Gap in sensor history - Arlo Baby

[cmackOTI]

Hi Arlo reps,

I bought an Arlo Baby (ABC1000) in April this year, and have been having constant problems with the device and service since then. I have persevered through the issues, and have tried to convince my partner that it'll all be fixed with the next Arlo update, the next version of IOS, the next whatever. However, after 6 months the time has come where both she and I are furious that a baby monitor, whose sole job is to allow us to monitor the most precious thing in both our worlds, is so unreliable that it fails to perform that one task often multiple times a day, including at night when we're asleep.

In my opinion, the Arlo Baby device and service are substantially unfit for purpose, and contain a number of major problems which have not been rectified by either NETGEAR or the Arlo product team in a timely manner. As such, I'm seeking a full refund of the purchase price for the Arlo Baby camera and Arlo Baby stand, per my consumer rights under Australian Consumer Law.

I've done all the basic troubleshooting, and some more advanced troubleshooting, and nothing has helped.

• Arlo Baby on the latest version at the time (currently 1.8.5.3, to fix the latest audio and streaming bugs)
• All Apple iOS devices (2 x iPhone 7 Plus, 1 x iPad Pro 1st Gen, 1 x iPad Pro 2nd Gen) on the latest version at the time (currently iOS 12.1)
• Arlo app uninstalled and reinstalled from Apple App Store
• Arlo Baby camera removed and re-added to Arlo app
• Arlo Baby camera removed and re-added to Apple HomeKit
• Arlo Baby power cycled (often multiple times per day to resolve issues - this infuriates my partner, especially when she has to walk into the room when our baby is sleeping)
• Arlo Baby reset to factory and set up from scratch

On the home network side:

• All Ubiquiti network gear (USG 3P, UniFi Switch 24, 3 x AP AC Pro) on the latest firmware at the time (with perhaps a week or so lag from release to install)
• Internet connection is Telstra NBN 50 fiber to the premises (FTTP). Speedtest.net regularly hits around 45 Mbps down, 18 Mbps up, including during the evening. Ping to local Telstra test server is 3ms. I have the Ubiquiti gear running periodic speed tests every 30 minutes, and the results are consistently similar.
• The room containing the Arlo Baby has a ceiling-mounted wireless access point, and the Arlo Baby has direct line of sight.
• The wireless AP controller shows the Arlo Baby connection with a signal strength of -44dBm, which is superb, and expected with approx. 2 metres line of sight between it and the AP.
• The 3 wireless APs are on 2.4GHz channels 1, 6, 11, and a site survey shows low channel utilisation for all 3 (~9% at idle), including interference. The 5GHz channels all show very low utilisation (~2% at idle).
• I've tried forcing the Arlo Baby to join either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz wifi bands - no difference.
• I've tried each of the 3 APs separately by taking the Arlo Baby around the house - no difference
• I've tried force associating the Arlo Baby with different APs from a fixed location - no difference

The problem is not my home network.

All the while my partner and I have experienced:

• Numerous 'The streaming service is reporting that the device is not streaming' errors (solution: keep closing the error message on the Arlo app and hope the stream starts up after the 5th/10th/20th error message is displayed)
• Numerous 'Your device is not connected' errors (solution: power cycle the Arlo Baby, and hope it starts working)
• Numerous silent failures of the audio/video stream (Arlo app sits on 'Connecting...' message continuously), until we realised the stream is broken or hear our baby crying when we are nearby (solution: calm the baby if crying, then power cycle the Arlo Baby and hope)
• Recently, live video working on both our iPhones, but not working (frozen image) on both our iPad Pros
• Stuttering audio and pixellated video when connected locally (which the latest firmware improves on)
• Consistently awful performance when outside the home over 4G (badly stuttering and laggy audio, and sub-1 frame per second video, if the video works at all), despite being able to consistently pull data at full speed (~18 Mbps) from other devices inside the home at the time (I strongly suspect Arlo's relay servers or data centre WAN links are badly under-specced)
• Missed recordings, and truncated manual recordings (e.g. 7 seconds recorded out of 60 seconds)

And the list goes on.

