Is there an official news about the ongoing login issues?

[Thewood]

I have had the session time out issues for a couple days now.  I have been reading the forums and seeing a number of people are having similar issues.  I have seen nothing official about it.  I have tried the fixes and workarounds and some seem to work for an hour or two.  But then the error message pops up.

Does anyone have a clue what is going on.  I spent months convincing my wife that the tech was simple enough to operate without an open line to the help desk.  This is making me look like an idiot.

[MB-SOCAL]

I did the factory reset on the base station by pressing the down for a few seconds and repairing the cameras from scratch. That basically put my system back up but now I can only view from my iphone and I am still getting the errors on my desktop running safari and firefox. I called customer service yesterday and they tried to walk me through a fix to no avail and bacially gave me a useless ticket number and no call back today from a tech like they promised. This system was basically flawless for a year for me and now two times in a month it has let me down. If any one knows how to get my desktop working again to view Arlo cameras please advise. Thanks.

[MB-SOCAL]

Ok now I went into preferences and deleted all cookies associated with Arlo Netgear and my desktop viewing is now up. 

[Thewood]

I have four cameras up in high positions with two feet of snow on the ground...and its about 20 deg F right now.  I sure hope they don't tell me the only solution is get on a ladder and take them all down to reset the entire system.  Otherwise, I'll do what my wife originally told me to do...get Ring.

[MB-SOCAL]

Yes, it may be more difficult for you to have to bring down your cameras in your weather. I had to delete the app from my phone and reinstall. Also, try removing the cookies from anything Arlo Netgear and at least reboot your camera system if you are able or at least unplug for one minute. It's worth a try until maybe you have to take the cameras down tomorrow.

[pc2k17]

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@Thewoodwrote:

I have four cameras up in high positions with two feet of snow on the ground...and its about 20 deg F right now.  I sure hope they don't tell me the only solution is get on a ladder and take them all down to reset the entire system.  Otherwise, I'll do what my wife originally told me to do...get Ring.

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Ring camera video recording is $30 per year for 1 camera and $100 per year if you want more than one camera. Only live viewing is free. Ring also is a cloud based service, so like any cloud service, they are susceptible to the same type of issues that some Arlo customers are having now. Also, Ring does not have a USB thumb drive option like Arlo does. With Arlo, if the internet is down or if your router is down, it can still record to the USB drive. Also if you hook the base station to a UPS it will even record to the USB when the power and internet is out (like in a bad storm). Ring can't do that. However with ring, you could hook you moden and router to a UPS and during a power outage ring would still work, but only if the internet is up as well.

[MB-SOCAL]

I hate anything icloud, it's just about $$$ for these companies.  I feel more secure having my footage on my own harddrive. There have been times with these Arlo cameras that stated someone was logged in to my account when I'm the only one in my family that manages them and knows the password. Hmm, I wonder who was viewing my footage? Yes, Ring is the same platform. I have these baby type cameras (Wansview) that are great and use a Micro Sd card and I can view live and videos from my smartphone but they are actually for indoors. I did use one of them last year to watch my parrots in their outdoor aviary over the summer and they are 1080p. They are great in good weather and record at night too. No monthly fees and no down time unless my wifi was to go out. They had the best picture quality for the price $59.

[pc2k17]

@MB-SOCAL

I agree. I hate cloud based services too, but it's the future. My cameras are cloud, my smartthings home automation is cloud (alhough they have implemnted local execution for some devices), my Lexus car app which does all kinds of things is cloud based, my alarm system works over cellular and has cloud like services........ and all of these systems have gone down from time to time. The USB option is one of the reason I went with Arlo. A cam with a micro sd card will do the trick too.

[MB-SOCAL]

Technology today is all about Big Brother and Tracking your every move. It has made it so easy for law enforcement to solve crimes these days. The only thing private these days are the thoughts in our head--at least for now. 

[iseeyou2018]

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@MB-SOCALwrote:

Technology today is all about Big Brother and Tracking your every move.

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There is no such thing as a "Big Brother" when every little brother and sister are equipped with an HD cam watching "Big Brother".

[Thewood]

You can denigrate Ring all you want, but my father in law has two and they haven't gone down in a year.  I hate paying the montly, but its better than having a system that isn't working and a support group that doesn't reply.

[Autismmom12996]

I am having the same message pop up. But doesnt give me a way to sign in this is eztremely frustrating as we juet apent 500 on this system and i have a severely autistic son wih severe seizures .. any info yet?

[pc2k17]

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@Thewoodwrote:

You can denigrate Ring all you want, but my father in law has two and they haven't gone down in a year.  I hate paying the montly, but its better than having a system that isn't working and a support group that doesn't reply.

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Who was denigrating Ring? I simply stated facts about their prodcut / service. I'm sure it's a fine product as well. Both have their ups and downs. I've had Arlo for a year and last week when the database went down was the first time I had an issue and it only lasted a few hours (for me anyway). I've had no down time these past few days.

As for as support, meh.... I'm a desktop engineer and rarely do I have the need to seek help from the company's support. If I do have to contact a companies support it's usually to report and issue I discovered, not to seek help. I usually just fix things myself, but I do understand how the average non-technical person would like strong support groups for their products. I have no experience with calling Arlos support or Rings, so I can't comment on how good or bad either is.

