Surveillance cameras, mistakenly connected to the wrong frequency, jam the mobile network of an entire neighborhood

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Alexandre Boero

Clubic news manager

May 10, 2024 at 7:08 p.m.

2

A surveillance camera © Keng_Bandit / Shutterstock

A surveillance camera © Keng_Bandit / Shutterstock

Connected to a frequency band reserved for an operator for its mobile network, surveillance cameras have unwittingly caused mayhem in the Rhône. The National Frequency Agency had to intervene.

A telephone operator noted, at the start of the year, that 3G services in an entire district of the town of Loire-sur-Rhône, located around thirty kilometers from Lyon, were no longer operating normally. Mobile Internet and telephony have become shaky, the fault of interference caused by… surveillance cameras. The ANFR, the National Frequency Agency, returned to this episode, explaining how we got there, and how things were able to work out.

Relay antennas jammed by surveillance cameras

The operator in question, whose identity is unknown (perhaps Free Mobile, or Orange or SFR, Bouygues not having a pylon in the area), noticed at the end of January 2024 that two of its Relay antennas were experiencing interference in the 2.6 GHz frequency band.

The ANFR wave hunters then went to the location of one of the antennas to observe the interference. Then using their radio direction finder, they let themselves be guided and drive towards the place where the level of emission of the interfering frequency is the highest.

They stop a little less than a kilometer from the antenna, as the crow flies, in front of a transport company. This time equipped with a directional antenna and a receiver, the ANFR agents came across the equipment causing the jamming of mobile installations: surveillance cameras connected via Wi-Fi to a central video protection system.

Spectral survey of the disturbing emission © ANFR

Spectral survey of the disturbing emission © ANFR

The company in question used its Wi-Fi network outside the authorized frequency band

The famous video surveillance cameras operated via Wi-Fi on a central frequency of 2.525 GHz, which is supposed to be, if we rely on the frequency chart, reserved for radiolocation and the mobile network.

Wi-Fi has a spectrum that starts at 2.4 GHz (2400 MHz) and ends at 2.483 GHz (2483.5 MHz). This means that the surveillance cameras were using Wi-Fi that was not supposed to work around the 2.525 GHz band.

The ANFR agents were quickly able to realize that the company where the Wi-Fi video protection system was installed was in good faith. His manager, in front of the wave hunters, launched the web programming interface of his system. It was simply necessary to reprogram the system to the “EU” standard, for Europe, to properly transmit in the authorized frequencies. These configuration errors can occur with equipment manufactured outside the European Union. It is often enough to choose, when starting it, the zone or country of use, so that the Wi-Fi channels used are those authorized in France.

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Source : ANFR

Alexandre Boero

Clubic news manager

Clubic news manager

Journalist, responsible for Clubic news. Reporter, videographer, host and even singer-imitator, I wrote my first article in 6th grade. I made this vocation my profession (graduated from the EJC...

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Journalist, responsible for Clubic news. Reporter, videographer, host and even singer-imitator, I wrote my first article in 6th grade. I made this vocation my profession (graduated from EJCAM, a school recognized by the profession), to write, interview, film, edit and produce written, audio or video content on a daily basis. Some chemistry with Tech, certainly, but also with the world of media, sport and travel. In addition to journalism, video production and animation, I have a YouTube channel (in my name) which should pique your curiosity if you like beautiful walks around the world, new technologies and music 🙂

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