Arlo 2 Completely Wireless System

[KimCarson]

I've invested close to $1000 in this security system and to be frank it sucks pretty bad,. It's become very undependable, I've done all the updates, I've removed the app and reinstalled.  The phone lets me know there is movement yet when I check it it  shows that a camera was activated but there is NO VIDEO.  Why is ARLO so bad all of a sudden the first couple months it was pretty good no problems at all.  I've been telling everyone don't waste your money on this system.  The local tv station is doing a special on "bad products you should never buy" but I thought I'd check here first for answers. Being undependable and unpredictable with videos is unacceptable.  This system has one task to do yet it can''t do it.  Any suggestions besides selling this piece of crap and start new with an actual security system that does the work.  The fact that they don't really offer any "real" free Arlo tech support for this system should have been a BIG RED LIGHT. Live and learn...never again

[JamesC]

KimCarson,

Are you able to manually stream and produce a recording?

Are you using a custom mode or the default "Armed" mode for your system?

JamesC

[VancouverBC]

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@KimCarson wrote:

Why is ARLO so bad all of a sudden the first couple months it was pretty good no problems at all. 

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It sounds like the system worked fine initially. I've had no problems with my 4 camera system, it just needed settings tweaked for sensitivity to motion and sound. Arlo is a good alternative to a wired system. If going to a wired system is not an alternative one thing you can try is reset everything and start from scratch. If it worked fine initially, then subsequent tweaks have thrown it off.

Also you say you get notification on your phone but no video, is it just one camera or all cameras? Also check the settings in Mode, that's where the behaviour of the cameras is set. Also try using different modes, hopefully there are some there that have not been changed like Schedule or make a new mode and turn everything, motion and audio, on and set to maximum sensitivity. Change one thing at a time when tweaking. 

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[KimCarson]

Thank you I have made no adjustments since I installed system initially. Today there was motion I could watch it live but camera registered nothing.

[KimCarson]

Yes.. I can and yes I use armed

[KimCarson]

Nothing has been changed from the day I installed it...

[brh]

Same here. This morning I had motion detected but never got the video. I too was in the Armed mode and the camera was active. Later I tested it again and it worked fine. Cloud issue due to storms?

Brian

[KimCarson]

Thank you I know I am not alone I'm tech saavy. I'm stumped. No storms when mine was happening. I installed mine in the beginning of December in the Midwest. We've had storms it started happening a month ago very very undependable and unpredictable which is not good

[VancouverBC]

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@KimCarson wrote:
Thank you I know I am not alone I'm tech saavy. I'm stumped. No storms when mine was happening. I installed mine in the beginning of December in the Midwest. We've had storms it started happening a month ago very very undependable and unpredictable which is not good

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Do you have a USB memory stick in the USB port on the base station? I wonder if your Internet service has been intermittent so no upload. However as long as you had AC power to the base station and the cameras were powered either by battery or AC, there sholud be recordings on the memory stick. You have to dismount the memory stick and view the videos on a computer, no way to view remotely. 

[KimCarson]

I am saddened that I have not received any help that would fix this situation that I am having....and apparently others are having by looks of things on the internet and comments. I have more proof that this is an internal problem at Arlo attached I couldnt even get to community support this morning. I'm debating on taking this to a local tv station with all the various screenshots of how messed up netgear's Arlo security system and let it blow up across ABC as the scam that it is...This is an internal problem they are having I know it...either Arlo has grown too fast and they cant support the people on the net or it's a piece of crap and I've been scammed. Either way I'm out $1000 and I won't go quietly

[KimCarson]

No USB stick is being used

[steve_t]

Have you considered that it could be a problem with your internet connection? And even if for some reason the community website was down for 5 minutes, is that really something to call the system a scam? Community support is just that, a community of users helping each other out. If you want official support, why not contact support and open a ticket with whatever problems you're having. You realise there are thousands of people around the world that use these systems every day without problems, right?

[VancouverBC]

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@KimCarson wrote:

No USB stick is being used

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If you are stil interested in debugging your Arlo system, insert a USB memory stick into the base station. Use either the app or the Arlo web interface to under Devices > Home cam (that's my name for the system) > Local Storage and activate recording to USB. Try this for a few days. You have to dismount and put th stick into a computer to view the videos. See if the system records to the USB stick. Debug one step at a time. Also as suggested, test your Internet connection, do a Google search for "Internet speed test" and see if you are getting for ping times (time for your modem in your  house to connect to the Internet and your upload speed). 

If you are unhappy with your system you can always return it to where you bought if you are still within the return period. If you do go to your local TV station, provide the station with a link to this community forum and to this thread in particular for their background to your problem. 

For the vast majority of people the Arlo system has worked well. Also users freely volunteer their time in this community forum to share what we know with others. If the system just doesn't work for you I would suggest return it and see what else is available perhaps a wired CCTV system. I have installed those for friends who want 24 hr/day recording.

