@mamski As I understand it, it only pings home and won’t use much data with no events and no remote viewing. Verizon used to sell data by the dollar that would last until you used it up or it expired. Now they want to set you up with monthly payments.
I have USCellular. For about $25 a month, I get a hotspot and 2GB of data. No overage charges, so if that’s not enough, I can increase the data limit. How does that compare?
Compare to what?
I’ve a Mobley and get unlimited data at whatever speed I can get for ~$25/month, (subject to being throttled over 22GB) . I’ve been getting 15 to 20 Mbps.
Sorry I wasn’t more clear. The hotspot costs $5.32mo. over 36 mo. A data plan with a 2GB limit costs about $20/mo. How does that pricing and data plan compare?
@mamski I don’t really know for sure. Verizon’s cheapest prepay plan seems to be $35 a month for 3 gigs which they will double if you put it on auto pay. You said 2 gigs was barely enough for 1 cam. Does it trigger a lot? Or do you live view much?
@mamski I paid $35 cash for the jetpack at a store that was going out of business. Then $50 cash for a new sim card with 8 gigs of data at a Verizon store. I am not happy with the customer service I have been getting with the prepaid.
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2 things:
First, a little FYI. I ran out of postpaid data on my jetpack and called to get a boost - they upgraded me to unlimited (15 GB high speed and then slower after) for $20/month (I was paying 15 for 1 GB prior)
Second, I need a little summary. Y’all are saying that generally speaking, I should be able to purchase a Wyze cam and successfully hook it up using my jetpack connection. Is that a correct statement?
I’m confused with the use of the terms hotspot and wifi (i know what each term means, but how they’re being used here is confusing me) lol
I grab verizon’s cellular signal by an antenna on the roof of my cabin, which is connected to my JetPack. At the location of my cabin, cellular phones (all providers) do NOT work on the ground. There is no signal to be had - the only option is to be connected to the jetpacks wifi (or hotspot; whichever term is right) - which grabs 4G from the miraculous heavens.
I need to remotely view my property and so far, the only way I’ve found is using the Alfred app (uses old phones as the camera)- however, the phone overheats and I worry about fire so I cannot use this method. Other wifi cams have failed me too due to my limited method of connectivity.
If Wyze is a viable option, I’m soooo in.
@Mairzey If you have a jetpack up and running it should connect to a Wyze cam. Hotspot as I understand it means cellular internet service provided to another device usually via wifi. That can be either teathered to your phone or a stand alone device such as a jetpack. You just need a phone running the app and a wyze cam on the same wifi network that has internet service. It is difficult to run the wyze app on the same phone that the wyze cam is connected to the internet via teathered.
@Mairzey That is a sweet deal you got for your jetpack. Did you upgrade the plan recently? I was told I could not convert my prepaid jetpack to a postpaid one on my account. It looked to me like it was going to cost $99 plus a 2 year contract and $45 plus $25 (since it is under contract) a month to add a jetpack to my plan.
You’ve just made my day. I ordered two cameras. =)
I scored an older model jetpack from my work. This one =)
No contract if you bring your own device (which I did).
I did NOT see this $20 plan on their website. I only learned of it when I called. The guy was like, “Why are you paying 15 bucks for a lousy gig of data when you can spend 20 and have unlimited” LoL I did not have an answer. =)
It may be because I have unlimited plans for my daughter and myself… I dunno. But whatever the case may be, I watched Netflix at my cabin for the first time ever, last week. haha!
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Just keep in mind that Netflix will burn through your 15 gigs unthrottled data at about 1 gig an hour. I don’t know how well the cams will work once the speed is cut back.
Clarification, I don’t know how much data my cameras use, that’s basically my question - how much do they use if they’re recording locally to the card? I was saying that the cost of 2GB from my provider is $20, not sure if that’s enough or not. Another question - I have no idea what a Jetpack is… is that the name of Verizon’s hotspot? I found a post from someone back in November where they were able to set up a camera using their phone for wifi and then had it continue to record on the card after they left the location with the phone.
Don’t know if this fits, but I’ve always had a show stopping problem with wyze cans and my att hotspot. The camera connects fine but after a little streaming it freezes. Than I need to exit the app and enter again, whereupon it might or might not start again. I suspect some protocol used by the camera might be blocked by the hotspot, but short of using wireshark to look at the protocols I am stumped. My hotspot is pretty fast LTE and I’ve never had a problem with other devices. The camera works fine on my cable internet in another location. Anyone heard of this issue? In not at the location with the hotspot this summer so I can’t experiment.
As I’ve mentioned, I have an AT&T Mobley hotspot and have had no problems with the V2’s.
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@mamski Sorry, it was @jetskiflorida that said 2 gigs was barely enough for 1 camera so my question should have been directed to him. Jetpack is what Verizon calls their hotspots. I don’t think the cams will sit there and record indefinitely without internet but I am no expert. I would think 2 gigs would be plenty with notifications turned off and no remote viewing. But where is the fun in that. 
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I am 18 days into this billing cycle and “0.55 GB total data used” with two V2 cameras set to alert on motion only.
Below is last months usage, Sorry but I do see where to get a total usage for the month instead of daily usage.
Screen Shot 2019-08-13 at 6.50.51 PM.png
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The cams USED to be able to be setup to record indefinitely to SD card without internet once they got set up and called home.
There are several running threads concerning this. Presently with the latest public build I think it’s broke.
But hopefully they might fix it in the near future.
I’m wanting to be able to use a few V2 “Saran Cams” as trail cams (notifications turned off, no remote viewing) by swapping SD cards and adding a battery.
Thanks, this is helpful. There would be no notifications, only continuous recording.
Haha, well I personally agree with you on the fun! But this person thinks someone is getting into her home and we want to show her otherwise (we hope…). She doesn’t have internet, nor a smartphone, so those options aren’t of interest to her. We’ll just want to check the video if/when sonething happens. Thanks!