Guide · cameras over wireless
CCTV over a wireless link: watch the gate without trenching.
Short version: you don't need to trench 400 metres of cable to watch the front gate. A point-to-point wireless link carries CCTV happily, if you size it right. This guide covers what a camera actually uses in bandwidth, the setup that works, how to power the far end, and when a 4G camera is the better buy.
Last updated 2 July 2026 · by Alien IT Solutions
What a camera actually uses
The megapixels on the box are marketing. The number that matters is bitrate: how many megabits per second the camera pushes while it records. A typical 4MP camera at sensible settings streams around 4 to 6 Mbps on its main stream. An 8MP camera pushed hard might do 8 to 12. That is the whole load.
A properly built point-to-point bridge over a clear path carries a few hundred megabits. A handful of cameras barely dents it.
Continuous recording streams that bitrate all day. Motion-event recording only sends footage when something moves, so the average drops, but I'd budget for continuous anyway: plan for the worst case and the link never surprises you. Cameras add up in a straight line, four at 6 Mbps is 24 Mbps, steady. Count them before you buy the gear, not after.
The link is rarely the bottleneck, until it is
Here's the honest link budget: a solid bridge has far more headroom than a few cameras will ever use. Bandwidth is not what kills camera links. The path and the mounting are.
Trees in the Fresnel zone
The link needs clearance around the straight line, not just a gap you can see through. A gum in leaf halfway along the path bleeds signal until footage stutters. Line of sight and the Fresnel zone, explained.
Misalignment
A directional link is a narrow beam. A bracket knocked a few degrees off, or a mount that flexes in wind, turns a strong link into one that drops every stormy night. Both ends get aimed precisely and fixed to something solid.
Margin for weather
Heavy rain shaves signal off a long hop. We size the link with headroom above what the cameras need, so a wet week costs you nothing and the recordings never notice.
Honest far-end power
Half of all "the wireless dropped" complaints are actually the power supply at the gate browning out. The radio and switch at the far end need clean, reliable power. More on that below.
The architecture that works
The layout is simple and it is the same one I'd build every time: cameras into a small PoE switch at the gate, the switch feeds the bridge radio, the radio carries everything back to the house, and the recorder sits on your existing house network.
The recorder goes at the house for three reasons: power is more reliable, the box lives indoors, and the footage survives if someone takes to the camera post. The evidence is not stored next to the thing being watched.
On recording, the straight version: cloud recording is a subscription per camera, forever, and every minute of footage has to climb your internet uplink, the thin pipe on most rural connections. Local recording to your own box is bought once and holds weeks of footage. Record locally, use the cloud for remote viewing if you want it. Own the footage, don't rent it.
Power at the far end
No power at the gate is a more common blocker than no line of sight. If there is mains nearby, from a pump shed or a gate motor circuit, use it and be done. If there isn't, solar works, but only if you size it on the real load.
Cameras draw more than people expect. The spec sheet says a few watts, then night falls, the infrared LEDs switch on, and the draw climbs hard. Add the PoE switch and the bridge radio and a two-camera gate setup can sit at 15 to 25 watts around the clock, and it has to survive a run of cloudy winter days.
The battery and panel maths for a 24/7 load is worked through in our solar and battery sizing guide. The one rule: size from the real draw including night-time IR, never from the box.
Latency and reliability: what to expect
Latency over a point-to-point hop is a few milliseconds. For CCTV that is nothing: live view feels live and recordings do not care. If a stream stutters, blame a weak link or a struggling recorder, not the physics.
Reliability is a design outcome, not luck. A link built with clear path, solid mounts and signal margin runs for months untouched. What actually takes camera links down is far-end power failing and vegetation growing into the path, both preventable.
It will not be perfect. A link that drops for a minute in a violent storm and comes straight back is normal. If that minute matters, choose cameras with an SD card slot: they keep recording locally and backfill the recorder when the link returns.
When a 4G camera is the right answer
Fair is fair: sometimes you don't need a link at all. A 4G camera or trail camera needs no line of sight and no bridge. It needs mobile coverage, a SIM plan, and a battery or a small panel.
Where it wins: one camera, motion clips only, no realistic path back to the house, or a temporary job like lambing season or a spate of dumped rubbish. A trail camera on a back paddock gate that sends you a photo when something moves is a solved problem. Buy one and be done.
Where it loses: continuous recording chews through mobile data, live view is laggy and hostage to tower congestion, every camera is its own SIM and subscription, and the footage usually lives in someone else's cloud. Want live view, 24/7 recording or a second camera? The bridge wins on running cost every month after.
Who's at the gate: the doorbell use case
Once the bridge is up, the gate is just another part of your house network. A camera there can behave like a video doorbell: a visitor presses the button, your phone shows live video, and you talk to them through the speaker before you walk anywhere. No SIM, no monthly fee, it rides the same link as the cameras.
The same goes for keypads, intercoms and gate controllers. The bridge is not a camera product, it is a network out to the gate. The cameras are just the first thing you plug into it.
Who builds it
Long Range WiFi is the point-to-point service of Alien IT Solutions, an Australian IT and networks company with more than 18 years running wireless links and camera systems in rural Australia. Need coverage across a whole property rather than one link? See our sister service Paddock Networks, and if you are still sorting the connection itself, Starlink Rural.
Questions people ask
How much bandwidth does a security camera really use?
A typical 4MP camera at sensible settings streams around 4 to 6 megabits per second while recording continuously, and an 8MP camera pushed hard might do 8 to 12. The megapixels on the box do not set the load, the bitrate setting does. Add your cameras up at those numbers and you have the real figure the link needs to carry.
How many cameras can one wireless bridge carry?
A properly sized point-to-point link over a clear path carries a few hundred megabits, so several cameras at 4 to 6 megabits each barely dent it. The path and the mounting limit a camera link long before camera count does.
Should the recorder go at the gate or at the house?
At the house. Power is more reliable there, the recorder lives indoors, and the footage survives if someone damages the gear at the gate. Cameras plug into a small PoE switch at the gate, the bridge carries the streams back, and the recorder sits on your existing house network. Cameras with an SD card slot can buffer locally as a fallback.
Can I run a gate camera on solar?
Yes, but measure the real load first. A camera rated at a few watts can nearly double its draw at night when the infrared LEDs switch on, and the switch and radio draw around the clock too. Size the battery for cloudy days and the panel for winter sun from that real number, not the spec sheet.
Is a wireless link reliable enough for CCTV?
Yes, when it is built with margin. Latency over a point-to-point hop is a few milliseconds, which is nothing for live view or recording. Heavy rain can shave signal off a long link, so we size in headroom. Most camera link outages come from power at the far end or vegetation growing into the path, and both are preventable.
When is a 4G camera the better choice?
When you have one camera, you only need motion clips rather than continuous recording, and there is no realistic line of sight back to the house. A 4G trail camera on a back paddock is a solved problem. The moment you want live view, continuous recording or more than one camera, the wireless bridge wins on running cost fast.
Get eyes on the gate.
Tell us where the cameras need to go and what is between there and the house. We'll check the path, size the link and come back with a plan.
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