The sole purpose of the Arlo Baby Monitor System, and the reason I bought one, is to monitor a baby. Specifically, my baby. It has consistently failed to do this over the past 6 months in a substantially reliable manner, which is mandatory for product in this category. I would be irresponsible and negligent as a parent if I continued to accepted the product's inherent unreliability.

I've given the Arlo Baby time, effort, and patience - it's got great potential, and I've really wanted it to work. But it just doesn't.

Please let me know the next steps required to process a refund.

Sincerely,

Callum Mackintosh

[chefslim99]

iPhone X, was latest iOS until Apple updated yesterday. Doesn’t make sense 4k arlo cams work and baby ones don’t...why does it always have probelems at night and not during day? I would think this is your server connection issue, overloaded at night because more people use them??

[silvinnio]

Yes, contacted and told me to change channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4G. Not helped. The camera is still not steaming on that history gap. On that time, the app showing "connecting".
😞
Cannot rely on this situation. Looks like the firmware update did something wrong on our devices.
How can I downgrade manually the firmware?

[ShayneS]

@silvinnio

Have you tried to perform a factory reset and test the sensor again?

[silvinnio]

I have done factory reset few times, uninstalled - installed the mobile app, tried with many devices, changed the router.
Like I said in early posts, the problem for me is that the camera is not streaming, not the missing temp history.

[karltnz]

I have never had this delay in live stream until last night. 3 min delay between real time and when it’s playing back. Absolutely hopeless!!!!

[UsernameArlo]

Having same issue here.  The system is essentially useless now.  Used to be better but now seems to disconnect once or twice a day.  Have to keep going in and resetting by turning off and on.  Very annoying and know it is not a wifi issue as all my other house security arlos work perfectly fine.  The once camera we really want to rely on keeps failing us. 

firmware: 1.9.9.0_808

iOS: 13.1.2

[Retired_Member]

There’s not a fix and don’t bother calling support. They will do nothing but insult your intelligence, I’ve been having the issue since June. They offered a RMA but are asking me to ship my faulty device in so what do I use to monitor the baby or I have to pay. This organization is a joke like their products. Take it back if you can.

[ShayneS]

Are you still experiencing this issue with your Arlo Baby camera?

[silvinnio]

My Arlo Baby is still disconnecting. It is not only the sensors missing from history but the camera also not streaming on that history gap. See attached.

[Kateshryock]

Still not working. Did factory reset and keeps saying device is not connected. Going to have to buy a new monitor now. This product should be recalled. Support was useless until I got through to level 2 support. Have spent hours trying to fix this.

[cmfnotify]

Unfortunately my wife has abandoned using this as well. I've contacted support only to have them run me through bunch of typical troubleshooting steps only to return to the same issue.  The baby monitor is just to inconsistent to be trusted.  I believe a lot of issues are related to the mobile app, especially the inconsistency of geofencing.  The funny thing is I have 2 Arlo Q cameras and they don't exhibit the problems the baby cam do.  Rarely do I go through the effort of ever replying to message boards but stumbled upon this when looking to see if other people were having issues.  Unfortunately, it looks like Arlo has not fixed a great deal of the problems.  I even have their parent company Netgear's Orbit routers so you'd think they would work perfectly for streaming.

Arlo Fix - the app

Arlo Fix - your incoming network which clearly represents a bottleneck when viewing the cameras through mobile apps

Arlo Fix - how the monitor works with my mobile app when we are both on the same network, don't make me go through your network which would probably fix a lot of reliability issues

Arlo Fix - how you QA products so we don't keep seeing bad results

[ShayneS]

The Arlo development team is currently investigating reports on this issue. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information to share with the community.

