I have a piece of recreational/hunting property in the boondocks. There is NO cell phone signal and likely never will be due to population density. (NO cell signal means Nada, zip, zero)
We are hooked up to grid electrical power at the only building. (the cabin)
Land line telephone with DSL 15 Mbps internet is available for about $55 per month.

While at the property during deer season, we noticed ATV tracks in the powerline right-of-way. Further inspection showed a new "cable" was strung on the power poles.

With some investigation, the new "cable" is fiber optic line for broadband internet. The system is due to become active in the spring. 100 Mbps up/down for $55 per month. Higher speeds available at greater cost.

To me it's a NO BRAINER, get the fiber optic internet. Cell phones work with WiFi enabled calling. Streaming TV & Movies. Surveillance camera system. The sky is the limit. Yay! Technology in the boondocks.

So here is the question. How do I get cell system enabled trail camera's integrated into the broadband? We're talking about roughly 70 acres, and longest distance from the cabin for line of sight is just over a mile.

I need my own cell tower at the cabin to service the property for trail camera's. Stringing miles of coaxial cable in the woods is out of the question.

We have trail camera's deployed at the property. Changing out the SD cards takes time, energy, and distributes human scent where and when we don't want it distributed.

I need cell phone system trail camera's that sent photo's to my email or texted to my cell phone.

Anyone have any good ideas?

Do the trail cameras ONLY use cell?
Or can they also use WiFi? (2.4 or 5.8)
Do the trail cameras have some way of staying powered? (solar? hardline powerlines run? really damn good batteries?)

Are you actually open to the idea of a cell tower at your cabin?
Is that even legally feasible?


From a pure technology perspective...
I used to work for a company down in Florida that provided broadband internet via wireless.
We'd have antennas setup on either cell towers or skyscrapers and beam signals down into businesses or neighborhoods.
The same could be done here assuming you were able to:
1) get high enough above the trees at your cabin to get line of sight (LOS) to each camera
2) have cameras that can receive the signal that you're broadcasting (wifi vs cellular vs whatever else)
3) have enough power output on each side to reach the distance AND punch through any vegetation in the way.

Other concerns:
Lightning. Storms coming through always played havoc on our systems.
If stuff wasn't grounded properly (or even if it was), a bad lightning hit could take out whole segments of our network.

Cost. All that equipment can cost some serious coin - esp if you get nailed by the abovementioned lightning and have to replace stuff.

Dang, I can get cellular here, but no internet that’s not cellular based. Fiber, that’s not happening here.

My thoughts would be try to find WiFi connected cameras and set up a mesh type network.

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
I have a piece of recreational/hunting property in the boondocks. There is NO cell phone signal and likely never will be due to population density. (NO cell signal means Nada, zip, zero)

No cellular signal from any provider at all, or just your preferred provider?

It seems very unlikely to me the housing density is high enough to justify electrical grid, telephone, and now fiber optic services, but there's no cellular services at all.

One of my best friends has a big chunk of property out in the boonies. There are no utility poles for miles of his property. Needless to say: No power, phone, or broadband. But there is marginal cell service.

As to your question: Unless a cell provider wants a site on your property and you want a cell tower on it, then I'd say you're SOL. And that far out in the boonies, it'll probably be a rather big tower. (Read: Eyesore.)

No, you cannot put your own cell tower on your property, if that's what you're thinking. Not feasibly, anyway. Anything's possible with enough money

No cell signal from anybody. No cell phones work there. The general lay of the land is mountainous, and we are in the valley. No commercial cell towers within 20 miles.

While at the property, I have had a random text appear on my phone, maybe three times in 15 years. But to get a reliable voice call, you need to drive up out of the valley.

The County did put up a large communications tower at the Landfill, some 8 or so miles away. The County is using it for a EMS relay station. Their thought was with the tower already up, one of the cell providers would hang the antenna(s) on it. That was a decade ago and still no takers. With a tower already erected, all the cell providers need is antenna(s) and infrastructure. No takers...

You are correct, I do not want a commercial cell tower on my property.

I do want a small privately owned cell tower with a range of several miles tops.

Cell enabled trail camera's need cell service. I am unaware of any that use WiFi. They run for a year or more on a big handful of "AA" Lithium batteries.

Wouldn't a mesh WiFi system require having 120 VAC and a coaxial cable strung to each use point? That's a big NO for me.

Contact these folks about your cellular antenna stuffs.

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/

I may be incorrect, but I believe everything Wilson sells requires existing usable cell signal.

Also what they sell services buildings up to 25,000 square feet.
70 acres is 3+ million square feet. With lots of vegetation.

A cell booster/amplifier just isn't going to make the grade at my location.

I need a small cell tower I can connect to broadband.

No knowing the exact topography of you land plot or distances you have to travel to get cell service, you may want to check out the offerings from Cuddeback. I have used these where I work with pretty good luck.

That cuddleback system (stated by bulldog) looks feasible for you.
Looks like they offer 2 distinct types:
1) CuddleLink
All cameras wirelessly daisy chain images back to "home" camera.
Pull SD card from camera to view images

2) CuddleLink Cell
Same as above, however the "home" camera connects to a cellular network and sends the images via email.

Option 2 sounds like the easiest IF you also get a small local in-home cellular range extender.
I've used those with good success myself in the past. It's a device that simply gets plugged into your home internet network and broadcasts a cellular signal in a semi-small surrounding area (generally the rough size of a house).
So if you had the "home" camera in close enough proximity to your cell extender - done deal!

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
No cell signal from anybody. No cell phones work there. The general lay of the land is mountainous, and we are in the valley.

I suspected that might be the case.

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
With a tower already erected, all the cell providers need is antenna(s) and infrastructure. No takers...

That "infrastructure" would include a big private data pipe to supply the cell tower with a data connection. I'm going to guess that location is miles and miles away from the closest access to such a thing. Thus you're talking probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in undertaking costs to get it there.

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
You are correct, I do not want a commercial cell tower on my property.

The question is probably moot. No cell provider would likely be interested in putting a cell tower in a valley like that, anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
I do want a small privately owned cell tower with a range of several miles tops.

That is not even remotely feasible. The financial, technical, and regulatory hurdles would be prohibitive.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I use a Samsung 4G network extender here at the house.
It works great for the house and yard.
I need a device just like it at the property, with longer range!

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I use a Samsung 4G network extender here at the house.

That's technically known as a "femtocell."

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
I need a device just like it at the property, with longer range!

The largest of such devices are metrocells. They are expensive.

Search on keywords such as "femtocell," "picocell," "microcell," and "metrocell" to see what's available.

I have not priced something like this in over a decade but https://www.engeniustech.com/ and https://www.ui.com/ both have equipment that can easily cover cover the area.

Bulldog,
It appears the Cuddeback system will do what I need. I can put the Home unit inside the cabin. It will connect to the cell system via a femtocell unit (cell system network extender) using broadband internet.
I can deploy up to 16 camera's on the property and using repeaters as the land is mostly forested.
We will see what the budget can withstand. I will be able to see thumbnail photos on my smart phone or PC from the house. The SD card in the Home unit inside the cabin will have all the full resolution photo's collected from all the deployed camera's.
Thanks to all who responded!

cee_Kamp: can you please post the make and model number(s) of the cameras that you plan to use?

Oh, wait, reading further, Cuttleback provides the cams too. Complete system. Looks very promising.