[KimCarson]

GREAT!  Thanks I will try this I have not done it before.  I also upped the sensitivity of the motion although it worked consistently when I first bought at the setting it was at I am trying all the different suggestions.  Thank you I will test and let you know how it goes.  Great about being able to return too if need be $1000 is a lot of money to me

[RChobby]

One more thing to consider. Have you given others access to the arlo system. I found my wife would occasionally trigger the system by mistake and delete the video almost immediately. So I would get the alert and check for a video, which had already been deleted.

[KimCarson]

haha no never no one has access but me....problem I've been having is nothing was triggering the camera.  I upped the sensitivity of the motion detector to 70% and today it seems to have helped but I will report back within the week to see if it actually fixed it. I don't know why that would make a difference since it had been working since November/December and stopped within the last 3 weeks or so...

[KimCarson]

Doubtful Best Buy would take it back if I purchased it November 2017

[KimCarson]

It is a scam...having to pay for support of a product is ridculous.  There should be something right on the box saying you're out of luck if our system doesn't work all you have is communioty support sorry.  I call it like I see it too bad if you don't like it.  Yeah thousands use it I'm sure and you know what after much research, sadly AFTER the purchase, there are lots of others who are unhappy with it too.  Sounds like you work there and I'm not interested in talking to an empolyee doing a "rah rah session" for a broken system.

[jguerdat]

Sounds like you're just hiding behind Internet anonymity to spout conjecture without knowing the facts or the people you're dissing. None of us other than JamesC is a Netgear employee. Some of us have spent way too much time here answering questions and then we get people like you.

This is a user forum, not formal support. We'll try to help within our various capabilities but, if you don't like the answers, don't let the door hit you.

[VancouverBC]

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@KimCarson wrote:

Doubtful Best Buy would take it back if I purchased it November 2017

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Probably a refund is not an option if purchased in Nov last year. Not sure where you are located, in Canada the return policy with no questions asked at most big box stores is 30 days. It can be a bit longer depending on the manager and the situation. I've gotten store credits for things returned long after 30 days or returned without a receipt. If your system has malfunctioned there is still the Netgear warranty.

Agreed it's unfortunate Netgear has gone to paid support after an initial free period. Anyways there are other consumers on this forum willing to share info and help other consumers figure out their systems for free if you are so inclined. 

[jguerdat]

I haven't availed myself of using support here but I'm not aware of any need for payment. Yes, I know that there is a statement about 3 months' free support but AFAIK no one has ever had to pay to use the support links offered here.

[KimCarson]

VancouverBC Thanks for all the help you have given me I appreciate you taking the time to give me very concise answers.  Yesterday since I upped the sensitivity on the cameras to 70% it seems to have fixed the problem with recording video when motion is detected.  It's perplexing because nothing else has changed...regardless it doesn't matter it fixed the problem of recording so I am good. One more quick question when I attempt to open the app at 3am ET I oftentimes get a message that says ARLO system down check back later do you have any idea what thats all about Vancouver BC?  It happens whether I'm looking at my phone at work at 3am or at home at 3am.  I see they are now selling the ARLO system at Costco personally I believe their network is getting overloaded and they just can't handle all the people... 

[jguerdat]

I guess it's possible that the servers are undergoing maintenance at 3PM (what time zone?), especially if it happens every time over multiple days. How long does this remain a problem - is it over quickly?

[KimCarson]

I didn't say 3pm I said 3am yes it lasts a while and then I have to keep checking until I can connect It says it is unavailable and check back later

[VancouverBC · Accepted solution]

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@KimCarson wrote:

VancouverBC Thanks for all the help you have given me I appreciate you taking the time to give me very concise answers.  Yesterday since I upped the sensitivity on the cameras to 70% it seems to have fixed the problem with recording video when motion is detected.  It's perplexing because nothing else has changed...regardless it doesn't matter it fixed the problem of recording so I am good. One more quick question when I attempt to open the app at 3am ET I oftentimes get a message that says ARLO system down check back later do you have any idea what thats all about Vancouver BC? 

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You're welcome. Glad things are working again. Just a guess, maybe in the automatic updates loaded to the cameras and base station Netgear adjusted some settings to achieve whatever they needed but that had unintended consequences. So we have to adjust at our end to make things work for our particular situation.

In terms of outages, your 3AM is the same as my midnight (Pacific Time, Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles). I'm up at midnight and a bit past and I've never noticed any outage to the https://arlo.netgear.com site, I've always been able to log in and the Arlo site has always worked. The time when I check would coincide with 3:00-3:30AM your time ET. Hard to say if Netgear uses different servers in different parts of the world. I can't imagine the Internet would be congested at 3AM ET though. I'm also guessing but these days companies out source their data processing services from Google and Amazon and can scale up as demand increases. Part of the purchase price we pay goes to pay for our use of data somewhere for as long as we use the Arlo systems, kind of a lifetime subscription for the "free" plan. 

If you haven't do put a USB memory stick into the base station as a backup means or recording. You can't view the recordings remotely but you'll have the USB stick to view on a laptop.