[GENB]

Since the new app, the device often disconnects, resets and the notifications are so slow. My baby was crying for a good 5 minutes before any notification reached mine or my husbands phones. I’ve come off wifi to check it wasn’t our internet but the same problem occurs!
I had no problems with the old legacy app- anyone else having problems? At the moment it’s just not good enough

[cmfnotify]

Look at this rediculous response from support.  Basically telling me to go over an endless loop troubleshooting steps which I've already done several times with them on the phone.  This just shows how terrible the support around this product is.  If you continually keep doing all these steps it will do a good job of distracting you from realizing you bought a piece of garbage.  I really wanted to like Arlo but 0% chance I can trust them for my baby and my wife has already gone out and bought other devices.  

Arlo, setup and RMA for me so I can get my money back, suggesting I just keep doing the below steps is not acceptable.

Good day!

Thank you for updating your case. I apologize for the delayed response.

Going back to your case, please try the following steps and test if the same thing happens.
1. Log-in and log-out on the Arlo account.
- log-in using Arlo app.
- log-in using Arlo web. (https://my.arlo.com/#/login)
2. Log-in using different devices.
- use a computer, laptop, tablet, iPad, iPhone or Android phone.
3. Bring the camera close to the router.
- at least 3-5 feet away.
4. Restart the camera.
- click Settings > My Devices.
- select Camera > Restart.
5. Power cycle the camera.
- unplug the camera from the power outlet.
- re-plug it back after 2 minutes.
6. Reset the camera.
- To remove the camera from the account.
a. Log-in to your Arlo account.
b. Go to Settings> My Devices> Camera> Remove Device.
- Long press the reset button for 30 seconds.
- Wait for the blinking amber before re-adding the camera to your account.

[Matt89]

Our Arlo Baby consistently disconnects for short-long periods of time before re-connecting. This defeats the purpose of having a baby monitor that is wireless. Arlo is a well known brand and this has been a disappointing purchase. I have read that a firm ware update should have fixed this issue but we experience disconnections daily. The wireless strength is strong where we have the Arlo set up and no other wireless products have issues with connection.

[faultycam]

the camera always has trouble maintaining a stable live feed no matter if we are viewing from android phone, iphone, or amazon echo show. like it needs to buffer and reconnect all the time. when it buffers it kicks my live stream off of my amazon echo show. every 5-10 minutes i will have to ask alexa to reconnect to camera.  Blue status LED stays solid at all times.

all phone apps are up to date.

model: ABK1110C

firmware of camera: 1.9.9.0_808

On top of the buffering issues, the arlo baby cam keeps completely disconnecting once a day. and when it does this nothing will remedy it unless it is power cycled. this is troublesome as i rely on this throughout the day to keep an eye on a sleeping newborn.  again blue status LED on camera stays solid even when disconnected (except when power cycling, of course.) 

i read through quite a few old threads about similar (same?) issues and i didnt see a definitive solution. all the threads are 1-2 years old. anything I can try to get this working? as pricey as this system is, i really would expect it to work flawlessly.

Help anyone?

[Schilly]

I’ve been having similar issues with camera either not connecting, very choppy/pixelated video and sound, requiring a device restart. In addition this morning my wife noticed on her phone, everything appeared to be working as normal but the video hadn’t changed in what may have been an hour (we were sleeping but could tell by the light/dark levels in the room). When I was in the kitchen holding the baby the video still showed him sleeping in his crib. But the audio was accurate. For such an expensive and IMPORTANT device for the safety of our babies, we should not experience these foundational issues.

[CCLOP]

Hi there,
I have Arlo Baby ABC1000 for the past year, brand new camera, Iphone and Mac updated to last versions, same network all... have not used this device because it keeps crashing.
I have done anything possible to get it to work.
Help!

[StephenB]

Have you tried support? https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx

[Retired_Member]

Contact customer service and be persistent about requesting a RMA. I went through these troubles for months and after a RMA I’ve had no disconnects since whereas previously it was every 2 weeks.

[Retired_Member]

One of the main concerns I've been having too. Please let us have a direct connection to the monitor in case the internet is down or your servers.

[noodlestars]

Well... Reading the 70+ replies here is pretty discouraging...

