Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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Christo2019
Aspirant
Aspirant
Let me start off by saying I am clueless when it comes to anything tech orientated, layman’s terms would be greatIy appreciated! I have read a number of posts on the community but cant seem to find a straight answer for my needs.

I have bought two Arlo Pro 2 cameras, base station included. I’m extremely worried about how much data will be used per month if both cameras are recording at worst case 10hours each per day. Questions are as follows:

1) does the base station record and only upload to the cloud when someone wants to view footage remotely or is it a continuous upload with each motion sensed?
2) which data package would I need to buy from a data/service provider to be able to support 3-4 Arlo Pro 2 cameras on best video probably all gathering about 10 hours each per day?

I will only view remotely once a day and watch live video per day for probably less than 10 minutes.

Data is expensive in my country and an effective uncapped/unlimited data package is not an option for my needs. My lovely country only offers fixed line/fibre unlimited/uncapped options. I will
have to use a mobile router with a simcard(LTE router) I will
be moving around(imagine a food truck with cameras

I hope the above makes sense. Thanks in advance.
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AncientGeek
Hero
Hero

@Christo2019 wrote:
Let me start off by saying I am clueless when it comes to anything tech orientated, layman’s terms would be greatIy appreciated! I have read a number of posts on the community but cant seem to find a straight answer for my needs.

I have bought two Arlo Pro 2 cameras, base station included. I’m extremely worried about how much data will be used per month if both cameras are recording at worst case 10hours each per day. Questions are as follows:

1) does the base station record and only upload to the cloud when someone wants to view footage remotely or is it a continuous upload with each motion sensed?
2) which data package would I need to buy from a data/service provider to be able to support 3-4 Arlo Pro 2 cameras on best video probably all gathering about 10 hours each per day?

I will only view remotely once a day and watch live video per day for probably less than 10 minutes.

Data is expensive in my country and an effective uncapped/unlimited data package is not an option for my needs. My lovely country only offers fixed line/fibre unlimited/uncapped options. I will
have to use a mobile router with a simcard(LTE router) I will
be moving around(imagine a food truck with cameras

I hope the above makes sense. Thanks in advance.

First, do you understand that will need to purchase a Continuous Video Recording plan for each camera and you will need to power your Arlo Pro 2 cameras via a power cord from a wall socket or perhaps from a generator?  That’s the only way you are going to get continuous video recording for hours at a time.  Arlo battery operated cameras are typically used for recording around 5-10 minutes of video a day.  You can record more, but not continuously and the batteries will need recharging very quickly.

 

Arlo cameras send all of their video to “the cloud” unless you have them disconnected from the internet and if you have them disconnected you can’t view videos from the app and definitely not remotely.

 

If you are truly running a food truck with cameras, you might want to look for a different solution.  One that records locally, but can be viewed remotely.  Also, does the person operating the lunch truck want to monitor the cameras while the truck is in operation?  (Active surveillance)

 

 

 

AncientGeek
Hero
Hero

Here’s a quick datapoint.  I downloaded a 14 second Arlo video to my MacBook.  The file size is 3.1 MB.  If this extrapolates linearly, a one minute recording would be about 13 MB.  An hour would be 780MB and 10 hours would be 7.8 GB.  x  4 cameras =  31.2 GB per day.

Christo2019
Aspirant
Aspirant
It’s for a pop up food truck that moves every 3 months, The cameras will always be plugged into a socket. It will be stationary for 3 months at a time.

Arlo has a 7 day plan that depends on usage. I have ran the system for a few days and it stores data for around 4 days which I’m fine with when it gets to one days recording because of too much data on the base station I will look into a package.

I was really just hoping you could tell me how much data would be used roughly on a worst case scenario (4 cameras running for max 10 hours a day) so I can buy the right data package to suit my needs, contracts for data packages run for 2 years here. I don’t want to buy the wrong one..As I explained I can’t get an unlimited/uncapped package.

The cameras will always be connected to WiFi and on plug sockets. I want to look at the cameras with the app every now and then for 10 or so minutes a day to see if my staff are doing their jobs correctly.
AncientGeek
Hero
Hero

@Christo2019 wrote:
It’s for a pop up food truck that moves every 3 months, The cameras will always be plugged into a socket. It will be stationary for 3 months at a time.

Arlo has a 7 day plan that depends on usage. I have ran the system for a few days and it stores data for around 4 days which I’m fine with when it gets to one days recording because of too much data on the base station I will look into a package.

I was really just hoping you could tell me how much data would be used roughly on a worst case scenario (4 cameras running for max 10 hours a day) so I can buy the right data package to suit my needs, contracts for data packages run for 2 years here. I don’t want to buy the wrong one..As I explained I can’t get an unlimited/uncapped package.

The cameras will always be connected to WiFi and on plug sockets. I want to look at the cameras with the app every now and then for 10 or so minutes a day to see if my staff are doing their jobs correctly.

The challenge is that when you say “running for a max 10 hours a day”, that is ambiguous.  The numbers I gave you are a quick and dirty idea of how much data you would need if “running” means you want them to record for 10 hours a day.  Which is the “worse case” you requested.  If by “running” you mean they will be just sitting there with no motion triggers set and no recording, waiting for you to look at them from time to time via Live View for a total of 10 minutes a day across all cameras, that’s a very different answer.

 

If I’m correct about the 13MB per minute data requirement, you’d need about 130MB of data per day to view the cameras for 10 minutes in total with no other recording of audio or video and no notifications.  Round up to 150MB per day and you would likely be in the ball park.  Multiply by the number of days per month your food truck operates and you have your monthly data requirement. Likely 4.5 to 5 GB if the truck is in operation every day of the month.

 

I’d welcome other estimates by my fellow community members as a sanity check here.  I’m basing my estimates off one recording.

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Don't forget that there are two cameras so the data usage estimates need to be x2. I think the video size estimates are at least close assuming Best Quality (1080p). You can shrink that by using Optimized (720P) or Best Battery Life (480p, I think).

 

Constant streaming/recording would be a huge data drain.

AncientGeek
Hero
Hero
Yes. If it is 10 Minutes per camera per day, you’d need to multiply by the number of cameras. If it is 10 minutes spread over all cameras, then this number sounds like it would be in the ballpark.
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