Simple answer to this, but I’ll preface this with the fact that I’m a network engineer with a specialty in wireless.
Basically, with WiFi, which is what most systems use, 5ghz outdoor use is generally a huge minefield of regulation, you have to operate low power or something, only on specific channels (because 5Ghz overlaps with radar), etc. So since most companies that make such devices don’t want to maintain 100 different versions that all slightly vary by which countries allow what to happen with outdoor 5Ghz, and the fact that 5Ghz usually doesn’t survive much past the outer layers of a building (not enough signal to be useful), instead they just use 2.4Ghz. this isn’t exclusive to cameras, all the outdoor IoT shit does this. Doorbells are an easy example.
So even if a company has a wireless camera, it’s 99% likely that it’s 2.4 GHz. That’s fine, right?
Wrong again poindexter. Anyone with a lick of sense and $20 bucks with ill intentions can liberate a magnetron from a used microwave (or get it for free by fishing it out of the trash), and power that bitch on outside of the comfortable enclosure (Faraday cage) that is the microwave chassis, and spray the camera with so much 2.4Ghz that it can’t think straight. To be clear, the camera works, but it can’t talk to shit because there’s so much interference from the 1000w poorly tuned 2.4Ghz magnetron blasting at it. If this doesn’t fry the wifi card in the stupid thing, it’s at least going to make it impossible for it to transmit anything useful back to the NVR, so goodbye security footage.
You see, any security company worth their salt will know this. They avoid wifi cameras and wireless security crap like it’s the plague, and rightfully so.
Older systems use coax with a power feeder, newer systems use PoE, because you know what you get with PoE? Redundant power, communications free from some dickhead with a busted up microwave, and… No need to change batteries. The redundant power is because they’re going to put the device that’s supplying power to the camera on a UPS backup, so even if ne’er-do-wells cut the main power feed for the building, the cameras keep recording.
The whole thing is built to be resistant to these low effort attacks and keep recording until the damn cameras get destroyed. That’s what’s sold to businesses. Not this consumer barely a security product wifi camera.
None of this is to mention that getting wifi into the stupid walk in is basically an impossible task. Most walk-ins I’ve seen have steel plates attached to the walls that are bonded to concrete on slab. I can’t imagine a better Faraday cage. Solid steel plate? Yeah, sure, it’s thin steel, maybe a millimeter, but it’s plenty to fuck wifi right to shit. Behind the plate is usually heavy insulation, followed by more plate. So it’s a Faraday cage in a Faraday cage. Good luck.
Sure, it’s not tuned to block the right frequency, but it still does a pretty damn good job.
If you want to use wifi cameras at a business, in a walk-in cooler, then I wish you the best of luck, you’ll need it.
I just wanted to pass along that I read this entire thing, and while I have zero need to install a security camera in a walk-in, I’m very grateful for this awesome comment.
Nope. Business security systems are not wireless.
Simple answer to this, but I’ll preface this with the fact that I’m a network engineer with a specialty in wireless.
Basically, with WiFi, which is what most systems use, 5ghz outdoor use is generally a huge minefield of regulation, you have to operate low power or something, only on specific channels (because 5Ghz overlaps with radar), etc. So since most companies that make such devices don’t want to maintain 100 different versions that all slightly vary by which countries allow what to happen with outdoor 5Ghz, and the fact that 5Ghz usually doesn’t survive much past the outer layers of a building (not enough signal to be useful), instead they just use 2.4Ghz. this isn’t exclusive to cameras, all the outdoor IoT shit does this. Doorbells are an easy example.
So even if a company has a wireless camera, it’s 99% likely that it’s 2.4 GHz. That’s fine, right?
Wrong again poindexter. Anyone with a lick of sense and $20 bucks with ill intentions can liberate a magnetron from a used microwave (or get it for free by fishing it out of the trash), and power that bitch on outside of the comfortable enclosure (Faraday cage) that is the microwave chassis, and spray the camera with so much 2.4Ghz that it can’t think straight. To be clear, the camera works, but it can’t talk to shit because there’s so much interference from the 1000w poorly tuned 2.4Ghz magnetron blasting at it. If this doesn’t fry the wifi card in the stupid thing, it’s at least going to make it impossible for it to transmit anything useful back to the NVR, so goodbye security footage.
You see, any security company worth their salt will know this. They avoid wifi cameras and wireless security crap like it’s the plague, and rightfully so.
Older systems use coax with a power feeder, newer systems use PoE, because you know what you get with PoE? Redundant power, communications free from some dickhead with a busted up microwave, and… No need to change batteries. The redundant power is because they’re going to put the device that’s supplying power to the camera on a UPS backup, so even if ne’er-do-wells cut the main power feed for the building, the cameras keep recording.
The whole thing is built to be resistant to these low effort attacks and keep recording until the damn cameras get destroyed. That’s what’s sold to businesses. Not this consumer barely a security product wifi camera.
None of this is to mention that getting wifi into the stupid walk in is basically an impossible task. Most walk-ins I’ve seen have steel plates attached to the walls that are bonded to concrete on slab. I can’t imagine a better Faraday cage. Solid steel plate? Yeah, sure, it’s thin steel, maybe a millimeter, but it’s plenty to fuck wifi right to shit. Behind the plate is usually heavy insulation, followed by more plate. So it’s a Faraday cage in a Faraday cage. Good luck.
Sure, it’s not tuned to block the right frequency, but it still does a pretty damn good job.
If you want to use wifi cameras at a business, in a walk-in cooler, then I wish you the best of luck, you’ll need it.
I just wanted to pass along that I read this entire thing, and while I have zero need to install a security camera in a walk-in, I’m very grateful for this awesome comment.
Your appreciation is appreciated.