We also have the ABC1000 model and I feel like the Arlo Legacy app worked better than the new app... but even that one sucked. My husband and I have tried pretty much all of these resets that everyone else have tried and it still doesn’t work and frustrates me to no end! The screen is just stuck and it LOOKS LIKE my baby is sleeping peacefully... or just not breathing or moving which is pretty f***ing scary!!! My husband and I have fought about this several times in the wee hours of the morning because he’s the more tech savvy one and I have to wake him to see why it’s not working... Again.
“Yes, I reset the internet and the router. Yes, I reset the base station. Yes, I turned my phone off and on. Yes, I deleted the app and reinstalled it... THREE TIMES. Yes, I tried doing all of that again. You try it now!”

What the definition of INSANITY? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results... YEAH. This device is the epitome of INSANITY!
*pulls hairs out that’s not already falling out on its own*

I agree with everyone here. It has ONE JOB! SIDS is a real scare and seeing my baby on a frozen screen appearing to not move nor breathing is scary! And yes, the issue seems to get worse at night when you need it the most! I started sleeping on the floor in my baby’s room since couldn’t rely on the Arlo Baby to not freeze and turn off during the night. After a night of sleeping on the floor, I ended buying a Vtech audio only monitor at Target the next day so I can at least hear if my baby is crying or not. I always have a lullaby playing (on a BT speaker connected to an old iPhone... cuz I don’t wanna use the Arlo music feature in case that bogs down its primary functions) in his room while he’s asleep so I know if the monitors are working... the Vtech one works just fine with hardly any delay... the Arlo Baby on the other hand... I’m lucky if there’s a delay! Most of the time it’s not working and is just stuck. The screen doesn’t even turn off and just displays the same frozen image for hours.

I bought a cheaper off-label 2.4 ghz camera for my car (cuz I have a hard time seeing what my baby’s doing in his rear facing car seat while I’m driving) which works 1000x better and more reliable than this camera! I’ve been looking at other 2.4 ghz monitors on Amazon since I can’t rely on the Arlo Baby... Which will probably cause another issue with my husband who thinks I’m turning into a crazy baby monitor lady, with my collection of baby monitors!

The other Arlo cams we have seem to work great, that’s why we thought Arlo Baby would be a nice addition to our system. But so far, it’s the most expensive piece of Arlo equipment we have that does the least satisfactory work. Disappointing. We probably would’ve been better off just getting another regular Arlo cam.

Contacting customer support sounds futile and honestly, I don’t have time to call (Let’s be honest, I barely have time to sleep/shower/eat with a newborn baby!) just to be told to do what my husband and I have already tried doing several times.

I just want to follow this thread to see if anyone has any luck on getting the issue resolved or the device returned/refunded.

[AandS]

Add me to the list of frustrated owners. I have an ABC1000 and it's monitoring my newborn twins, or should I say, supposed to.

Over the last couple of weeks, it has been disconnecting once or twice a day. We would go to the camera and power cycle the battery. Lately though, it's happening more frequently and at the time of this righting, it won't even connect. It just keeps saying "connecting..."

Has anyone (Arlo) figured this out yet?

Shayne, you said in an earlier post that the team is reviewing the concerns so many people have posted here. What is going on?

I bought an Arlo Ultra 4 camera system for my home and found the Arlo baby to be an excellent companion for the system (it just makes sense!), but not if I can't monitor my babies!

We can't wait. What are you guys doing about this?

[Archer666]

Im also having the same issue with the random disconnects, they are always at the worst possible time as well!

Very close to considering a full refund under Australian Consumer Law as this item is not fit for purpose at the moment...

[Narmag]

I am also having the same issues since day one. I think this product is faulty and Netgear (Arlo) is doing a crime selling this product, advertising it as a BABY MONITOR. I think someone must sue this company! How dare you sell this to the public? You must recall ALL the sold monitors and replace them with newer versions or give a full refund. Moreover it looks like the Arlo team lacks any technical knowledge. It's surprising how people like them got an IT job, when they all should be unemployed!