Security camera confusion, how do you decide between WiFi and wired PoE?

[UltimeciaTime]

I’m trying to pick a home security camera setup and I feel stuck on the WiFi versus PoE decision. I understand that WiFi can get crowded and that cameras can fight for bandwidth, but I don’t fully get why that turns into dropouts. I also do not know if a better router and mesh system solves most of it, or if the real answer is simply to go wired.

This weekend I helped a friend check their PoE setup and it was honestly satisfying how boring it was. The cameras were just there and just working, no reconnecting and no random unavailable messages. That made me wonder if I am overcomplicating things by trying to stay wireless. If you had to explain it simply, what makes WiFi cameras unreliable and when is it worth doing the work to run PoE cables?

 

[Alan]

My simple rule is PoE for the spots you cannot afford to miss, like driveway, front door, and backyard, then WiFi is fine for low stakes indoor coverage. Better routers and mesh can help, but they do not change the fact that WiFi is shared. Do you want 24/7 recording or mostly motion clips.

 

[barfle]

If you had to explain it simply, what makes WiFi cameras unreliable and when is it worth doing the work to run PoE cables?

You mentioned it earlier - bandwidth. With wifi, the pipe is a fixed diameter. Only so many bits can go through the wifi channels each second, and there are many things that can reduce that number.

Video is a bandwidth hog. It needs lots of bits, even though we’ve gootten pretty good at compressing the signal. Wifi isn’t particularly powerful, either, so random events like lightning or even an electric motor can cause interference. Your neighbor’s wifi uses the same pipe, so you and they can interfere with each other as well. If you (or your neighbor) are streaming movies or gaming on-line, those eat up that limited bandwidth like crazy.

Wired connections are a much larger pipe, and not subject to anywhere near as much interference. Yes, it is still finite, but it’s at least 100 times as robust as wifi. As Alan noted, if reliability is paramount, wire the camera. If you can stand missing a few frames, wifi will probably be fine.

 

[TJTex331]

So one of the considerations is that thieves now have WiFi jammers that will render your WiFi security cameras useless. When I installed my cameras, I made provision for Ethernet and power connect at the camera locations.