Net Neutrality: What Those WithWiFi Security Cameras Should Know About It
If you are using WiFi security cameras and accessing their video feeds online, then you need to know a
thing or two about the concept of net neutrality – especially the parts
affecting the reliability of IP cameras when it comes to video streaming.
Net Neutrality
Net
neutrality as an idea posits that Internet service providers should allow users
to access all forms of data and applications irrespective of the source without
blocking or giving preferential treatment to the source of the data.
Net
neutrality in legislation, however, involves having the government step in to
enforce the absence of preferential treatment. This means heavy regulation and
government oversight over how Internet service providers (ISPs) manage data
transfer.
Simply
put, net neutrality is all about ISPs not blocking, slowing or charging more
for Internet access based on the type of data you work with – whether that data
is used to handle a few emails, watchingthe video feed from your WiFi security
camera or download terabytes of programs through torrents.
Notable
supporters of net neutrality include Yahoo! Amazon, eBay, Google and Amazon.
Notable critics of net neutrality include the Ayn Rand Institute, the
Competitive Enterprise Institute and TechFreedom.
What Does This Mean For IP
Surveillance Cameras?
Constantly
streaming the video feed of an IP digital camera over the Internet takes up a
lot of bandwidth. A few hours of normal-resolution video snapped from a WiFi
security camera can easily eat up 4 to 5 gigabytes of data all at once.
If
supporters of net neutrality get their way, then Internet service providers
cannot charge you more for higher data consumption. They also cannot forcibly
slow down your Internet speeds due to the high data-consumption of streaming
live IP video feeds.
However,
this does mean more government oversight over Internet service providers –
which could make it difficult for new ISPs to enter the market and compete with
the current ISPs. Your options will be limited to the few big fish in the pond
that can afford to work with constant government oversight.
If
opponents of net neutrality get their way, then nobody will stop existing ISPs
from blocking, slowing and/or charging more for data-intensive use of the
Internet – like streaming feeds from a WiFi security camera.
On
the other hand, the lack of government regulation should (theoretically) make
it easier for new players in the ISP market to come in.These new players could
then offer Internet access plans that undermine any ISP that blocks, slows
and/or charges more for heavy data usage.
What Can IP Security Cam Owners Do?
Assuming
that you find yourself signed up with an ISP that filters your Internet
experience based on the data you use, then you have a few options to help
better deal with the situation.
First
off, be willing to fork over additional cash for premium services. Or just look
around for alternative ISPs that don’t block/limit/charge more for heavy data
usage.
If
that’s not possible, then lower the FPS, video resolution and audio quality of
your WiFi security camera. This will significantly reduce the quality of the
audio and video you get, but this will also significantly reduce the amount of
bandwidth that the streaming video will eat up.
You
can also limit the amount of time you spend streaming video from your WiFi
camera. Simply log in once in a while, check the video for about a minute or
two, and then close the app. This will greatly cut down on the bandwidth to use
as long as you remember to properly close the browser or app where you viewed
the stream from.
You
could also get a model that alerts you when it detects movement. This way
you’ll only open up the camera’s video feed when it thinks something suspicious
is going on.
Keep all these in mind and you’ll be better prepared to make the
most of your WiFi security camera – whether the legislation for net neutrality
gets passed or not.
