Coop camera and finding an internet solution

[humblehillsfarm]

I used to live in an area where I had high speed internet. I used the Wyze camera and could monitor my coop remotely. I loved it! Now I don't have access to internet, and likely never will. Satellite internet is out of the question. It's expensive and horrible. I use a no-contract cell phone plan (Total Wireless) and the only type of hotspot they offer really is if you add another cell phone to the plan, you can use the 10 GB of hotspot data from that phone, and I worry that isn't enough to use a coop camera for more than a few days. So what are my options in terms of acquiring some sort of hotspot to use with a cheap camera, or a different camera system that doesn't rely on internet but still allows me to view it remotely? I'd prefer to keep the costs as low as possible, but at this point I'm getting close to being willing to spend anything to achieve some peace of mind. Family and friends have been continuous sources of disappointment and stress when relying on them to take care of my birds when I am gone.

 

[4timandlisa]

We live in northern Minnesota and went with Elon Musk’s Starlink for internet. We paid $600 for the equipment (it’s basically plug-and-play, super easy to install, but you could have pro do it), then $99 a month. Unlimited, super fast speeds (we are consistently running between 100-160 download).
before Starlink we had VIASAT satellite internet, then we cancelled that and just lived with hotspotting from our phones.
So. Painfully. Slow.
Hope this helps!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

We live in northern Minnesota and went with Elon Musk’s Starlink for internet. We paid $600 for the equipment (it’s basically plug-and-play, super easy to install, but you could have pro do it), then $99 a month. Unlimited, super fast speeds (we are consistently running between 100-160 download).
before Starlink we had VIASAT satellite internet, then we cancelled that and just lived with hotspotting from our phones.
So. Painfully. Slow.
Hope this helps!

Starlink isn't available in my area, but I don't think I'm willing to pay that much. Hughesnet costs less than that, and I don't even need internet except to use with a camera.

I found a trail camera called the Moultrie trail camera and it is about $100 and a friend said she pays $19 a month for a mobile plan for it. Video feed is on an 18 second delay, which isn't bad at all. I'm still considering other options but that's been the best pricing I've seen so far.

 

[John2510]

I used to live in an area where I had high speed internet. I used the Wyze camera and could monitor my coop remotely. I loved it! Now I don't have access to internet, and likely never will. Satellite internet is out of the question. It's expensive and horrible. I use a no-contract cell phone plan (Total Wireless) and the only type of hotspot they offer really is if you add another cell phone to the plan, you can use the 10 GB of hotspot data from that phone, and I worry that isn't enough to use a coop camera for more than a few days. So what are my options in terms of acquiring some sort of hotspot to use with a cheap camera, or a different camera system that doesn't rely on internet but still allows me to view it remotely? I'd prefer to keep the costs as low as possible, but at this point I'm getting close to being willing to spend anything to achieve some peace of mind. Family and friends have been continuous sources of disappointment and stress when relying on them to take care of my birds when I am gone.

In February, I moved to a rural area. I work from home and had to get Viasat for internet. It's very expensive and has small data caps.

I started doing my research and found Visible. Visible is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Verizon. It's $25/mo with no data caps. Your speed will vary with your location in reference to Verizon cells.

I also added directional antennas that are set up in my attic. Even so, I can only get about 5Mbps of speed. With just that, I can do pretty much whatever I want. I have seven security cameras in place. Not that it's an issue, but I don't believe they use data unless an alert is triggered, or I access them.

There are usually a number of LTE options available. Another popular one is Calyx.