Disguise camera name on network

I share a house with 3 other people and have recently noticed things missing. The internet is shared and other roommates can see what’s connected. I’d like to setup my camera but fear they’ll just disconnect it. There are locks on the doors but they can easily “break in” and I’ve set up traps so I know someone has come in… I just don’t know who and don’t want to accuse the wrong person, this issue tends to happen when roommates friends are over.

Couple of options. One is to set up your own WiFi and router. The router will get an IP from your house internet and provide you with your own WiFi. Set up your cameras on your WiFi. All that they will see if your router.
Option 2. Get yourself a cellular hot spot and connect the camera to that. Now it is completely off your house internet.

How? Do you grant them all rights to admin on your router so they can see the DHCP lease assignments? If so, stop doing that. If they “can see what’s connected” because they are doing WiFi scans, then nothing you can do will really stop that. Find better friends and roommates. :frowning:

And if you are concerned with them physically disconnecting it, then what good would hiding or changing its name do? Perhaps your thread title is misleading (“Disguise camera name on network”) and what you are really asking about is hiding a physical camera?

If the second router is connected via WiFi, I read that that a router that supports “client mode” would be needed.
https://www.lifewire.com/connect-routers-on-a-home-network-818060
https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Mode
I have never tried it personally, just suggesting the choice of router might be important.
For the original poster: This is a crappy situation you are dealing with! A cellular hot spot is certainly a pain to have to pay for, yet it is fully independent.

Perhaps neighbor WiFi signal is available if you make friends with the neighbor?

Or get a wildlife camera?

With an SD card installed, I think the Wyze camera can continue to record intruders even if someone blocks network access.

Will the presence of a Wyze camera on the network be sufficient deterrent or are you trying to catch the perpetrator?

Windows has internet sharing features to create a new hotspot, but I don’t know if the attached devices are visible or not.