Re-open Arlo Baby disconnecting

[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

[reubenfarrelly]

I'm not sure I exactly agree with it isn't an app issue as well. My wife and I have the exact same phones, on the exact same WiFi, accessing the exact same cameras and I do not have an issue but she does. I haven't updated my app since probably August and she has. So if it wasn't partially an app issue, why do I not have problems yet my wife does?

I definitely wouldn't be confident that the issue I am seeing is the only issue.  In your case it sounds like it may be a separate issue and it could well be app related.

From a troubleshooting perspective I've picked the low hanging fruit, ie the issue I can see and is pretty obvious for now.  I'm trained to work from the lower layers (physical and network) to the upper layers (app) since if the underlying network is broken, the apps that rely on it are probably experiencing issues as well.

[reubenfarrelly]

Because the Arlo baby isn’t sold anymore anywhere, it leads me to believe that they discontinued the product all together and just got rid of the staff and support specifically for Arlo baby.

Really?  It's still on the website, and JB Hifi here in Australia still seem to stock it.  I bought mine only a few weeks ago, but baby isn't due until March/April so for now I am just testing it.  I figured it would give me a bit of time to get the bugs fixed 😉

[chefslim99]

I have been waiting for 4 years I think...I would return it...

[exarlobaby_user]

0/5 would not recommend.

We returned our Arlo Baby after 3 days via Amazon.

We originally bought it to replace a google nest camera (mostly because the Nest app doesn't work on Apple TV, and the picture-in-picture via the native Apple Home app is something we wanted). 

But after experiencing the same issues intermittent "The camera is not responding" messages that had no obvious source (I won't bore anyone with the details but I am technically literate) PLUS the forums here seem riddled with the same (or substantially similar) problems that have been going on since 2017 (from what I could tell searching the forum).

The typical response form company moderators here is "contact support", yet subsequently people have complained that support has not been forthcoming.  [Also you'd expect if this was a throughly resolved issue, there would be a simple page of instructions to that people could be directed to for troubleshooting.]

In any case, the end result is that we just boxed it up and asked Amazon to come and collect it... we'll happily put up with some of the lack of features of Nest given that it is at least reliable for its fundamental purpose... i.e. it at least works as a basic baby monitor with movement notifications.

I wouldn't normally bother posting a review, but given the sheer number of people suffering the same class of problem, in my opinion its entirely not appropriate to claim this is fit for purpose as a baby monitor.

[Abraden]

FYI if you are looking for Apple compatibility we switched to the Logitech Circle View camera and have been super pleased. Allows Picture in Picture, can be controlled from the Home App and has never once failed since we made the switch. It doesn’t have everything but my anxiety level has dropped now that I can count on it to work when I want to see our baby. The Arlo camera and accessories now sits in a cupboard at my in laws in case it ever gets fixed so we will have a camera there when we visit (I’m not even close to hopeful that will actually happen).

[reubenfarrelly]

@exarlobaby_user I have contemplated sending mine back as well.  I have 6 Nestcam's already, and if the issues with this Arlo Camera don't progress I'll be sending it back and getting another Nestcam.  Which is a shame because I like the features of the device but the operation of it is awful.

I have had some reponses from support, so far mostly scripted questions but I'll give them a fair go first before I give up.  I've had the thing for a month now and it has never worked reliably.  Baby is due in late March/early April and at that point this will become critical but I want to make progress well before then.  Given how easy it is to reproduce the problem (for me I can just disconnect the Baby Monitor from the Wifi Access Point and it never connects back...) I am quite puzzled as to why this is still an issue and why Arlo has not realised that the product is fundamentally flawed and needs fixing.

Support have told me to factory reset, which I did yesterday (do these things not come in a "factory reset" state from the factory?).  After doing that the access to the camera settings from the app is busted on both my and my wife's phone and the only way I can get to many of the settings is via the Web UI online.

[reubenfarrelly]

@Abraden I suspect these issues can be fixed or at least worked around, it strikes me as it may well be a software issue which could be addressed via a firmware update.

Even a script on the device which sent a ping every minute and restarted the Wi-fi interface if the ping failed would be a dirty hack but would ensure the device was almost usable (well, more usable than they are now where they need power cycling to come back).

[reubenfarrelly]

Just to conclude my experience with the Baby Monitor - the support agent who last responded to my case suggested (as part of standard script troubleshooting steps), that my unit may be faulty and they wanted to RMA it, so I took the chance to print that out and take it with my receipt back to the retailer I purchased the Baby Monitor from as evidence that the Baby Monitor didn't work as advertised.

