Base station (smart hub) questions

[ljf398]

We got arlo essential cameras back in 2022.  We do not have any sort of base station/smart hub - always just used the  mobile app.  We've been having alot of problems with our house wifi and was thinking a smart hub could help.  

If we get a smart hub, do we setup the camera's  to that and it wont need to use our regular house wifi?

Thanks

[StephenB]

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@ljf398 wrote:

If we get a smart hub, do we setup the cameras  to that and it wont need to use our regular house wifi?

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Yes.

Are your issues with your home wifi?  Or are they with your home internet service?

[ljf398]

The router we have from xfinity does not allow to get a 2.4 ghz network connection so since we got the new router upgrade our cameras dont work.  We have an Xfi pod so everthing I read is it cant be done.

[alex_loo]

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@ljf398 wrote:

If we get a smart hub, do we setup the camera's  to that and it wont need to use our regular house wifi?

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If you are to use smart hub VMB5000, then your cameras will (self-) wifi to the smart hub instead of your router.  So this part is sorted.  I do wish to stress, though, that the smart hub REQUIRES a wired network connection from itself to your router, so you need to consider the following before deciding where to put the smart hub:

• the wired connection can be done
• the cameras are close enough to the smart hub, so they can (self-) wifi connect to it

Alex

(experience to share: originally I put my smart hub next to router for easy network cable connection.  turned out 1 of my 3 cameras often got reported as offline. So I moved the smart hub to a new location which was good for all cameras, and then since this new location is far away from my router, I needed to "physically" connect the smart hub to router, using ethernet over power socket)

[StephenB]

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@ljf398 wrote:

The router we have from xfinity does not allow to get a 2.4 ghz network connection so since we got the new router upgrade our cameras dont work.  We have an Xfi pod so everthing I read is it cant be done.

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The new router should still be creating a 2.4 ghz network.  This will use the same network name and password as your other channels.  What has changed is that you cannot give this network its own name/password.  My own mesh router hasn't allowed me to create a separate 2.4 ghz network for some years, and I have still been able to connect to my cameras without a smarthub.

So first make sure that the new router has WPA2 (AES) enabled.  Try setting the network name and password to match what you used with your old router.

Then charge one of the cameras, and see if it comes back on line.  If it doesn't, you could then try removing the one of the cameras from the account, doing a hardware reset, and then install it again.

[ljf398]

When you say try setting the network name and password to what used on old router, do you mean on the arlo app connect network side or on the router?

[jguerdat]

On the router. If the new router has the same network name (SSID) and password as the old one, no device will care and will simply connect. It's not specific to the router hardware but just to the name and password.