No subscription plan

[MJ23]

Hi Everyone! I live in Dubai, other side of the world, and here, the Arlo plans dont work 😕 i have 5 cams connected and needed that 6th for a full house coverage. Sadly for me i wanted to ask before i actually baught the 6th because i read somewhere only 5 can be connected and the 6th needs a plan, so contacted arlo support (turns out its a scam number) and they said i can connect a 6th without a plan. Went ahead with the purchase, and then it wouldnt work. Called the right CS and they said plans aren’t accessible yet in this country. So now i have a 6th useless 200$ cam that doesnt work. Any way i can switch iff on the cams or delete add, somehow maneuver the system by removing adding at will? Help help help

[michaelkenward]

I don't understand this bit:

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@MJ23 wrote:
Any way i can switch iff on the cams or delete add, somehow maneuver the system by removing adding at will?

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What are you trying to achieve? All six cameras active? Five active that you can change?

[StephenB]

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@MJ23 wrote:

 So now i have a 6th useless 200$ cam that doesnt work. Any way i can switch iff on the cams or delete add, somehow maneuver the system by removing adding at will? Help help help

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What camera model did you purchase?

[MJ23]

Arlo Pro, same models as my existing. It works! However what im trying to say is, you can only operate 5 in one base station, but i cant do a subscription since that option doesnt exist here.

[MJ23]

I know that even if i do get a plan, i wont be able to have 6 cams recording same time, but, i want to able to to have them all active. Or atleast view the 6th camera area when i can, like some how turn off one and then i can view the 6th cam all through the app without deleting or syncing anything. The problem is i cant get a plan it isnt an option here, not available, but what can i do in this case? Just throw my cam?

[michaelkenward]

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@MJ23 wrote:
However what im trying to say is, you can only operate 5 in one base station...

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I don't know where you read that, but someone is misleading you.

There is a difference between how many cameras a hub can handle and what a subscription can do.

If you have a subscription for five cameras, then these will show up as "Active Cameras" in the page in Smart Notifications where you Manage Arlo Smart.

This refers to cameras that use the cloud service. So, if you have nine cameras – I have that many from different generations – only subscribed cameras show up as Active Cameras but the others are still there for you to play with even though they may be listed as Inactive Cameras.

You don't even need a plan to use cameras. Just add them to the hub and away you go.

Are you saying that you have tried adding a sixth camera? If so, and it doesn't work, you need to troubleshoot that.

Your first message said "it wouldn't work". What does that mean? That is a vague description that is impossible to troubleshoot.

[StephenB]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

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@MJ23 wrote:
However what im trying to say is, you can only operate 5 in one base station...

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I don't know where you read that, but someone is misleading you.

@michaelkenward: While you are technically correct, I think you are missing the real issue.

The problem is that @MJ23 can't get a paid subscription, because they aren't offered in Dubai.  Without a subscription, he can get 7-day cloud recordings anyway for <= 5 cameras - because these are the older Pro2 cameras.  But when he adds the 6th camera, he can't get those recordings.   

"Manage cameras" lets you choose what cameras are covered by a paid subscription. But if you have no subscription and have 6 or more cameras, there is no way to select 5 for the free cloud recording, and just get notifications on the others.  Instead, it's all-or-nothing - meaning that when you add the 6th camera, you lose free cloud recording on all your cameras.

@MJ23 : There are two possible solutions you could consider.

One solution:  Purchase a second base station, and then put that base on a new Arlo account.  Shift at least one camera over to the new base.  That will work around the 5 camera limit.  You can then use "grant access" to allow you to see all the cameras from either account.

You won't be able to cross-trigger a camera on one base from a camera connected to the other - so you will want to take that into account when you shift cameras to the new base.

Another possible solution: Some folks here have deployed a VPN that terminates their internet connection in the US.  They've found that they can then purchase a paid subscription.