Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

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kitcat358
Aspirant
Aspirant

I've had VMC 2330 Essential cameras for about a yr & a half now and have had nothing but problems. First, the cameras needed to be charged every 4 - 5 days when it said it was supposed to last for months. They were outside up on my house (within range of my wifi). They were hard to access without a ladder and it was the dead of winter with 4 ft. snow drifts around the house. I am unable to get around so I had to find someone to take the cameras up & down just so I can charge them. I went without use of my cameras for longer periods. I feel like Arlo could've done something to help me but they never did. Instead, I spent money I don't have on Solar Panels for each camera. I'm on a fixed income and the cameras were a Christmas gift 2021. The solar panels work great on 1 of the cameras but the other 2 aren't working very well. Second, when I am watching something going on outside my house, live, it won't hold the signal and keeps cutting out. Arlo told me in the beginning what channel my wifi had to be set on and it is. And third, when I watch what it recorded I'm no longer able to expand it. I don't know what happened recently it doesn't work on my laptop but it works on my phone?? Am I the only one dealing with this crap? I'm so aggravated ....

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jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

@kitcat358 wrote:

I've had VMC 2330 Essential cameras for about a yr & a half now and have had nothing but problems. First, the cameras needed to be charged every 4 - 5 days when it said it was supposed to last for months. They were outside up on my house (within range of my wifi). They were hard to access without a ladder and it was the dead of winter with 4 ft. snow drifts around the house. I am unable to get around so I had to find someone to take the cameras up & down just so I can charge them. I went without use of my cameras for longer periods. I feel like Arlo could've done something to help me but they never did. Instead, I spent money I don't have on Solar Panels for each camera. I'm on a fixed income and the cameras were a Christmas gift 2021. The solar panels work great on 1 of the cameras but the other 2 aren't working very well. Second, when I am watching something going on outside my house, live, it won't hold the signal and keeps cutting out.


That last bit is the key piece of info needed. That likely means there's a connection problem between the cameras and router or hub. There are many possible issues including house construction (stucco, brick and stone being the worst) as well as distance, things on/in the walls blocking the signal, other wireless devices that use the 2.4GHz band (not just WiFi) that are interfering with the signal, etc. Any of that will cause the cameras to drain the battery trying to keep connected and recording or live viewing will be problematic. You can test this by bringing a camera closer to your router or hub to see if that helps. If so, we need info from you to help determine the best solution, such as WiFi extenders.

 

The lack of ability to expand the video is probably the same thing reported by others here which may be an issue with the Arlo backend servers/processes.

kitcat358
Aspirant
Aspirant

My home is aluminum siding. And the funny thing is the camera that works the best, well as far as staying 100% charged anyway, is the one that's the farthest from the router on the back of my house. I also bought a wifi repeater, I tried it for a couple weeks and nothing changed. I'm not understanding why all of a sudden it's not expanding, doesn't make sense why it worked since I've had them and still works when watching the live camera but not the important recordings where you need to be able to see it up close and personal. I'm so frustrated, if I had the money I would just try out another brand of cameras and be done with Arlo. 

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Have you swapped cameras around to see if it's the camera or the location? Have you removed the camera from your account and re-added it? Have you contacted official support using Settings, Support (Center)?