Can't live stream- the request timed out

[celticpatricia]

I can not live stream. I've tried over and over again. I used to be able to once in a while, but it's never worked very well. I have tried different browsers. I have 5g, 867.8 Mbps download  and 62.9 Mbps upload, so speed is not an issue. I also have 5 bars on my cameras, so they are getting a good signal. All cameras are plugged in, not on the batteries. 

I just can not figure this out. Have tried unplugging the base for a while too. Also disabled Norton for a while, nothing. Can anyone help please?

[jguerdat]

What happens if you bring a camera close to your base?

[celticpatricia]

It's the same. It can be right next to the base. I was just reading about ports which I no nothing about. Wonder if that's the problem. If it is, I'll have to read up on it.

[StephenB]

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@celticpatricia wrote:

 I was just reading about ports which I no nothing about. Wonder if that's the problem. If it is, I'll have to read up on it.

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It's not the ports  - that's ruled out since per your other thread you can livestream in the app.

[Mamey1]

Same problem here, I have been having for 3 months or more. I am able to stream through app but not through Chrome Windows 10.  "The request timed out" message appears.

Arlo is total garbage it seems that with every update things get worse.

[jguerdat]

I just tried all 9 of my cameras using Chrome and had only one issue. When I refreshed the page (which caused me to log in again) that one camera worked fine.

Have you cleared cookies and cache? Have you tried a different browser (Firefox or Edge)?

[celticpatricia]

My internet provider is coming over this afternoon. I'll update this after he comes. Thinking that's what the problem is.  I've tried a lot of different things...and yes I tried Firefox too. 

[celticpatricia]

Mediacom stopped yesterday. He said my signal was too strong for the modem...adjusted it and I thought it was fixed. Now this morning, it's back to the same old thing...cutting in and out. Having Mediacom come back Thursday. So, no fixes yet.

[StephenB]

Probably rather late to suggest this - but did you try rebooting the PC?

[celticpatricia]

Yes, a few times. I have Mediacom coming back tomorrow and will post the results. If they still don't work...I give up.

[Retired_Member]

Short answer - it's not your setup it's Arlo.

Long answer:

Video stream 'up' : Camera -> router -> internet service -> Arlo 'back end' servers

Video stream 'down' (app): Arlo 'back end' servers -> internet service -> router -> phone/tablet -> app

Video stream 'down' (web browser): Arlo 'back end' servers -> Arlo web servers -> internet service -> router -> PC -> web browser

If the live video stream is working okay on the phone, connected to the same network as the PC, that rules out everything except the web browser, the PC and Arlo's web servers. If everything else is working on that PC using that web browser it's very unlikely that there is a problem with either of those elements which only affects your access to the Arlo website but nothing else. I just tested it myself from Ireland and live streaming worked for about 60 seconds, then I started to get the '3 dots' thing, then it 'timed out'. I don't use the Arlo website often so I don't know if this is a common problem here.  I then used a VPN service to connect to Arlo's website but routed my connection through Texas.  I still got the '3 dots' thing a couple of times but it didn't time out - it continued working for several minutes.

The problem is almost certainly on the Arlo side or with a 3rd party intermediary service they use (called Cloudflare) though it might not affect all their customers - it might depend on where you're connecting from. I don't know how Arlo's web server infrastructure is designed so I can't tell you where exactly the problem might be. You could try submitting an email support ticket to Arlo and they may or may not fix it.

For any Arlo tech reading - issue currently exists with live camera streaming (timeouts etc. when viewing video stream for extended period of time) when accessing my.arlo.com where that URL resolves to my.arlo.com.cdn.cloudflare.net @ 104.18.2.226 and when connecting from Dublin, Ireland.  Issue does not appear to be present when connecting from Dallas, Texas.  Test conducted was quite short - difference observed when connecting from hosts in different regions may be coincidental (though probably not. You would have fixed it by now if it affected all your customers globally, I assume. Right?)

[StephenB]

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@Retired_Member wrote:

Video stream 'down' (app): Arlo 'back end' servers -> internet service -> router -> phone/tablet -> app

Video stream 'down' (web browser): Arlo 'back end' servers -> Arlo web servers -> internet service -> router -> PC -> web browser

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Though I haven't verified this with WireShark, my understanding is that when you are on your home network, the livestream goes directly from the base (or camera if there is no base) to the app or browser.

[celticpatricia]

I'm about ready to give up on Arlo. I am having my internet provider over again tomorrow. If they say everything is working alright, then it is Arlo. I have tried several things, even 4 different web browsers. Turned my Norton off and tried too. This is just frustrating. I have over $600 invested in this too. I did upload a short video on YouTube, it starts cutting in and out at 1:02.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yEBjfyQqno       I live in the middle of the US, in Iowa. Just chec...