I don't think there's any hardware fault with it at all, as this problem has all the hallmarks of a software defect, but the human baby is due in 6 weeks and I have absolutely zero confidence that Arlo Support would have this thing in any way operational before then.  Support have made me jump through lots of irrelevant hoops (such as factory resetting the device even though it came from the factory in a reset state, deleting and re-adding the device from my account to see if it still lost connectivity - neither of which worked and showed a lack of understanding of the problem).  It feels like I was still working with Level 1 support who don't have a clue what the problem is and didn't understand what Wi-fi is or how it works.

This garbage grade hardware with inferior support has gone back and I now have a refund.  That's the first and last Arlo device I will ever be buying.

[BorisD]

Arlo, you can't be serious. The community clearly points out the issues of your system in a very detailed manner. This thread is open for more than 2 years and still there is no bugfix in sight as this is clearly a software based issue. You do realize, that your product is supposed to monitor babies. What does it take to finally wake you up and at least have the decency to explain the issue to the community. I'm really asking myself why there hasn't been a lawsuit against you yet as this is clearly fraud. You've got time to develop and sell nice little kitty ears but don't mind providing the basic features of a baby camera. That's just Insane. Unfortunately I bought 2 of your cameras which I have to factory reset every other day to establish a working connection. My camera just randomly loses connection. When I open the app it sometimes works for a split second and then returns to the 'no connection' screen even though I can find the camera in my router. Ridiculous. Fix it! **bleep** fix it before a baby comes to harm because of your product. Keep us updated about the progress. It's covid time, you should have the time to work on this.

Please don't contact me with any first level support bull**bleep**. I've tried them all and thanks to this community I had very specific steps I could take. Unfortunately none worked (perfect network, updates, factory reset etc.)

[NaLav27]

I have the same problem like others who have this Arlo baby .
It is always disconnected all the time, we have the fastest internet at home but it is keep disconnected all the time.
Very annoying and frustrating because I can’t hear or see what happen with the baby when I’m asleep and the camera is suddenly disconnected!
You guys need to take this seriously and fix this problem. I read also what others who has this Arlo baby camera and many having the same kind of problem as me!

[reubenfarrelly]

Yep.  I took mine back and purchased a far more expensive but more capable unit starting with the letter N and have had exactly 0 drop outs (or problems reconnecting if I restart my Wi-fi access points), 0 app problems and 0 issues.  Haven't even needed to do a factory reset when new from the factory either.

Clearly my Wi-fi was not the problem afterall - don't put up with junk technology and poor support!

[Skatko]

If anyone is seriously interested in the Arlo Baby perhaps you should consider other alternatives. I got the Arlo baby because I have 6 other comeras I pay a subscription for and liked those so figured I would like my new baby camera. My son is not even a year and a half and it broke. There’s no reset, no warranty, no help. Never changed my Internet provider and all of a sudden decides to kick out of Wifi. Don’t waste your money.

[Jayman0018]

I'm opening a new thread because I see all the old ones have been conveniently (for Arlo) been closed due to inactivity.

I have an Arlo baby still within warranty that disconnects all the time. We bought this for our newborn and by the time our baby came is that we started to use the camera and then noticed how often it disconnects. I called Arlo to complain bc I have a wifi 6 eero pro 6 mesh network router and MANY electronics including 9 Arlo Cameras and this is the only device in my home that doesn't stay connected. I furiously explained to tech support that I have restarted/rebooted/reset the device several times and it still connects but then disconnects every other day or so. My wife and I can't trust the baby in the crib with this camera bc what if it turns off in the night. I requested a refund about 4 months later and they refused. I requested a credit for another Arlo product and explained that there are complaints online on here, reddit, and more about this issue but the rep still acted like my incident was isolated. They sent me a replacement (probably refurbished) camera today and within 15 minutes it also disconnected.

I'm copying and pasting this on all retail spaces I can to advise against Arlo
I've gone from a very happy user to truly distrusting them for their lack of acknowledgement of a faulty device. I wouldn't care so much if this were any other product but one designed to give you peace of mind with your infant should not be this bad and Arlo should have the moral fiber to address and fix these issues instead of sticking to their 30 day return policy. I frankly don't even want my money back, just for them to say they realized they made a bad product discontinued sales in retail spaces and kept the money of those they misled in their failed science project. Or, just credit me for a new camera. Either way, they're wrong for this.