Essential Indoor Cameras not recognized after connecting to Wi-Fi 6 router

[rtbartz]

Just changed router to Altice Wi-Fi 6 router/modem. Had to re-add all cameras, Essential and Pro 3 Spotlights. Not a problem with the Pro 3 Spotlights, but the Essential Indoor cameras can’ be ‘located’ after connecting to Wi-Fi 6. The Altice Wi-Fi 6 will actually allow 2.4 and 5Ghz devices to connect, as verified when I successfully re-added my Pro-3 Spotlights and the one Essential Outdoor camera I have. But the Essential Indoor cameras can’t be ‘located’ in my house after connecting to the Altice Wi-Fi 6 router, even when the cameras are right next to the router. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know why the heck this happens, and if so, what can be done to prevent this problem? A baffled mind wants to know.

[jguerdat]

Did you remove the indoor camera from your account before attempting to add it back in? Have you reset the camera?

https://kb.arlo.com/000062560/How-do-I-factory-reset-my-Arlo-Essential-Indoor-Camera#:~:text=Press%2....

[rtbartz]

Thanks for responding to my question.

Yes, I removed them before trying to add them back on. As for the reset, how is that done? I didn’t have to do that on the cameras that were added back on.

[rtbartz]

Okay, I found some documentation that said to reset an Essential Indoor camera to press the reset button for 15 seconds. I did that and it seemed to work because the privacy shield went up after 15 seconds. But alas, not even that solved my problem when trying to re-add the camera. So to reiterate, re-adding my Pro 3 Spotlight cameras and my Essential Spotlight cameras was not a problem. Only the Essential Indoor cameras have this problem.

[jguerdat]

Did you notice the link I posted above to reset the camera?

[rtbartz]

Yes sir, I did and I followed the instructions. They were not an exact match to which was presented (i.e. number 10 about bypassing the Smart Hub did not show up on my iPhone, and there was no step in the process to turn off the VPN (from past experience), which I have and I did turn it off).  

[rtbartz · Accepted solution]

Problem solved.

I have successfully added the Essential Indoor cameras. I purchased an ARLO Smart Hub, attached it to my gateway router with an Ethernet cable, then added the Smart Hub to my system. Then when I went through the process to add the camera, it recognized the Smart Hub was in play and from then on there was no problem.

To reiterate the scenario:

I had replaced my old router with a gateway Wi-Fi 6Ghz router. This configuration also allows 2.4 and 5Ghz devices to be added. So when I added my Pro 3 Spotlight cameras and my Essential Spotlight cameras, it did so using the 2.4 or 5Ghz Wi-Fi protocol, whichever the camera required. 

What would not work was to add an Essential Indoor Camera that required the 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi. There must be something about the camera’s makeup that won’t let it work with a Wi-Fi 6Ghz router. So I reasoned that the Smart Hub being a 2.4 and 5 GHz router would accept the Essential Indoor camera, and then with the Smart Hub linked to my Wi-Fi 6 router via an Ethernet cable, there would not be a problem. That is exactly what happened. 

So, if I may suggest, existing Arlo documentation about the install of the Essential Indoor camera, should be revised to include this solution for the install of Essential Indoor cameras to a wifi 6 router using the Smart Hub.