Does Virgin block constant connections

[aquanuke]

Hi I setup some cctv so I could monitor my elderly parents home from my home yesterday and today its appears to be blocked.

They just have the basic Virgin broadband service.

[BenMcr]

No they don't block any connections.

Is it definately blocked or just having trouble connecting?

Which broadband tier are they on?

[Sephiroth]

Not enough info really. We need to be sure what package you are both on (S, M, L, etc) and what bandwidth you are using for the CCTV.

From a technical point of view you'd be streaming video over their (2Mbps?) broadband. They would be uploading at max 256Kbps and after 100MB = 1000Mb the CCTV would be 50% throttled. I make that just 1 hour and you'll have bugger all bandwidth for upload.

It's therefore probably academic as to what's happening at your end - the download throttle wouldn't have a chance of kicking in.

Something like that.

If we know the bandwidth required by the CCTV, we can calculate which VM service level could possibly support your requirement even taking the throttle into account.

[dev]

change of IP address maybe?

[aquanuke]

Thanks, I dont know what package they have and cant phone them as its a bit beyond them. So will need to go around there and hopefully arm myself with what to look for.

If I ping it from my house its dead. Using an online tool like network-tools.com ping. It works fine.

---------- Post added at 12:35 ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 ----------

change of IP address maybe?

Changing my IP would not be an option. Id be more inclined to cancel Virgin or upgrade it if thats the problem.

[BenMcr]

I think he meant change of their IP address, which can happen as VM don't provide static addressess

[Sephiroth]

I think he meant change of their IP address, which can happen as VM don't provide static addressess

... and the solution to which (other problems having been solved) would be to put the camera feed into a router and setting that connexion as a static IP address (which then survives a router re-boot).

[Kymmy]

A lot of routers have a Dynamic DNS function (like DYNDNS.ORG) so changing IP shouldn't be a problem.. As it pings from one place and not another I'd suggest a local firewall blocking it on the non-pinging side

[bomber_g]

... and the solution to which (other problems having been solved) would be to put the camera feed into a router and setting that connexion as a static IP address (which then survives a router re-boot).

not a good idea - once the lease it's currently using runs out the IP could be allocated elsewhere - he would have no connection whatsoever. you should always leave anything plugged into a modem set to automatic or DHCP on it's Wan interface

---------- Post added at 13:51 ---------- Previous post was at 13:46 ----------

A lot of routers have a Dynamic DNS function (like DYNDNS.ORG) so changing IP shouldn't be a problem.. As it pings from one place and not another I'd suggest a local firewall blocking it on the non-pinging side

also this /\

really you need to confirm the IP address their kit is currently sitting on.

when you say 'it appears to be blocked today' has it ever worked? and how do you have things set up at their end

the PC should be set up on a static IP (an internal one that is) with port forwarding pointing to it on whatever port you have decided to use

[v0id]

Are you sure your parents haven't just switched off their modem/computer?