topic Re: Connect Arlo Cameras to Existing Wi-Fi in Arlo

Connect Arlo Cameras to Existing Wi-Fi

DaveHamilton — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 18:09:34 GMT

After spending an hour today trying to figure out why my neighbor's NETGEAR76 network was so strong in my house, I realized, of course, that this was my Arlo Base Station. According to a related thread here, Arlo broadcasts an 802.11n SSID over 2.4GHz so that the cameras can all connect to it. Fine. A little weird, but fine.

But that got me to thinking: why do the cameras have to connect to the Arlo Base Station's Wi-Fi? I don't need extra Wi-Fi in my house. I've got a ton of Wi-Fi running here. Quite frankly, my Arlo cameras suffer because of it. Their ability to connect back to the base station is weak... but if they could connect to my own Wi-Fi access points that are right next to them, well, that would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it?

Is this possible?

Re: Connect Arlo Cameras to Existing Wi-Fi

jguerdat — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 21:16:39 GMT

Theoretically, it's a security feature. By having a dedicated WiFi connection, the encrypted data would be harder to compromise.

It's also unlikely that Arlo is causing problems with your WiFi although some folks have found that moving their base away from their router has helped with issues. I have a base dang near touching the antennas of my high-powered router with no problems.

Re: Connect Arlo Cameras to Existing Wi-Fi

DaveHamilton — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 21:20:19 GMT

Arlo was causing problems with my Wi-Fi, until I realized Arlo was on channel 11 (and wasn't moving) and manually moved my other Wi-Fi off of Channel 11 (I was lucky, some mesh systems don't let you choose the channel, of course).

But my *other* Wi-Fi. isn't my issue. I'm looking to solve my Arlo problem: my cameras are spread out around my house and there's no good place for me to put the one Arlo base station to serve them all. If I could tell my cameras to connect to my house's Wi-Fi, then I wouldn't have to worry about that.

Re: Connect Arlo Cameras to Existing Wi-Fi

jguerdat — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 21:57:55 GMT

Still won't happen but you could use a second base so each base is optimally positioned for certain cameras.