Only seeing one cam feed via iPhone on work wifi

[Kiwicamfan]

Hi, Couldn't find any reference to this specific problem in the troubleshooting or other forum posts.

iCamSource is running at home on a Win7 PC with two webcams plugged directly into the PC (both Logitech USB). I haven't made any network configuration changes.

I'm using an iPhone 4 IOS4.2.1

Logging into the iPhone app:
1. At home on my home wifi network I see both cam feeds always (no problem)
2. Away from home on 3G I see both cam feeds always (no problem)
3. At work, on our office WIFI network one of three things happens when I start the iPhone app (problem):
a) Source Connection Error - One or more of the iCamSources returned by the iCam Broker Server could not be connected to. No video feeds displayed.
b) Camera #1 feed is displayed, then I get the same source connection error. Camera 1 continues to display after I click OK on the error
c) Camera #2 feed is displayed, then source connection error.

I never see both camera feeds when connected via the at Work WIFI network.
If I turn off WIFI access on the iPhone and access iCam via 3G it immediately works fine.
If I click refresh in the iPhone app one of the three scenarios will happen (same as if I restert the app).
Motion detection events are reported OK.
I don't see any pattern for which of the three scenarios will happen when on the work WIFI network. The most common is (a), then (b) then (c).
I've tried rebooting the PC and my iPhone and get the same behaviour.

Any suggestions on possible cause or troubleshooting steps?

Cheers
Don

[OUAnthony]

Do you have auto configuration enabled in icamsource AND uPNP enabled in your router at home? I had similar issues until I correctly configured port forwarding. If you have enabled auto configuration and uPNP, you should get a uPNP success message when you start icamsource. If you don't see this message or see a uPNP error message when you click the start button in icamsource, then you need to check your settings. If auto config/uPNP won't work for you, you'll probably need to set up manual port forwarding.

[Stefan]

Since you are able to connect via 3G (which is one of the more difficult things to accomplish without any additional configuration) it is most likely an issue with your work WiFi network being particularly complex or restrictive in some way.

I agree with OUAnthony ... Do you have the Auto-Config Router checkbox checked in your iCamSource at home? Perhaps simplifying your home network's iCamSource configuration (either by manually forwarding a range of ports or using the Auto-Config Router checkbox) may allow you to connect from your work WiFi even if it is particularly complex or restrictive.

[Kiwicamfan]

I haven't had auto-config enabled so will check that and see if it makes a difference.

There's no uPNP option in my router config, but the specs of it say it is supported. The router is part of my DSL package so I suspect the telco has dumbed down the available options. If there was any problem with that though surely it would be apparent over 3G as well as any other external connection?

I'll try accessing it from other wireless networks when I get a chance, if it works fine from everywhere except work then we'll know the problem is there. Event notifications come through OK and I know I can always switch to 3G to see the cams so I'm not going to put too much more effort into solving this. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[Kiwicamfan]

Enabling auto-config makes a difference alright - it results in a "no sources found" error on the iPhone app. I've gone back to having it unchecked.

[Stefan]

If your router doesn't have UPnP enabled then the Auto-Config Router checkbox wouldn't work for you. It's probably hanging up the iCamSource as it tries to find your UPnP-compliant router to negotiate with it. If you see the word "Connecting ..." instead of "Connected to Server" in the iCamSource Preferences window title bar when you click the Start button then that is most likely the case.

There is always the manual port forwarding option as well. Do you know if your router supports that?

iCam contains zero-config connection logic that causes it to "just work" under most network configurations. With any other client / server software you would need to either use UPnP or manually forward ports to connect at all from outside of your network. There are network configurations that the zero-config logic cannot navigate through, so if your work WiFi network is particularly complex or restrictive that would potentially cause issues.

[Kiwicamfan]

I have set up port forwarding following the guide instructions (well written and easy to follow, thank you).

I think I have always seen the message "Connecting..." on the menu bar although all seemed to still work so hadn't worried about it. Now with port forwarding set up it's showing as "connected to server".

I'll see how it goes at work tomorrow. Thanks again for your help.

[Kiwicamfan]

Just to close this out - I finally got around to testing on work WIFI again - I get all three cams no problem. It's been a couple of weeks since I had the problem and started this thread so I can't be 100% sure it's working because of the port forwarding (something else could have changed in the network here).