 | | Frequently asked questions |
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|  | | Answers |
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| | 1 | | | |
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Just £3.99 / €5.84 / $7.92 for 4 weeks orfor 4 weeks or £39.99 / €58.49 / $79.29 for a year (excluding standard operator charges.)
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| | 2 | | | |
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You can test this with the free compatability test.
Both the Phonewebcam Viewer and the compatibility test are java applications, so
check here if you don't know whether your phone is java enabled.
Some operators may block the installation of applications which is a practice known as
'garden-walling' - you need to check with your operator for this. The good news is that the vast majority of operators will happily allow
you to run Phonewebcam on your handset on both contract and PAYG.
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| | 4 | | | |
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Phonewebcam is a global product, so the most likely thing is that you didn't use the full international
country code and format of your mobile phone number when creating your account. For more information on the
correct format to use, click here. You should go through the 'Send to phone'
process again using the correct number, then log into the website using it and select the Merge function
on your 'My Account' page to add in the credit from your first account.
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| | 5 | | | |
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Log into your secure area on this website and use the Support form found on the 'Setup' tab.
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| | 6 | | | |
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Absolutely! The Phonewebcam Explorer allows you to view and organise public webcams on your PC. Make more
of your home broadband by finding interesting new webcams from around the world and adding them to the
Phonewebcam Directory to view on your phone. Click here to find out more.
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| | 7 | | | |
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Yes, you can set up associated accounts for employees, friends and family so that they can view your
webcam on a handset without needing a PC of their own. They can also use the Viewer for private cameras
that other Phonewebcam users allow them to see, for example a nursery or business, plus there
are many public webcams for them to view listed in the central Phonewebcam Directory.
What's more, unlike topping up phone accounts which has to be done separately, you can top up any or all
of the accounts you manage in a single credit card transaction.
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| | 8 | | | |
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Absolutely not. You can get it on your phone for just 4 weeks at a time, use the service as you need or
let it lapse if you want. All you need to do when you want to start using it again is top up - we'll keep
your account ready (unless you tell us not to!).
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| | 9 | | | |
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Totally. The system was designed from the start with the utmost security in mind. All user data and images
are scrambled using a custom 128 bit encryption scheme designed specifically for this purpose. All activity
is logged centrally and the network is constantly monitored for suspicious activity. If it is detected, it
will automatically block whatever caused it until fully investigated. Naturally the website uses SSL for all
logged-in user activity and the credit card system is handled by a trusted 3rd party - we never store or
see any credit card details. Plus no member of the Phonewebcam team is able to view your private camera
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| | 10 | | | |
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No - but of course it will work with one. Phonewebcam was designed to run on the widest possible range of
handsets, so ordinary GPRS models are fine. If it has java you'll most likely find it's a GPRS model anyway.
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| | 11 | | | |
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Your payment entitles you to use of a Viewer on one handset for the duration that your account is
in credit, so if you change your phone keeping the same phone number, log in to 'My account' and use
the 'Send to handset' button to send the Viewer to your new phone.
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| | 12 | | | |
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Log in and change your password on the 'My account' page to instantly stop any unauthorised individuals
being able to access private webcams on the Viewer.
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| | 13 | | | |
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Create a new account using your new phone number, then log in with it and use the Merge button on your
'My account' page to merge the old account into it. All your details and any outstanding credit will be
transferred to your new account and the old account deleted.
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| | 14 | | | |
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Not at all. We've been really careful to make it as easy as possible - we know exactly how much
trouble some phone software can be! We keep things simple by mirroring the system you are already familiar
with on your phone. You have one number for the account, and simply keep it in credit to use the service.
As far as loading the software on your handset, again it's easy because we send it all over the air - you'll
just get a series of simple prompts on your handset the first time you use it and it will be available on
a menu from then on. There is more information on how easy it is to use here.
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| | 15 | | | |
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No, you view an image on demand. If you have a fast connection and really want to, you can achieve
something close manually, but we wanted a system available to all and which won't cost a fortune to use.
Feedback from users indicates that usually all they want is a quick spot-check to see if the car is on the
drive, what the traffic's like on a motorway etc. which snapshots do fine. Plus with public cams you often
have no choice as the vast majority are image snapshots anyway.
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| | 16 | | | |
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Almost certainly. Most have an option to act as a basic webserver, so if you know the command to
request a snapshot (see your camera's documentation) just enter it in the "Generic HTTP WiFi/IP" box.
