Arlo Baby camera video feed disconnecting and unable to reconnect.

[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

[TwinCitiesJHawk]

I have not moved the router in over a year. Issue didn’t start until about a week ago. I’ve rebooted the router and the modem Numerous times. This is the only device having issues. I have another arlo baby, arlo ultra , arlo pro 2 and arlo video doorbell that all work fine. @ShayneS

[ShayneS]

@TwinCitiesJHawk

I have escalated this issue & your escalations number is 41770781

[jaydayclay]

Yes the same happens to ours and has for quite a long time. With ours, if I look in the temperature graphs I’ll see a gap in the graph and then the temperature after the gap is much higher than the actual temperature. It goes back down after a half hour or so. Not sure if it’s actually overheating or if this is just a bug.

[TwinCitiesJHawk]

Still having issues with disconnecting til this day. @ShayneS

[acountingsheep]

Adding 1 more case to the growing list.  My unit has completely died after just 8 months of use.  I opened a case with support but not expecting much.  Luckily I purchased this at Costco and can probably get their concierge services involved, or at least get my money back through them.  Doubt Arlo is going to resolve it that way... which is what they should do, knowing this product is a complete failure and not able to be remedied.

[RitaDF]

I’m having the SAME EXACT BAD EXPERIENCE since I started use it. I called the support several times and the only think that they told me is that they can only replace the camera and they are not able to give me a refund.
My baby is 4 months old and I was not comfortable to live him unattended during the night be suor the continuous disconnecting from the monitor. Me and my husband uses really frustrated and we don’t know what to do. If you know a way that we can have a refund please let me know.

[infinitebeard]

@RitaDF If you can't return it to where you bought it from then I would cut your losses and sell it on ebay, then buy a Eufy spaceview – it's not a smart monitor but it gives you peace of mind. You'll thank me down the line, don't spend this time fighting with a terrible product/company.

[RitaDF]

Thank you for your suggestion, I will try to return it to Costo but because they have the 90 days return policy I don’t think they will refund me...

[Av8or1ab]

Add be to the list too. Just got a new house and am getting rid of all my Arlo products now. I'm sick of the horrible app and horrible support.

[Choochy]

I am having the exact same issue for a while now, only just come across this discussion now. Looks like everyone is having similar issues. 😞 

[Retired_Member]

I have the same issue.  I bought the Arlo Baby intending to use my Google Home Hub and Nest Hub Max screens as display monitors (in addition to using the app on my phone).  The delay and inevitable disconnection make it a worthless integration.  Reconnecting to Google Home and rebooting have done zero to resolve this issue.  

[Mischad]

Ever since we have bought the Arlo Baby camera there are problems with the video feed. Most of the time there is no video feed in the application. Other info in the app does work like temperature, battery status.
It is even possible to remotely switch on/off the light and speaker. The video/audio shows connecting most of the time.

This is not what u want for a baby monitor.

Firmware = 1.9.13.0_815. Our internet connection is stable at 250/25mbit.

[Nicoleiv]

I’m having ALL OF THESE SAME ISSUES! This camera is a piece of overpriced junk. Ever since I bought it (TWO MONTHS AGO!) it has just progressively gotten worse and worse. The app is completely useless. It rarely if ever captures video or audio. Constant connection issues (my internet is fine) just doesn’t connect. Gives us the endless revolving circle and sometimes half an hour later it’ll magically start to work again.
And the icing on the cake! It says LIVE and shows me my baby sleeping in the crib........ I guess that would be fine, if HE WASNT SITTING IN MY LAP. I would like for someone to get in touch with me about a refund or replacement with something that actually works, because this product does NOT do what it was intended to do. What a waste of time and money.

[Av8or1ab]

So I had a support call with them where we went through all my phone settings on both an Android and an iPhone. Took 80 mins to do everything and eventually we generated a log file to send to the support team. Haven't had an update since and they want me to help debug the issue further. I don't have time to do that, I'm working still. I want them to ship and support the product in a way that is safe for me and my family. I have a 7 year old dropcam that is 10x more stable than this pile.

[ShayneS]

Hello community,

I have a few questions for those of you still experiencing your device disconnecting or the stream stopping.

1. Have you experienced this issue lately? If so, how frequently does this occur?
2. When this issue occurred, did you happen to power off the device (Pull the power plug)? or let it sit before starting another live stream, If so how long?
3. Are you using the original power adapter & power cable?
4. Has there been a change in the location of your camera since the issue occurred?
5. Is your camera located by a heat source such as windowsill?
6. Are you using the Skin ears with the camera?

Thank you

[wolfpup]

1. Have you experienced this issue lately? If so, how frequently does this occur? Every day, about every 30-45 minutes it says "connecting"
2. When this issue occurred, did you happen to power off the device (Pull the power plug)? or let it sit before starting another live stream, If so how long? We've tried both.  I let it sit about 15 minutes at the longest before closing the app and starting it again.  
3. Are you using the original power adapter & power cable? Yes
4. Has there been a change in the location of your camera since the issue occurred? It has never worked well in any room and has never worked with our Echo Show. 
5. Is your camera located by a heat source such as windowsill? No
6. Are you using the Skin ears with the camera? Yes

We have a 7 week old.  Right now, I don't feel safe using this product to monitor my child.  

[Hoyitalvin]

Happens to me everyday. My wife got so mad we ended up just getting a non WiFi baby camera infant optics. This product gave us nothing but a headache. The techs even sent me a replacement and still does it.

[Av8or1ab]

1. Yes, every day, each time I use the camera.

2. No, it's in my son's room and he is sleeping. It's a baby monitor, cycling power is not an option. We usually restart the app to try and get the features to come back. Features like video.

3. Yes

4. Yes we have moved to try and improve things. We have tried different wireless routers, and different configurations. It's the horrible phone app.

5. No

6. Yes. Although we have tried without it as well.

[StephG]

This used to happy just once in a while, but now it’s almost every night. I wake up either in the middle of the night or in the morning and the Arlo app has either closed or has stopped. If it’s stopped, it takes forever to connect again. This happens on both iPad and iPhone. WiFi is not the problem and I have relaunch the app and checked for updates. Any ideas of what else I can do?

[StephG]

1- it was only once in a while for a few months (no issues ever before) but the last 2 months? It is every night.
2- no
3- yes, original cord and plug
4 - no change in location
5 - no
6- yes, still have the bunny ears on.

[TwinCitiesJHawk]

Have you experienced this issue lately? If so, how frequently does this occur? Yes every day within the last 2-3 weeks mainly. I have 2 cameras in separate rooms and both stop or disconnect

When this issue occurred, did you happen to power off the device (Pull the power plug)? or let it sit before starting another live stream, If so how long? Both

Are you using the original power adapter & power cable? Yes

Has there been a change in the location of your camera since the issue occurred? No

Is your camera located by a heat source such as windowsill? No

Are you using the Skin ears with the camera? 1 yes 1 no

[weakwire]

I had very similar issues to the ones I am reading here. Constant disconnections on the arlo app, amber and purple light all the time on the device. At the same time the homekit app was working fine.

I just found the solution to my problems. It looks like that my router was setup to send everything through VPN. Once I disabled the VPN for my camera it works like a charm. Maybe this will help someone here.

[Dnh87282]

How do I go about doing this through the router? I need to find a solution so my two cameras actually work

[mmargino]

I am having the same issues described and I seek a refund.

[ShayneS]

Hi @mmargino

Please contact the Support Team regarding this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link. Arlo Tech Support