" by matching the blue iris license. (blue iris "calls home" to advertise its public ip and the app can query that ip then do a direct connection.