Can Arlo Pro 2 work with Satellite internet?

[KathyInVA]

I just spent $900 on a 6 camera Arlo Pro 2 security system and am having internet installed on Monday. When I called to inquire about getting internet, the guy said this Viastat Satellite internet would work fine with the security system. I just called them back to ask another question and this time the person I spoke to said the system would not work well at all with internet satellite. I am really desperate to have a security sytem setup at this location and wired internet is not available. I have had problems with theft and expect that to continue. If I have cameras without cloud backup, they will steal cameras. Has anyone used these with satellite internet? I can up my plan to higher speeds but it sounded like that isn't the problem but rather that it just flucuates too much???? Can anyone please help. I need to know what to do, whether to cancel the install for Monday. If I have it installed and it doesn't work, I'm tied into a 2 year contract!!!! I don't know what else to do, I really need security that uploads to the cloud. 😞

[KathyInVA]

Wanted to add that there is cell service in the location and I can get a hotspot, but there is no ethernet outport on the hotspots from sprint. Is there a way to go from hotspot to ethernet? 

[jguerdat]

1) The satellite Internet could be adequate if you have a true 1Mbps upload speed or greater (more is better). Any idea what speed you're supposed to be getting? You can always test afterwards using speedtest.net.

2) A cell hotspot would generally work fine. You would just ALSO need a WiFi extender that connects to your hotspot and has an Ethernet port. The biggest catch with a hotspot is data usage/cost. Figure ~10MB for a 1 minute recording.

[brh]

@KathyInVA

I did a little research for your internet provider and they say residential plans up to 12 Mbps download, 3 Mbps are available, so these speeds are above the minimum Arlo required speeds. But, since I am not using that company I can't be 100% sure it will work. If it does work, be sure to purchase either external hard drives or flash drives for backup. The base station has two slots on the back of it for that purpose up to 4Tb I believe.

Brian

[KathyInVA]

thanks. I think I will go the hotspot route since the signal and speeds don't flucuate like they do with Satellite. I can get a 50 gigabite plan for $50 which is less than satellite was going to cost. Would that be reasonable for a month's worth? It is 6 cameras. Not sure if they have bigger data plans... 

[KathyInVA]

its not so much the speeds, but the signal flucuation (and speed flucuation that comes with it). I am going to go the hotspot route. For the backup storage on the unit itself... would a 256 gigabite USB drive hold at least a week's worth of data? 

[brh]

@KathyInVA

Sorry, but I don't know too much about hotspots but I believe that should work.

As far backup memory goes a 256Gb USB Flash drive should be plenty as the files are not that big, (Megabites). Since the flash drives are not that expensive I purchased 2 of them as the base has slots for 2. After many months, the second one has not been needed.

One other suggestion you might consider. For a couple of hundred bucks you could get a Smartthings hub and a couple of motion sensors. That way you can trigger the cameras to fire when the subject is in the camera view, but too far away to fire the camera's motion detectors. Over time I have purchased many different tupes of sensors including door/window sensors, water leak sensors and Smoke/Co2 detectors. You can also control the cameras' activity with Smartthings as they are integrated.

Brian

[KathyInVA]

if I'm doing my math correctly, 1 minute = 10MB data so a gigabyte would be roughly 100 minutes worth of video. if I go with 50GB data plan, that would give me 5,000 minutes worth of video... divided by 30 days in a month would be 166 minutes per day, divided by 6 cameras, that would be 27 minutes per day, per camera. That could be tight if there is a lot of motion activation going on, but I think it should work! 

What are others finding is the average amount of minutes a camera is recording per day? 

[brh]

@KathyInVA

That depends on how often you have the cameras armed and how many times there is activity. I have 8 cameras, 5 outside and 3 inside. I only arm the outside cameras at night and all the cameras when I am away from the premisis. I usually get 3 to 6 recordings per day total and that includes the postman or delivery people.

On nice thing about Smartthings is that using diffferent Routines and Rules or Scenes, one click of a button allows me to activate as many cameras as I want depending on the circumstances. For example if I am awaiting mail or a delivery, I click on a scene or routine and only activate the front cameras. At night I click on another routine and only the outside cameras are activated. Although that is possible with Arlo it is so much easier with Smartthings, (no, I am not a Smartthings salesman, but I take my security very seriously as I have been burglarized in the past).

Brian

[KathyInVA]

Can you connect to the smart things hub remotely? I've actually never heard of them but I am very out of touch with technology 🙂

[brh]

@KathyInVA

Smartthings is a hub that connects to your internet through your router. From there it controls dozens of devices including home automation devices. Just like Arlo there is an app that you install on your phone and can connect through the app any place in the world that has wifi connectivity.

The weakness of the Arlo system is that by itself there are no other ways to trigger the cameras other than the motion sensor built into the camera. Smartthings was a startup company just like Arlo and Samsung bought them and they have become probably the biggest name in home automation.

