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The best alternatives to port-forwarding
The best alternatives to port-forwarding

Easier, better secured and more reliable alternatives for accessing a security camera remotely

Peter Ocasek avatar
Written by Peter Ocasek
Updated over a week ago
"I'm trying to connect my camera to Angelcam, got public IP address, signed-in to my router, set a port-forwarding, and still, a camera is not accessible from the internet and my ports are closed 😢"
"My camera suddenly went offline and stopped working! 😱"

These are the most often problems related to port-forwarding security cameras. But there are others - happening once in a while, but more serious:

"Video from my camera appeared on the internet accessible to anyone! 🤯"

👉It's not a good idea to use port-forwarding

  1. It's hard to set up. There is a need of:
    • Get a public IP address from an internet service provider (in many networks impossible, mostly available upon request for a recurring fee)
    • Get a fixed public IP address or set up a dynamic DNS service
    • Find the IP address of a router, find admin credentials, and sign in to a router administration interface
    • Find the IP and MAC address of a camera
    • Ensure the camera IP address will not change later so assign a static IP address based on a camera MAC address in a router DHCP administration
    • Repeat most of this for every camera in a network

  2. It's not secure as communication between a camera and the cloud is not encrypted

  3. It's not reliable as it stops working from time to time. If anything in your network setup will change (and you can bet, it will sooner or later), it has to be reconfigured and it's time-wasting to find out what changed.

🤔Do you want to still use port-forwarding for some reason?

❗️Acknowledge we do not provide help with a networking setup. It's hard for us to provide help remotely & we don't want to spend our lives supporting complicated, insecure, and non-reliable solutions. If you need help, please reach your ISP or hire a local IT guy. You can also check our online resources for port-forwarding or try to get help in our community forum.

❗️Do not try to set up port-forwarding if you are not an IT professional.

❗️Eliminate port-forwarding security risks and limit access to your cameras just for Angelcam servers.

❗️Eliminate the chance a camera will go offline without you noticing that and assign a fixed IP address for a camera in DHCP settings in your router and set e-mail notification in case your camera goes offline.

✅ AXIS cameras

Hundreds of models of this brand can be connected easily, securely, and reliably by adding the Angelcam Connector application to the camera. It's a small and powerful app that can connect a video-capable device (a security camera, intercom, ...) to the cloud easily, securely, and reliably.

✅ Other camera brands

In case you have a non-compatible device, please use AngelBox to connect your existing devices easily, securely, and reliably. AngelBox is a plug-and-play device that allows for easy and secure connection of single or multiple cameras to Angelcam.

Before purchasing, you can also run AngelBox Compatibility Tester to be sure your network and device will work with AngelBox.


😇 We are here to help

Just say hello@angelcam.com or check out Angelcam Community to connect with other users sharing their own experiences and insight into various security topics.

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