No signal? How to connect your Green Feathers camera to a mobile hotspot

This guide shows you how to use your WiFi or wired IP camera with a mobile hotspot so it can be connected to the internet without using a WiFi router.

You may want to do this if you're planning to set the camera up at the end of your garden, or in a remote location, which doesn't have a WiFi signal for the camera. Instead of using a WiFi extender to beam the signal to that location, you can use a phone or mobile hotspot to connect to a mobile data signal.

If you have any issues with the setup we're happy to provide support relating to items you've bought from us but unfortunately we can't help with non Green Feathers products.

Before you begin

You'll need your Green Feathers WiFi or wired IP camera that can connect to an internet router. If you want to use a wired camera with a mobile hotspot, you'll need a WiFi repeater to connect to the hotspot and provide a physical ethernet port for the camera to connect to.

You'll also need a mobile hotspot. The most common method is to use a mobile phone. If you want the device to be online all the time you may want to use a dedicated mobile hotspot. We don't sell these ourselves but there are plenty available online. Remember, they may be locked to certain SIM card providers so be sure to check first.

What is a mobile hotspot?

A mobile hotspot is essentially the same as the WiFi router you have in your house except that it can provide a connection anywhere, like at the end of your garden! It connects to the internet through the same wireless signals that your phone uses (or literally, if you're using your phone as the hotspot) but it provides a connection that is slower, more expensive per gigabyte and less reliable. This is fine if you only want to use the hotspot occasionally, if you want to connect continuously then it's best to use a data-only SIM card, which will be cheaper per gigabyte and usually provides a better connection.

If you're unsure of the signal strength where you want to set up the camera, it's a good idea to check with a phone on the same network that the hotspot will be using, to see if it can connect via mobile data at that location.

You can also check these websites to get an idea but it's worth doing it yourself as well:

Getting your mobile hotspot setup

WiFi camera

Set up the mobile hotspot device or the access point on your phone, and set the camera up to connect to the mobile hotspot instead of your normal WiFi router. Please note, if you're using a phone as the mobile hotspot, then you'll need a second phone/tablet to run the app and configure the camera to connect to that access point.

Wired camera

If you want to use a wired camera with your mobile hotspot you'll need a WiFi repeater with an ethernet port for your camera to connect to. The model sold on the Green Feathers website will work well. A WiFi repeater can connect to and amplify the signal from a mobile hotspot, and also provide access to that mobile data connection via an ethernet port.

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