The Night My Network Finally Lit Up

How a CCTV setup taught me about PoE, IP conflicts, CGNAT, IPv6, and building my own tool

Most stories about CCTV installations are boring.

You buy a kit. You plug it in. It works.

Mine didn’t.

Mine turned into a years-long journey through power supplies, IP addressing, PoE mysteries, CGNAT, dead mobile apps, IPv6, DDNS, and finally… an Android app I wrote myself just to make the system usable.

This is the story of how I stopped being “someone who connects cameras” and slowly became someone who understands systems. Read the full journey, technical challenges, and the engineering solutions on Medium.