If your camera requires a login username and password, Phonewebcam can accommodate this too. You can
also set up a basic website relay and there's a built in FTP client for cameras which send timed
images to an FTP server. Some models have more advanced options which can trigger FTP bursts, which
offer basic recording facilities provided by the camera software itself. In most cases, Phonewebcam will
not disturb the existing setup of the camera, so you can still make use of any particular features such
as email motion detection, audio, pan/tilt etc. Support is being constantly added, so keep an eye on this
website for news of newer models. The current list is:
- Generic HTTP WiFi/IP camera
- Website relay
- Timed FTP image relay
- PEAK CLPK330 / CLPK330W
- AXIS 2100
- AXIS 2120/2400/2400+/2401/2401+/2420 PAL
- AXIS 2120/2400/2400+/2401/2401+/2420 NTSC
- D-Link Generic
- D-Link CAS-200W
- D-Link DCS-1000
- D-Link DCS-2000
- D-Link DCS-2100
- D-Link DCS-5300
- TRENDnet TV-IP200W
- AVerMedia NC100
- Canon Generic Network Camera
- Panasonic Generic
- Panasonic BL-C10
- Panasonic BL-C30A
- Panasonic WV
- Panasonic WV-NP472
- Sony SNC-M1
- Sony SNC-M3
- Sony SNC-M3
- Sony SNC-P5
- Toshiba IK-WB01A
- Toshiba IK-WB02A
- Toshiba IK-WB11A
- Toshiba IK-WR01A
There's another point worth mentioning regarding WiFi/IP camera support. Unfortunately, some of their
built-in webservers aren't too secure, which means if the camera doesn't support http authentication (which
Phonewebcam will use if available), anyone else can view the images should they discover its IP address.
To keep it safe you'd have to restrict its address to one on your private LAN, but that means you can't
directly see it from the internet. The Publisher fixes this by operating as a Camera Firewall - it's safe
to view from the internet because the images are encrypted and authenticated, but is fed from the private
WiFi/IP camera which can't be accessed outside your LAN. And of course, the transmitted data is scrambled
by Phonewebcam making it useless to man-in-the-middle snoopers. In effect, the Publisher turns insecure net
cameras into secure ones which serve mobile phones.
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| | 17 | | | |
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No! There are many cowboys in the mobile phone content business, so people are always wary of anything new.
Our whole business ethic depends on trust, so when we say we don't spam, we mean it.
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| | 18 | | | |
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Phonewebcam is independent and therefore separate from any phone operators. Topping up your phone account
won't add credit to your Phonewebcam account.
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| | 19 | | | |
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Phonewebcam is operated by OTAMate Technology Ltd, a well-respected European telecoms software and services
company. You certainly can trust us as your privacy is our utmost concern. Please feel free to check the
OTAMate website and the Phonewebcam privacy
statement.
Phonewebcam is not Spyware. When your PC communicates to our secure central server, it only sends the minimum
information needed to operate the system. We categorically never send anything not 100% related to the
Phonewebcam system. Unlike Spyware, we certainly don't send anything from anywhere else on your PC.
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| | 20 | | | |
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Yes - you need to assign a static IP address to your PC and port-forward to it via your router. This is an
easy process you do once, then forget about it. The port to use is the one you chose during installation
(default is 9866), but it can be changed after the event easily enough when you log into the website and
manage your account. There is some good information on this here.
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| | 21 | | | |
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Yes! We even have users monitoring property abroad in exactly this situation. A PC needs to be somewhere
in the setup to process the images for the handset, but it can be in your home or office separate from the
camera. Just go right ahead and install a normal Publisher on your PC - nothing extra is needed.
We are planning to offer a service where we run the equivalent software to your PC on our servers,
effectively taking the PC out of the loop where appropriate. This will be a separate service contract.
Please keep checking the website for further news.
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| | 22 | | | |
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This is easy and is included when your Phonewebcam account is in credit. Any Phonewebcam user can set
up a whitelist which holds the phone numbers of the other users that they are allowing to see their camera.
Just log into the website, choose "My cameras" and click on the little phone image to manage its whitelist.
You are then termed a "Service provider" as you are providing your camera as a service to others. When you
add users to your whitelist, your camera appears to them as a new entry on their Viewer under the Webcams
menu titled "My Services".
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| | 23 | | | |
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Public webcams are submitted to the central Directory by Phonewebcam Explorer users. When they do this,
their additions and changes don't appear in general searches until they have been approved by
Phonewebcam staff. This screening process ensures the cameras are up to date, correctly described and
suitable for general viewing. If rejected, only the account holder who submitted the webcam link will be
able to view it on their phone. Screening is never applied to private webcams because Phonewebcam staff
cannot access them.
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| | 24 | | | |
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Log into your secure area on this website and on your 'My Account' page if you are in credit, you can use
the option to re-send the Viewer to your phone. This will deduct 1 day's credit from your balance to cover
the cost involved.
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