Recent problem with cameras going offline and not able to connect

[cmilkosky]

Posting this in Arlo Pro 3 because I have mostly Arlo Pro 3 cameras.

My setup:  Arlo VMB 4540r2 base station, three Arlo Pro 3 cameras, one Arlo Pro 3 floodlight, one Arlo Pro 4, eero Pro 6 wifi network (in bridge mode - I have a separate router) with a primary node and 2 additional satellites.  VMB 4540r2 base station is wired to a satellite.

The issue:  For a couple of years I've had the Arlo basestation wired to a mesh wifi satellite (first Google Nest wifi, now eero) and it was working fine.  Not perfect - occasionally had to click play twice to view live video, but it was usable. 

In the last week, something changed and the Arlo cameras all are having problems connecting and are regularly going offline.  I didn't change anything on my side - same network setup as it has been for a long time.  The only thing I added recently was HomeKit support, but that was weeks ago, and the problems only popped up in the last couple of days.  I am also seeing streaks or blank/incomplete pictures on many recordings where motion was detected (on all cameras). 

I tried going to Camera Positioning to see what the "Video Bandwidth" reading looked like.  Sometimes it would come back as Poor or Weak , sometimes Strong for the same camera in the same position as it has always been in.  Sometimes the camera wouldn't even come back with a reading at all - it would just say "Connecting" until I stopped waiting.  Tried this with all the cameras and the behavior is the same pretty much.  Makes me wonder if  something changed that is causing interference, but I didn't change anything.  Additionally, I have no other problems with my wifi - it's only the Arlo devices.  I have Ring, Wyze, and many other wifi devices on the network and all are working fine.  It's just the Arlo cameras.

Here's what I've done so far:
- restarted the base station

- restarted the eero Pro 6 network

- confirmed firmware on all devices is up to date

- reset the base station to factory settings with the 10 second press of the small reset button

- moved base station around, disconnected it from the eero Pro 6 satellite and hard wired it to an ethernet port that isn't connected to eero Pro 6

No luck so far.  I opened a support case, so let's see how that goes.  Also may try to get a new base station to first replace the current one, and then if it has the same problems, maybe I'll try splitting up the load and moving a few cameras to one base station and a few to the other.  

Also going to try what I can to understand if there is interference that could be messing with the Arlo cameras' communication back to the base station.  I have a Raspberry Pi with wifi on it and was going to see what "iwlist wlan0 scan" can give me over time near the base station (note the Raspberry Pi is not there yet - so no, I don't expect it to be a cause of interference 🙂 ) .

Anyone have any thoughts on this?  Other ideas?  Anyone else having the same problem in the last few days?  I'm wondering if maybe some basestation or camera firmware patch was released that can cause this....

Any feedback/suggestions are appreciated!

[StephenB]

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@cmilkosky wrote:

Also may try to get a new base station to first replace the current one, and then if it has the same problems, maybe I'll try splitting up the load and moving a few cameras to one base station and a few to the other.  

 It does sound like it could be a failing base.  While firmware is always a possibility, I haven't seen many other users posting your issue here.

Can you measure the signal strength of the base wifi at the camera locations?  There are free Android apps for this, but unfortunately not for iOS.  Though if you have a windows laptop, there are also free wifi scanning programs that you can use.

You could also try relocating one camera closer to the base, and see if that helps.

[cmilkosky]

Using the Airport utility on my iPhone, I measured the RSSI of the base station at the cameras and in front of the base station itself.  Here are the results:

Camera 1    -61 to -68 dBm  most of the time around -68 dBm

Camera 2   -66 dBm pretty much solid there

Camera 3   -65 dBm for a bit and then switched to between -42 dBm and -50 dBm

Camera 4   -61 dBm to -56 dBm

Camera 5   -57 dBm to -64 dBm

 What do you think?

[cmilkosky]

BTW, when I’m 3 inches from the base station, it’s -10 to -5 dBm

[StephenB]

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@cmilkosky wrote:

Camera 1    -61 to -68 dBm  most of the time around -68 dBm

Camera 2   -66 dBm pretty much solid there

Camera 3   -65 dBm for a bit and then switched to between -42 dBm and -50 dBm

Camera 4   -61 dBm to -56 dBm

Camera 5   -57 dBm to -64 dBm

 What do you think?

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These should be ok.  Though interference from time to time is still a possibility.

[cmilkosky]

Thanks.  If they should be ok, then I have no idea what the problem is.  I bought another base station - the VMB4540 again and added it to the mix - moving 2 of 5 cameras that have the worst reception to it.   3 cameras are on the old unit, 2 on the new.  

Initial observations are somewhat positive - I can at least see live views on a couple of the cameras on the old unit after a couple of attempts.  Still see messed up pics on both of the other cameras that are on the new base station.  

I’m very annoyed that I have to buy more stuff just to get this to work.  There’s a part of me that thinks I should’ve just bought another brand of camera new now after all I’ve spent. 
Also thinking that I need to go wired cameras with power over Ethernet instead of wireless.  Wireless, at least Arlo, is just not reliable

[cmilkosky]

This morning the bad behavior has returned.  All cameras showing streaks, or covered in green.  Live stream pops up if I'm lucky.  All cameras go offline sporadically - no specific camera doing that.  All cameras have strong connections now - one is probably not even more than 15 feet away.  I went to utilities - Camera Positioning - and either get a timeout or Good/Strong connection.  One camera never actually shows a livestream for positioning, but the bar keeps moving between Good and Strong, then "timeout".  Ha ha - now that one just went to offline.  

BTW - I'm using both the Arlo web app and the iPhone app. 

A different path - is the behavior I'm seeing also possibly an indicator of an issue getting the video stream to my client device?   I'm curious if the behavior I'm seeing has nothing to do with the cameras->base stations->Arlo cloud upload, but is actually to do with Arlo cloud->Internet->my home network or Arlo cloud->Internet->cell phone.  That said, the behavior is the same on my home network and cell.

This is tiring and such a waste of my time.  

So, is it possible that these cameras

[cmilkosky]

Great - now there's something else happening.  One of my Arlo Pro 3 cameras is completely offline and won't come back.  I reset it to factory defaults and still nothing.  I put the battery in, the blue light comes on for a second, then shuts off.  Then the camera is done - won't go online, no blue light, nothing.  I tried removing it and then adding it back as new after the factory default reset, and nope.

Wondering now if this one camera was part of the general bad behavior of the rest of the Arlo setup.  Will let it run today without that camera and see what happens.