[Retired_Member]

Good point Stephen.

If you have a camera with 'Local 2K Live Streaming' enabled then the livestream can go directly from the camera to the app without traversing the internet or Arlo's servers.  This does not apply to browser viewing.  This means a live stream to the app can work differently to a stream to a browser in terms of the role internet connection quality plays.

I tested again today with VPN enabled and disabled and viewed live streams from cameras which had 2K live streaming enabled and disabled.  I didn't use Wireshark but you can verify this with 'netstat -a -n 10' on a Windows system.  The browser does not attempt to connect to any local IP addresses - the stream appears to go via Cloudflare and Arlo web servers.

Interestingly I did not have any issues when I tested live streaming today at around 14:40 GMT - no unusual timeouts once the stream was established.

Patricia - if you have someone coming out to look at your internet connection and they say it's fine, and given everything else you've tried, try live streaming on the browser late at night and see if it's any better.  Given my own test today, which was flawless, and given that it was much worse yesterday when I tried it later in the day, the problem might be due to load on the Arlo or Cloudflare servers.  i.e. - at times when the servers are busy you might see problems with live streaming, less so at times when there is less activity on the Arlo or Cloudflare system. 

[Retired_Member]

Try the live stream on the browser late at night and see if it's any better.  I wrote a long reply full of unnecessary detail about tests I did and the reply did not appear on the site, but the bottom line is the problem may be related to how busy the Arlo or Cloudflare servers are at specific times of day.  If you still get timeouts when you try a live stream late at night then that would rule server load out as the cause of the problem.

[celticpatricia]

I get up very early. Checked it this morning at 2:30 a.m. central time and it was the same.

Then there's the base station going offline intermittently. Also, cameras stop recording during different times of the day or just stop working all together until I unplug the base station and then connect it again. I really think this is just the Arlo product.

Wish I would have gotten a different brand camera system. Now I'm out around $600.

I give up. I don't think I can do anything more than what I've already tried.

[dcfox1]

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@Retired_Member wrote:  If you still get timeouts when you try a live stream late at night then that would rule server load out as the cause of the problem.

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That would be a good theory if they weren't sold across the world. What is one country's late night may be another's mid day using the servers.

[Retired_Member]

Re. the time of use - if you've tried it very early in the morning and still have the problem then that rules out server load.  I mentioned that as a possibility as when I tested earlier today (Irish time) I didn't have any problems, whereas I did see streaming problems yesterday afternoon.  Re. the base station going offline - I can't say whether or not the problems are related.  You will need to contact Arlo support to get to the bottom of it.

dcfox - I'm not familiar with how Arlo's server infrastructure is designed but I assume they have regional server clusters.  Even if they don't Cloudflare certainly does.  Even if that weren't the case, Arlo's customer base and server load patterns are not evenly distributed across time zones, because Pacific ocean.  If you pay attention to the average time it takes to receive a 'Person Detected' notification you'll find there are fairly clear patterns, daily and weekly.  In Ireland at least, the 'Person Detected' notification is often 5 to 10 seconds slower at 11pm on a Friday night compared to say 9am on a Tuesday morning, at least that was the case when I was doing a lot of testing a few months ago.  I put the weekly pattern down to the times new customers are most likely to be installing and trying out new cameras.  I couldn't think of any other reason there might be such a clear weekly pattern.

[Barney999]

An interesting theory but it doesn't apply here in so much as it make zero difference what time of day or night I have the same problem too  (England)  Trust me on the back of your idea I have tried round the clock for months .

[StephenB]

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@Barney999 wrote:

An interesting theory but it doesn't apply here in so much as it make zero difference what time of day or night I have the same problem too  (England)  Trust me on the back of your idea I have tried round the clock for months .

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Are you seeing this in both the app and the PC browser (my.arlo.com)?  Or only one of these?

[Barney999]

No apps on both phones are fine for live feed although it never looks 4k however my problem is on my two laptops .  I borrowed a Chromebook to test and it worked ok . My laptops were fine until about September last year .

[StephenB]

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@Barney999 wrote:

No apps on both phones are fine for live feed although it never looks 4k however my problem is on my two laptops .  I borrowed a Chromebook to test and it worked ok . My laptops were fine until about September last year .

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Ok.  FWIW, I had this issue with one of our laptops in January - but it resolved on it's own, so I never found a cause.

Is this a work laptop (with security policies set by your employer)?  Mine was.

[Barney999]

No and have tried all sorts like disabling security , fully factory reset etc etc 

[StephenB]

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@Barney999 wrote:

No and have tried all sorts like disabling security , fully factory reset etc etc 

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Have you tried the laptops on another network?  For instance, a hotspot network from your phone.

[Barney999]

No haven't tried that but I have fibre BT so high speed . How will that help Stephen ?