details about monitoring arlo Go2 from overseas?

[mwainwright]

Hi there, 

I`m looking for a 4g/lte camera that I can monitor from overseas, and I am wondering about the specifics of how the data is used, so that I can work out what my costs would be. 

I spend most of my time in New Zealand and would like to monitor a remote site in the UK from here, but I have a few questions about how I would do that. 

-Is it possible to set up the camera (have a friend set up the camera for me) and haave full access to it from here, without pairing the device in person? 

-does the app recieve data via 4g? if so would I get charged additionally for recieving the data from overseas?

-if I have a cloud subscription, will all of the 4g data be local (ie.  all within the UK) and then my access from overseas be internet based?

-are alerts for camera activations sent by SMS?   or MMS?  and are there options to choose that?

-can the camera be set up so that all the data, video, and alerts, reach my overseas by inernet via the subscription service?

many thanks,

Mark

[jguerdat]

1) having your friend set it up on your account, whether he creates it and then tells you the login info or you create the account and he uses that info, will work fine. The only requirement for a person to be present is during that pairing pairing.

2) The app uses whatever Internet connection you have. The camera uses cell service at its location but that's it - it doesn't transmit to you directly - it goes through the servers.

3) Yes.

4) Notifications are push from the servers to your phone to the app, not SMS/MMS. 

5) Yes.

[mwainwright]

Brilliant, thank you. 

Just one more question, what exactly does the pairing process do, why is it necessary to pair to a phone? does this just link the camera to the account?  for example.  once it is set up and paired, could my friend delete their app and I would still have full access to the camera?   and would you need to re-pair it if you got a new phone?  or is it just account details that are paired to the camera. and once it`s done, its done forever? 

Thank you for your help! 

Mark

[StephenB]

---

@mwainwright wrote:

Just one more question, what exactly does the pairing process do, why is it necessary to pair to a phone? does this just link the camera to the account?  

There really isn't any pairing to the phone. The camera is being added to the account (and also connected to your mobile data plan).

So your friend needs to be using your account credentials.

One thing to keep in mind is that Arlo determines the country when the account is created.  Plus I believe the billing address on the credit card needs to match that country.  So you probably want the friend to actually create the account for you (or create it yourself while in the appropriate country).

---

@mwainwright wrote:

for example.  once it is set up and paired, could my friend delete their app and I would still have full access to the camera?   

---

Yes.

One thing to keep in is that only one device can be logged into the account at a time.  If you log in while the friend is using the app, then your friend will be logged off (and vice versa).