After my home was burglarized, the first thing I did was to purchase a professional 24/7 alarm system, but the camera options were for indoor cameras only. I prefer to catch someone outside my house trying to break in rather than wait until they are actually inside. Arlo had just worked with Smartthings and allowed Smartthings to integrate with their app. So there I had it all. I had a professional home security system with 24/7 monitoring, a backup, (Smartthings), that seamlessly integrated with Arlo which gave me not only the ability to have outdoor cameras but the Arlos gave me battery power so that I did not have to run wires. As a bonus, Smartthings allowed me to place better motion sensors outside, (out of the weather of course), that gave me the ability to see everything that entered my property and be alerted. Also, it allowed me to place many other types of sensors to protect my home such as water leak sensors, temperature readings built into nearly every sensor to be alerted and turn on the nearest Arlo cameras in case I suspected fire, First Alert smoke/Co2 sensors, etc., even if I was on the other side of the world. I can turn on lamps, sirens, etc, if there is a sensor tripped.

So to me, Arlo and Smartthings go hand in hand. Smartthings also does a better job, (more flexibility), to control the cameras than Arlo's native app.

Google Smartthings and go to the Smartthings community website to see if this is something that will enhance your security.

Brian

[KathyInVA]

Thanks! That sounds really awesome I am definitely going to purchase that tonight! Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to make it all work together! 🙂

[brh]

@KathyInVA

If you do purchase the Smartthings kit or a hub with a few sensors, set up an account, (after you get your internet set up),

then download the app, but be aware, Smartthings is developing a new app that should be much better in the future, but it is not quite ready for prime time. It is called Smartthings Connect. Do not download that one or if you do, don't try to use it yet. There is the Smartthings Classic app that is the current version and that is the one to download.

After that don't do anything more until you contact me. You can email me privately if you wish just let me know that it is you.

Brian

[KathyInVA]

So then, if I'm getting the smart things, I have one more question, I bought this extender to work with my hotspot. It only has one ethernet out port as I understand https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0718ZGS22#Ask
It is the TP-Link AC1900
Will the smart things hub need a second Ethernet port? I had quite a time trying to find a extender that was fast with good reviews on reliability!

[brh]

@KathyInVA

Unfortunately, yes, but you can purchase an inexpensive ethernet switch that will plug into the ethernet connector but allow you to hook up several other devices to it. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Optimization-Unmanaged-TL-SG108/dp/B00A121WN6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=...

Brian

[brh]

@KathyInVA

Here is the Smartthings Starter Kit on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Starter-Samsung-SmartThings-Easiest/dp/B074WLY7B6/ref=asc_df_B074WLY7B6...

Brian

[jguerdat]

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@brh wrote:

I did a little research for your internet provider and they say residential plans up to 12 Mbps download, 3 Mbps are available, so these speeds are above the minimum Arlo required speeds.

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Download speeds aren't the issue - it's the upload speeds since you're streaming data out, not in.

[brh]

True, but 3mbs is higher than the minimum Arlo specs. But hopefully with the other route she is taking, the speeds will be greater. The proofwill be revealed when she gets her internet up and running.

Brian

[brh]

@jguerdat

After thinking about it for awhile, you bring up an interesting point. Lets suppose a person had a very slow interner upload speed and the videos going to the cloud were choppy and pixellated, would the backup videos on the flash drive be affected the same way. I tend to think not but I have not seen anyone post anything about that.

Brian

[jguerdat]

AFAIK, the USB copies are the exact duplicate of the cloud copies.

[CampHood]

KathyinVA, et al.  What has your actual experience been with using Arlo with satellite?  I have a system at home and would like to add a system to my lake house where I have Hughesnet satellite.  

[AncientGeek]

@KathyInVA.  I don't know the answer to your question, but can speak a little about the issue.  I installed satellite Internet at a house I rent in the Virgin Islands last year.  HughesNet.  I didn't try Arlo on that system (though I may this year), but I did try a number of apps over the connection.  The problem with satellite Internet is the latency.  (How long it takes for signals to get from one end to another)  The time it takes for a signal to transmit from the ground to the satellie and back to the ground is close to a second as I recall...I saw something like 670 milliseconds.  Some software systems are very sensitive to long latency and don't work well.  Others are built with more tollerance for long latency and do fine.  I was surprised to discover that I could have a FaceTime chat over satellite Internet with no problem.  I could also check most of my IoT systems with no problem.  However, the app for my Ring Pro Doorbell would not work at all over the satellite link.

So the answer to your Arlo over Satellite question could be a "maybe" unless someone has empirical knowledge from a recent test to say more definitively yes or no.  If it does work, you could expect to add at least another second of lag to your Live View videos.  The camera needs to "see" it, transmit it to the base staton which then transmits it to your router which then transmits it to the satellite modem which then transmits it to the Satellite and back to earth where the entire process is reversed to get to a router connected to the Internet and ultimately to Arlo's cloud servers....then the video is transmitted from Arlo's cloud servers to your laptop or mobile device through the Internet and possibly cellular network.  There is a lot to this.

I do know Arlo supposedly supports Arlo cameras on the Netgear MR1100 router which uses AT&T LTE for the cloud connection.  I have actually tried it with one camera as a test, but I have not tested it at length and I know one other Arlo user was having difficullty with his battery life (I believe) using that system.  Arlo also has the Arlio Go which uses cellular connectivity for the cloud connection directly.  So if you have cellular coverage in your area, that might be an option for you as well.