Review on Foscam FI8918W Wireless Camera Viewing by Jose Strong

ordered two of these from Amazon Prime. both arrived on time as before, with boxes wrapped in a piece of cardboard inside a large box. Everything looked fairly new, although nothing had been sealed. I don't know if they were originally sealed. I turn on camera 1, I can't bring up the camera control panel. it still rejects the factory default password. After several tries I tried a full camera reset and lo and behold it works. which makes me strongly suspect that someone before me couldn't get this thing to work, so they sent it back and amazon/this seller sold me the item in an open box. since i bought two, the rather cryptic instructions on the disc (not in the manual) told me to download the multi-camera app, which i did. However, this app was buggy and I couldn't add regions or cameras to the view, rendering it unusable. On a whim I spent some time on the internet until I found and downloaded updates for this multi camera app as well as the single camera control panel. all of a sudden it worked. not easy or intuitive but after a lot of trial and error I was able to see what was on the first camera. Install the second camera and I had the same problem as the first camera. Hard reset also works. Peach. I can now see everything on my network on both desktop and mobile apps. Score. Driving to work the next day and trying to use the camera app but it doesn't work. Search the web for more, and everyone (Foscam support forum, camera manual, multi-camera application manual, Foscam recommended port forwarding website, etc.) has a different story: use port forwarding; use port 80; do not use port 80; use port 8090; use port 88; use port 85; use progressively higher port numbers for additional cameras; Use DDNS; open a demilitarized zone; use UPnP; open ports on multiple routers; use internal IP addresses; Use myfoscam DDNS URLs; use external IP addresses; etc. yes I have tried literally everything. hours of my life. wasted. I called Foscam tech support and ended up in a queue. 15 minutes later, a technician is using remote software to manage my desktop. it does all of the above, fails, and says it's my ISP's problem. Time Warner is probably blocking those specific ports somehow. =/ I said fuck it, put both cameras back in the box so I can sell them to another poor fool and asked for a refund from Amazon. Please note that we also have a summer baby internet cam surveillance system and it was literally plug and play. No problem, I can see everything at once, both inside and outside my network. to the poor fool who gets these cameras when inevitably they are sold again as new. sorry buddy