Arlo Pro 2 poor signal strength

[timi]

Hi folks I bought a new Arlo Pro 2 kit (base+1 pro2 cam) although the camera is near the base station the signal is always poor, is there any thing I can do, is my kit damaged or something?

Thanks for helping
Dan

[AncientGeek]

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@timi wrote:
Hi folks I bought a new Arlo Pro 2 kit (base+1 pro2 cam) although the camera is near the base station the signal is always poor, is there any thing I can do, is my kit damaged or something?

Thanks for helping
Dan

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The photo appears to show masonry walls.  Those are great for stopping signals.

Make sure your camera base station isn’t on the other side of your router from your camera.  Also I have found that having the base station at a different height than the router is helpful in minimizing interference.

[timi]

tried dancing in front of it, same result, poor signal 😐 there is no other device transmitting on the same channel, the camera is in the line of sight like 4 meters away from base, in the same room.

[AncientGeek]

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@timi wrote:
tried dancing in front of it, same result, poor signal 😐 there is no other device transmitting on the same channel, the camera is in the line of sight like 4 meters away from base, in the same room.

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I think other experience people here have recommended removing the camera battery and reinstalling it as well as power cycling the base.

The Arlo base will actually follow your router to the router Wi-Fi channel.  Seems crazy to me, but Alro claims that results in less interference.  Personally, I find it counterintuitive that people streaming TV shows and movies on channel “n” will experience fewer packet collisions with camera transmissions on the same channel than on a non-overlapping channel.  It doesn’t make sense.  However, that is not your problem.  Yours is signal strength.

[CoronaDelMar]

4 cameras, all within about 10 meters of the base station, everyone reporting poor signal strength. This is on a Cisco Meraki network. One day after setting the system up, two of the closest cameras disconnected from the base station. The system is going back to Costco tomorrow. Clearly the networking side of the platform is incredibly unsophisticated or just not ready for prime time.

[AncientGeek]

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@CoronaDelMar wrote:

4 cameras, all within about 10 meters of the base station, everyone reporting poor signal strength. This is on a Cisco Meraki network. One day after setting the system up, two of the closest cameras disconnected from the base station. The system is going back to Costco tomorrow. Clearly the networking side of the platform is incredibly unsophisticated or just not ready for prime time.

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The signal strength problem is not typical.  It happens sometimes, but most customers do not have that problem.  Also, the cameras,of course, are not using the Meraki Wi-Fi if you have that.  They communicate directly with the base over their own Wi-Fi and the base just talks via cable to the wired network.

[CoronaDelMar]

How can you say it is not common...are you reading the same forums that I am? I suppose you would argue that the night vision is fine too? I understand it does not use the Meraki network, my point was that the system is operating on a commercial quality network which is good at channel separation and channel steering.

[AncientGeek]

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@CoronaDelMar wrote:

How can you say it is not common...are you reading the same forums that I am? I suppose you would argue that the night vision is fine too? I understand it does not use the Meraki network, my point was that the system is operating on a commercial quality network which is good at channel separation and channel steering.

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Some days I feel like I live in this community.  I realize there are many complaints, but I’m extrapolating from my own experience with about 40 Arlo cameras in five locations and what I perceive as the number of sales versus signal strength complaints here.  There are plenty of problems, don’t get me wrong.  

How do do you like the Meraki system?  

[CoronaDelMar]

Love the Meraki setup. Running 3 managed switches, 7 AP’s and one Security device. Stuff is pricey but rock solid. The cloud management is super helpful when I am traveling and the analytics out of the box are pretty helpful.

[Kris2019]

I have purchased 2 different sets. AT first arlo, then arlo pro in Hope's they would be better, but I still have poor signal strength.?

[AncientGeek]

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@Kris2019 wrote:
I have purchased 2 different sets. AT first arlo, then arlo pro in Hope's they would be better, but I still have poor signal strength.?

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The usual culprits are walls and distance.  Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) can also be a problem.  Close neighbors with their own WiFi systems nearby.  Sometimes restarting the system and popping the battery out and back in can fix the problem.  Sometimes moving the base station solves it.  Sometimes it requires adding a base station when cameras need to be at opposite ends of a building that effectively blocks radio signals.

When I’ve had signal problems it was always walls or distance (or both).

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

Which signal strength indicator are you using? The one in Camera Positioning seems to be faulty, always displaying Poor. Use the WiFi indicators for each camera on the Devices tab.

[timi]

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@jguerdat wrote:

Which signal strength indicator are you using? The one in Camera Positioning seems to be faulty, always displaying Poor. Use the WiFi indicators for each camera on the Devices tab.

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thank you, this is the answer I was looking for, indeed I was looking in the Camera Positioning, the signal in the Devices tab shows maximum, maybe Arlo will fix this in the future, it's really confusing.

[AncientGeek]

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@CoronaDelMar wrote:

4 cameras, all within about 10 meters of the base station, everyone reporting poor signal strength. This is on a Cisco Meraki network. One day after setting the system up, two of the closest cameras disconnected from the base station. The system is going back to Costco tomorrow. Clearly the networking side of the platform is incredibly unsophisticated or just not ready for prime time.

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Did you see the comments about the inaccurate signal strength indicator on the camera positioning screen?  Is that the one you were using?  If so look at the Devices screen and see what the signal icons show on that screen.

[CoronaDelMar]

Yes, and I will I appreciate your comments, I did not pay $800 for a system that:

1. I have to reboot the base every morning because at least one of the cameras disconnects from the base every night. Why the base does not automatically re-connect is beyond me. If a reboot will re-establish the connection, I do not understand why the base does not simply attempt to reconnect without waiting for a reboot.

2. The signal strength is either terrible on every camera or simply does not work, in which case it further demonstrates Arlo's lack of testing and willigness to release a product that is not working as documented.

3. The nigh vision is useless unless I add some ambient light into the room.

The system has a ton of potential...if it only would consistently (and that is the key word) work as documented. While I could probably live with one or maybe ever two of these issues...the three combined mean it is going back to Costco this weekend.

Barry

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@AncientGeek wrote:

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@CoronaDelMar wrote:

4 cameras, all within about 10 meters of the base station, everyone reporting poor signal strength. This is on a Cisco Meraki network. One day after setting the system up, two of the closest cameras disconnected from the base station. The system is going back to Costco tomorrow. Clearly the networking side of the platform is incredibly unsophisticated or just not ready for prime time.

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Did you see the comments about the inaccurate signal strength indicator on the camera positioning screen?  Is that the one you were using?  If so look at the Devices screen and see what the signal icons show on that screen.

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[LouNawlins]

Thanks,
Now that you pointed it out I can see the difference between the four cameras and the positioning setting.