[Mike89]

I bought a cheap WiFi security camera for my porch last week. It streams live when I check it and sometimes records all day to the cloud. I have one router with a couple phones and a laptop connected. Does running the camera 24/7 make the internet noticeably slower for everyone or is it okay if it’s on 2.4 GHz? Any simple setting to lower the impact while keeping motion alerts on?

[LiamW]

Probably not a big deal unless it’s constantly uploading HD footage. I run one 24/7 and my phones/laptop barely notice. 2.4 GHz usually works fine for these.

[MarkD87]

Short answer to the title: maybe, but only if the camera is constantly uploading or you watch the live feed a lot — otherwise I think it’s usually not noticeable. One small practical thing is to switch it to motion-only recording or drop the resolution/frame rate, that cut the slowdown for me. Cloud uploads use your upstream so if your upload is tiny you might see lag, and 2.4 GHz is fine for range but can be more crowded than 5 GHz, so maybe test both.

[HarperL]

I’m skeptical it’s always fine; when my old router had a camera uploading constantly things did feel laggy around the house. Could be nothing for some setups, but I wouldn’t assume zero impact.

[Sarah]

I think a camera uploading video 24/7 can use noticeable bandwidth if your internet or router isn’t great. I’d personally prefer putting cameras on 2.4 GHz for better range, and maybe lower the stream quality or switch to motion-only upload to cut the impact. Not totally sure though, it depends on your router and upload speed.

[Luis_A91]

Works fine for me, I barely notice any slowdown. One small thing you can do is drop the camera’s resolution or frame rate in the app and keep motion-only uploads so alerts still work but it won’t chew bandwidth all day.

[TommyWires]

Honestly, one cheap WiFi camera hasn’t made my internet feel any slower, browsing and streaming are fine. I figured it might matter for heavy uploads but in day-to-day use I barely notice it.

[Kelly Sun]

2.4 GHz is usually fine for a porch cam, better range and most cameras use it. You’ll only notice slowdowns if it’s constantly uploading HD video to the cloud.

[Author]

Posts