Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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Base Station Range Not so great

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vampyren
Guide
Guide

Hi,

 

I bought Arlo Pro a few days ago, i got 3 cameras and basestation.

1) First problem i encountered was the range of basestation, its just louse, there is no way getting around it. For a expensive product like this i dont see why the wifi can reach more then what it does. And this is a home security camera so it has to have the reach to cover the whole house.

2) Support: i tried to call the support, over 1 hour in the queue and no one picks up. I hear i'm the first but no one ever answers.Second time i waited 30+ minutes and same. No one seems to work at the support!!!! Maybe its different in other countries but Sweden support is non existent.

3) On the PC i need to install Flash! This is in its own security risk and all major browsers are moving away from it. Even Flash has said they will not support flash anymore. I wont install flash on my computer. On my Mac it drains the battery like crazy.

4) The camera takes a long time to show the live feed. And sometimes i get error that it has lost connection but after i refresh it comes back. Not very convincing that its a stable product specially being home security.

5) Password for arlo page is stupid. If i use a strong password using symbols like "& it wont work, i just get error when trying to set the password. I tested 2 times now. But i can go to netgear page and change it.

 

On the good side, the notification seems to work well. Its easy to install the camera without wire.

 

I'm not very convinced right now if i keep this or not. I have to get one more basestation at the least to cover the house.

Also the long delay before i see the livefeed + Flash for browser is not so great.

 

Wanted to share my experience with people here as well as Netgear. Any tips for how to fix the range or making the camera more responsive would be appreciated.

14 REPLIES 14
DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

Sounds like you may need a better router. I have 2 cameras about 200~230 feet from my base station and 3 within 50'.  I used an inline extender next to a window to attach the base station.  With another inline extender at the back of my house I can pick up wifi in all of my backyard which is 80X100.  I have no concrete walls and a camera has no problem with the back end of my house.  Haven't walked the back with a live camera but I can see as many bars on its SSID at the back end of my property then I do where I put the cameras on the neighbors house so I am pretty sure they would work.

vampyren
Guide
Guide

I have Asus RT-AC68U which is pretty much top of the line for wireless router. I can see my wifi signal from the next street even so wifi is not the issue. As mentioned the limitation is set by Arlo station. Cameras are connected to the station no my wifi directly. 

What is "inline extender"? can you link to this product? 

 

The room where my Arlo station is dont have concrete wall either, my house (being in Sweden) is made of wood mostly but either way since my router can reach everywhere i would expect that the station should have atleast the the range. 

DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

You just plug it in and sync it to your router.  You then have an ethernet port without having to run cat5/6. The link will show you several, I have the one that opens on the page.  Range extender.

vampyren
Guide
Guide

house_arlo.jpg

DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

The past couple of days photos only show to the person who uploaded them so have no idea what you posted.  Yesterday they did appear after several hours.

vampyren
Guide
Guide

Your link dont work for me, seems i cant even get to Amazon.com with the MBP, something about secure link cant be estabilished. Amazon uk works fine. 

Any way your talking about wifi extenders right? 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=range+extender&rh=...

 

i watched this video also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfh__HV467c

Basically i need a additional basestation. The externder if for extending my wifi which i dont have a issue with. The problem is station not reaching the camera and that wont be solved with extender if i understand correctly. 

 

vampyren
Guide
Guide

 


DoriJC wrote:

The past couple of days photos only show to the person who uploaded them so have no idea what you posted.  Yesterday they did appear after several hours."

Not sure what you are talking about now ? seems you posted this in the wrong thread? 

DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

No, not for extending range in this case.  Its so you can put the base station in the center of the area you want to cover without having to cat 5/6 cable.  Plugging it into an extnder is just like plugging it directly into your router.

DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

vampyren wrote:

 


DoriJC wrote:

The past couple of days photos only show to the person who uploaded them so have no idea what you posted.  Yesterday they did appear after several hours."

Not sure what you are talking about now ? seems you posted this in the wrong thread? 


No, all I see is a yellow triangle.  You see it as you posted it.  Not sure why there is such a delay for all to be able to see it.  I assume you really did post an image because it shows you as the poster.

 

vampyren
Guide
Guide

Dont you see the image i posted still?  i can see it myself on the forum. 

 

I understand about the extender i think. I can connect the basestation to a wifi extender and i connect the other wifi extender to my router. This can increase the range for the basestation to my router however that is not the problem i'm talking about. The problem is the range for which the Arlo Pro can reach the basestation. Even if i would move the Arlo station in the middle of the house it wont reach outside properly. 

I actually use a homeplug (TP-LINK 9020) to extend my internet to where the Arlo station is right now. 

DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

No, still can't see the image.  Try moving your base station to the center point of all your cameras and near a window and see if that helps.

DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

I just took a camera and walked.  From the base station in my front window, I was able to walk 130' away from it in the back but then I run into I-90 and couldn't go any further (walked in the middle line to my house so I would no how much the house interfered).  From the front I went close to 300' down the road. (used Google Earth to measure the distance). Holding it behind a neighbors garage (car not in it) I lost 2 bars on the base stations SSID but the camera still worked. Chances are if there was a car in the garage, I would have lost the signal. Lowering it behind a car ~200 ft away I lost the signal.

vampyren
Guide
Guide

Here is the picture again

large.jpg

 

You seem to be getting a much better signal. Still that wont help me sadly. I dont think the basestation is broken or anything but it can be that it is not that great at penetrating the walls. Still if my router can do it using 2.4GHz band so should this baseband.

DoriJC
Luminary
Luminary

Still not showing

vampyren wrote:

Here is the picture again

large.jpg

 

You seem to be getting a much better signal. Still that wont help me sadly. I dont think the basestation is broken or anything but it can be that it is not that great at penetrating the walls. Still if my router can do it using 2.4GHz band so should this baseband.