Internet for remote cameras: 4G/5G, point-to-point Wi-Fi and Starlink

Getting a picture out of a remote place is often harder than taking it. A field, a dock, a ridge or a beach shack may have no cable at all. The options are radio in one form or another: a link to a nearby building, the cellular network, or a satellite. Each has a very different cost, power draw and monthly bill, and the right choice depends on what you want to send: a live stream all day, or a snapshot every few minutes.

First: how much data will the camera send?

The answer decides which links are affordable. A continuous stream uploads the same data every second, day and night. One megabit per second, all month, is 1 × 86,400 × 30 ÷ 8 = 324,000 megabytes: about 324 GB.

Plan an uplink at least 1.5 times your bitrate, measured at the site at the busiest time of day, not the speed printed on the plan. Use our bitrate and data calculator for your own numbers.

Option 1: Point-to-point Wi-Fi

A pair of outdoor directional radios, one at the camera and one at a building with a good wired connection, creates a private “wireless cable”. There is no monthly fee and, with clear line of sight, links of several kilometers are routine. TP-Link, for example, says its CPE210 2.4 GHz outdoor unit is designed for links over 5 km; 5 GHz versions are common for faster links where the path is clear.

Line of sight means more than seeing the other end. Radio needs a clear oval-shaped zone around the straight line between the antennas, called the first Fresnel zone. Keep at least about 60 percent of it free of trees, roofs and terrain. Its radius at the middle of the link is about 8.66 × √(distance in km ÷ frequency in GHz) meters:

That is why radios go on poles or roofs, above the treetops. Trees that grow, and leaves that come back in spring, are a classic reason why a link that worked in winter fails in May.

• Power: small, a few watts per radio, usually over passive or standard PoE. Check which one your radio uses.
• Cost: a one-time pair of radios and mounting. No data plan.
• Weak points: line of sight, alignment after storms, interference on crowded 2.4 GHz channels.
• Permission: you need access to the building at the other end and permission for the antenna there.

Option 2: 4G and 5G cellular

A cellular router at the camera connects to the nearest tower, and the camera plugs into it with Ethernet. Industrial routers are built for this: the Teltonika RUT241, for example, has 4G LTE Cat 4, two Ethernet ports and Wi-Fi, runs from 9 to 30 V DC and uses roughly 1 to 3.3 W according to Teltonika’s measurements, which is easy on solar.

• Check coverage on the spot. Carrier maps are estimates. The FCC’s National Broadband Map shows mobile coverage reported by providers, but the FCC’s own consumer guide warns that service breaks can occur even in areas that appear covered, and that terrain, large structures and severe weather affect signals. Test with a phone at the exact mounting height, ideally on more than one network.
• Upload is the bottleneck. Cell networks give far more download than upload, and evening crowds slow uploads further.
• Use a good antenna. An outdoor directional antenna pointed at the tower, mounted high, often turns a weak signal into a usable one.
• Read the plan terms. Many plans cap or throttle heavy use, some restrict continuous video or fixed-location use, and some block incoming connections. Look for business or IoT plans sized for your monthly gigabytes.
• Remote access without open ports: cellular connections are often behind carrier NAT. Push the stream out (RTMP to YouTube or a restream service) instead of opening ports. See port forwarding vs P2P.

Option 3: Satellite (Starlink)

Low-orbit satellite internet works almost anywhere with an open view of the sky, which makes it the last-resort link that often just works. The trade-offs are power, cost and the need for a clear view.

Two details matter for cameras. First, power: even the Mini’s average is five to ten times what a camera uses, which makes the solar system several times bigger (see solar sizing). Second, the Mini’s spec sheet notes it is no longer rated IP67 with a standard RJ45 cable, so use the maker’s cable or protect the connection. Speeds and plan prices vary by region and plan: check Starlink’s current pages for your address before you commit.

The options side by side

Ways to send less data

• Lower the frame rate. Landscapes look fine at 15 frames per second, which can cut the bitrate needed for the same sharpness.
• Use H.265. It needs less bitrate than H.264 for similar quality; check that your streaming route accepts it.
• Stream on a schedule. Daylight hours only, or only at peak viewing times, can halve the data. Show a snapshot the rest of the time.
• Send to one place. Push one stream to a platform (YouTube or a restream service) and let it serve every viewer. Never let viewers connect to the camera directly over the cellular link.
• Turn off cloud backup and auto-updates on the camera if you do not need them; they use data quietly.

Reliability at the far end

A remote link will drop sometimes. Plan for it so the camera recovers on its own:

• Make the encoder or camera reconnect automatically after an outage, and test it by pulling the link.
• Give the router a watchdog that reboots it if it loses the connection for a set time. Industrial routers often have this built in.
• Use remote management through the router maker’s cloud tool or a VPN, not open ports.
• Keep a spare SIM from another network for sites where one carrier is weak, or a router that takes two SIMs.
• Log signal strength and uptime for the first month; it tells you whether an antenna upgrade is worth it.

A simple way to decide

1. Can you see a building with good internet from the camera spot, within a few km, over the trees? Use point-to-point.
2. If not, does a phone get a solid 4G/5G signal at mounting height? Use a cellular router with an outdoor antenna, and size the stream to the plan.
3. If not, is the sky open? Use satellite, and size the solar for it.
4. If live video costs too much on any link, send snapshots every few minutes instead. Many weather and ski webcams do exactly that. See add your webcam to Windy.

Equipment for the first two options

Specs below are the makers’ own, from their product and support pages, checked 2026-10-07.

Note the CPE210’s power: 24 V passive PoE, not IEEE PoE. Power it with the injector it comes with, not a standard PoE switch port.

Do these next

1. Work out your data per month.
2. Add the link’s power to your solar sizing.
3. Push the stream out and add it to LiveLocation.

Last reviewed October 7, 2026 by the LiveLocation team. General information, not legal or electrical advice.