Got reply about the packets. The packet size depends on different firmware version, which makes sense to me. There are two types of heartbeat happening every few seconds for 70 bytes or less. (I am obfuscating some details here to protect their IP). This explains for 91.132.137.155 and 66.23.205.130.
For 23.83.132.78, both TUTK and I think there was some streaming activities happened. I hope @gelly035-happy can give out the network capture starting/ending time + device MAC so we can check for logs. Not that we donāt trust you but we want to see if it matches the logs. I donāt know if that is still possible since I believe the devices were returned. Without that info we canāt draw a firm conclusion what happened there.
Tao,
I agree with you (and TUTK) that the traffic reported by gollyās firewall to 23.83.132.78 was due to some sort of streaming. Perhaps motion-triggered recordings to WyzeCloud that he didnāt know about. Or an errant media stream caused by a bug. Youāll probably never know.
As for the traffic to 91.132.137.155 & 66.23.205.130, I do understand your need for āobfuscationā in order to protect the IP of your partner, and I donāt want to pry into your network design decisions. However, I will reiterate that āheartbeatā traffic (packets every three seconds or so, going to two different servers) seems excessive. You donāt need heartbeat packets that often to keep the NAT mapping in place, nor to deal with occasional changes to the Customerās public IP address. Based on my experience designing similar systems, permit me to offer a respectful heads-up. In the future, you might find that the combined flood of those āheartbeatā packets coming from thousands/millions of Wyzecams becoming a burden on those servers.
I agree with your comments about the excessive heartbeat packets. I will pass that feedback to TUTK and ask why they need it to be so frequent. Thanks!
yes, so i returned the cameras, so i canāt take more captures. I am pretty sure i did not have the app open on my phone. There should be no need for a heartbeat as you are on local lan. i sound like a broken record now, enable LAN only mode and all your problems go away for that use case (like you do with RTSP, it is just hat the frame rate @ 10 fps is unusable ). Another comment is that the fact that you use 3rd party IP on your heartbeat packets, also means that you donāt know what goes in those packets? how is that even possible? i understand there is someoneās IP there but Wyze should be aware of what goes in those packets and why.
Can Wyze camera work without continuous internet connection. NO!
Can sensors work without continuous internet connection. NO!
Do sensor notification arrive with random delays? YES
WYZE - you need a lot wize advice. But I can tell the over-enthusiastic crowd is dangerous if followed.
Tell us what you have. I know the way of the world today is fear. But so far no one has had anything detrimental other than fret for the masses here. Even the enthusiastic wouldnāt be enthusiastic if there were evidence there was a issue. Tell us what youāve seen. Letās analyze this.
I have Wyze cameras (with SD card) and several magnetic sensors and motion detectors. All this is talking to a Pixel3. My WiFi is riding on meshed Asus 88 and a hardwired Asus 68 as AP and Asus 68 as repeater. The Motorola modem talks to cable with 100+ Mb speeds.
As soon as the internet goes down the telephone tells me all is kaput. As soon as internet returns all comes to life.
Other comps, NAS,printers and scanners work fine during the internet outage on the WiFi LAN.
Ah. I thought you had evidence of the cameras phoning China, which they do not.
You are right however that they do not work well without Internet. These cameras are tied tightly into the Internet so you can use them from outside your house. We have been trying to get Wyze to create an Internet-free mode of operation if they donāt find the Internet at startup, but so far we have been unsuccessful at getting their attention focused there.
The only thing that works without Internet ATM is SD card recording, IF you had Internet on the camera at startup. Once Internet is removed, that is all that continues. Unfortunately requiring Internet to start often cripples that function too, as in a cabin in the woods.
The only cameras I can think of are Dash Cams.
I have a BlackVue 750 Dash Camera in my truck and it only needs a wifi connection with my phone to view/download videos recorded on the cam and to change settings.
It would make a great security camera anywhere when connected to a 12 volt supply.
I believe you can purchase cloud storage, but Iāve never needed it and itās not required.
I tried a " Wansivew" outdoor camera, but sent it back because I couldnāt get it to connect to my wifi router.
Probably something I was doing wrong, but it shouldnāt be that hard.
Iām a bit suspicious of all these Chinese cameras needing a connection to their servers without my knowledge.
I might add that I found as long as the power is not lost after setting it up it will still record to the SD card.
But, if you lose that power youāll need the Internet to start it up again.
It would be a valuable asset if Bluetooth were added so cameras could be started monitoring without the Internet connection.
Unfortunately, Wyze mainly focuses on software development on the camera.
Itād be great if they would just create an Internet-free mode of operation. They can keep the existing app and Internet setup ā the camera and app work great in and out of the house. But if it doesnāt detect Internet, then go to local-only operation. Thatās within the realm of a software update.
Yep, like the Dash Cam I mentioned.
Change the software so that it connects through wifi to your phone.
Make changes to settings and start video recording with your phone. No Internet needed.
For those that are passing on the Wyze cameras, they WILL stream via RTSP with the firmware update (itās easy). You then use a third party program or app to view the cameras, also the Pan and Tilt features are also lost on the Pan Cam (unless you add Internet, or share it out via mobile hotspot and use a device thatās not the hotspot to run the Wyze app)
With RTSP & the firmware update you get the ability to view the camera within the LAN and without Internet connectivity (to the rest of the world).
I just moved to a rural area with no internet. I have a ZWave hub and Wi-Fi for local smart home management via an offline Hubitat hub. Then thereās Wyze, who shuns standards and makes a proprietary local network for their sensors, requires internet to use the camera (person detection is already a local feature that I canāt use), but has the best product on the marketā¦ how is that customer friendly?
Do you guys want to be the best?
Switch to ZWave
Make cloud optional
Make all local notifications and features available to your cloud and a ZWave hub
Help Hubitat make a driver for your devices
I know Hubitat and ZWave are kind of specific, but ZWave is a standard that uses a frequency that offers most of the benefits of your current frequency. People can integrate rather than rip and replace. Hubitat is just one of many ZWave hubs, but it supports offline use and bridging hubs.
Yesterday Xfinity went down for 16 hours, I was unable to connect to any wyze cameras EXCEPT for the ones I installed rtsp on.
Making the cameras having to access the internet for authorization makes these cameras useless for real security.
I just got 4 Wyze cams from Amazon today. My plan for them was to house each one in a weatherproof enclosure (powered by a rechargeable USB power pack) and mount it to view a gauge on my semi trailer while Iām unloading. This would prevent me from having to go out in pouring rain or -20F temps to check it all the time. I thought I could view the cam on my phone in the comfort of my truck.
I loved everything about these cams, until finding this thread, and realizing what I wanted to do is impossible without an internet connection wherever Iām at. I canāt tether to my phone. Maybe Iāll look at RTSP functionality, but chances are Iāll be returning all 4 of my cams to Amazon. Too bad. : (