[Thewood]

My point is that there is a known issue causing serious product performance issues and not a single official comment other than making people jump through stupid scripted tasks that produce no results.  This obviously isn't isolated and can most likely be traced back to a recent update.

We are at the mercy of Netgear support on this.  There is not much we can do as consumers except scream as loudly as we can and warn people off the product.  Most of the angst can be resloved just by having  someone, and just some white knights, coming in and saying its a known issue and its being worked on.  Silence assumes they haven't gotten the message yet.

I am totally understanding of power outages and periodic failures now and then.  But communications, and lack there of, is where I draw the line.  Just tell us what the hell is going on and don't waste my time.

[pc2k17]

Yes there are some serious issues going on, but lets remember these issues aren't affecting everyone. I had no down time this time. For the people who are affected I can understand how it can be frustrating.

Some of the solutions offered in this forum have helped, so some have had results, but I agree some have not.

My guess is as Arlo transitions away from Netgear they will have to have their own data centers and infraturcture or most likely will use AWS (amazon web services) like many major companies do and it's possible these recent issues are a result of the switch starting to happen.

I understand the frustration for the lack of communication, espeically since when the database went down last week all customers were notified via email (I got my email within an hour of the issue). I'm not sure why they haven't communicated anything this time. It sure seems like a mistake to me. However I'm not going to start warning people away from a product just for one issue that came up or when that product malfunctions. I try not to let my emotions get the best of me and approach the issue logically.

What Arlo needs is a system status page. Of the products I use... LIFX has one, SmartThings has one, Amazon (Echo) has one, Lexus has one, my electric company has one, and some others like Microsoft, Google, etc have twitter or facebook feeds. Arlo..... if your listening........ a system status page would be a great idea.

[MB-SOCAL]

At this point you are probably going to have to do what has been working for everyone else that was down:

Reset your basestation by pressing the tiny reset button for about 10 seconds

Reconnect to your router

Remove all the batteries in your cameras prior and reinsert

Add each camera, one by one to your basestation.

And if you are unable to view on Desktop, delete prior cookies associated with Arlo Netgear

You may also have to delete app on your phone device and reinstall

Most people have gotten service back by doing all this. I don't think Arlo has any other alternative because I called them two days ago and the woman at the help desk knew less than I did. Gave me a ticket number and that was it--no email or call back. So give this a try and I'm sure you'll be up and running in no time.

[Thewood]

There are 4-5 solutions going around on this forum.  I don't think anyone knows what works.  Even the complete reset has not worked for some.  This isn't just about going through a bunch of motions just to make myself feel better.  Its about getting some kind of action from Arlo.

And people should be warned off a product if this is the kind of service you can expect.  They should be warned off very loudly and clearly.  Through Amazon or where ever they bought it.  Its the one piece of leverage we as customers have left.

[MB-SOCAL]

Thewood, I was down for a day and a half and didnt want to pull all 3 of my cameras down either but nothing else worked and it actually worked so it wasn't all in vain.

It still shows various areas down, including Denver.

http://downdetector.com/status/arlo/map/

[Thewood]

I suspect my last post was deleted because I can't find it.  Maybe I misposted it.  In it, I stated that I spent three hours getting the ladder out in 20 inches of snow and 30 deg F to pull all four cameras down.  Went throught the complete reset.  Thought it worked for about two hours, then bang...session expired.

So I have gone out and ordered four of the new ring light/camera combos.  Completely wireless with integrated light, alarm, mic, speaker, and camera.  For less than $200/per camera.  The $100/yr is worth not going through this crap.  Another wasted day.  And Amazon free 2-day shipping.

I find it funny that the mods may be looking for posts to delete, yet can't be bothered posting any status on the issue.  Thanks to Arlo for wasting my time and money.  Expensive lesson learned.  Good luck on your IPO.

[Thewood]

Bumping this because I saw someone say they got some official word on the issue.  Was there something posted by Arlo about it?  I can't find it.

I just got my four Ring cameras.  Actually two doorbell2s and a couple cameras.  Have played around with the doorbell.  But not going any further until I see what is going on here.  If this gets resolved and we get some sort of explanation about why the company left us hanging for a week, I might return the Rings.  But for now, I am assuming I am going to have to write off the Arlo "investment" as a lesson learned.

btw, the Ring app doen't have some of the features of the Arlo, but responsiveness is very fast compared to Arlo.

[Thewood]

I have now submitted a case through support with no response, waited 30 minutes for a chat session with no response, spoke with a somewhat useless call center rep with no admission that there is an issue, and sent a PM to JamesC with no response.  So I am assuming Netgear/Arlo doen't think there is a problem.  We are on our own.

[JamesC]

Engineering is aware of this issue and hopes to have a fix available very soon. We apologize for any inconvenience caused, I will provide an update as soon as I have more information on the fix.

JamesC

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

A recent cloud update along with an update for the Android Arlo mobile app has been released that should resolve this issue. Please visit the app store and be sure you are up to date on the latest version of the Arlo Mobile App: Release Notes - Android App 2.4.10 - 26th March 2018

If you continue to experience this issue, please let us know.

JamesC

[Thewood]

MIne is somewhat working.  It went 24 hours then it did the session expired thing.  It has now gone 20 hours with it.  So it seems to be kind of fixed, but waiting to see if it happens again.