Operating, But A Set Of Bricks

[JoeCymru]

The base merrily glows green indicators and the internet connection light happily tells me that Arlo is talking to something. I understand the announcement that they are "still working on it" for the app showing (for some?) that Arlo is unavailable. Okay. But now the web GUI cannot connect. For me at least non even a 404, but an immediate Google site cannot be reached.

I cannot access my system in any manner. I have had this system for five months and when all the interfaces are up and running it has performed very well. However this has been one application problem after another, each effort to fix one thing breaks another and in many cases for some users makes things worse than what they were trying to fix.

The community here is full of workarounds, countless people trying to help others with reboots and factory resets and reload apps, and smartthings byzantine controls, and deep dives into phone controls, This is insane. This system should be plug and play. At this rate, Arlo, any spin off from Netgear will be a death spiral into obscurity. Your hardware is useless if you continue to induce issues that renders it into expensive bricks. Please fix the root cause of this: a team that continually shows they have no clue about what they are trying to accomplish. I should not have to tear down and rebuild my system or deep dive all my phone controls multiple times a month. Plug and play, not this continuous firedrill.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

Possibly related to this:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Stories/Arlo-App-Login-issue/m-p/1579307#M1103

For anything on your network, change your router DNS server settings from your ISP's to either the Google or OpenDNS servers.

[JoeCymru]

@jguerdat: I certainly appreciate your help and your continuously trying to help others. My point in this post is that changing my default DNS server to an open server is precisely the problem. Why should I have to contstantly be invoking workarounds with this system? Why should I need to change basic home wifi setups to accomodate one toy that constantly has user interface problems? When is this thing going to actually be a stable product for the general public? Those who like the mental exercise of fiddling and fussing about to find workarounds, well I understand it and do it myself. But the tsunami of glitches since March is beyond the pale and consuming much more time and concern than any other system I have owned. I have always liked Netgear. I have a Netgear modem and Netgear Orbi router and adapters and switches that perform wonderfully for me. My point is the Arlo team does not appear ready for prime time and they are killing their own product.

[JoeCymru]

@jguerdat By the way, thanks. I hope you did not take my reply above as anything concerning your fine efforts to help others on this forum. I did cave in and change DNS server(s) since I naturally need to have access. Again though, this should not have been my problem. Spectrum choosing the DNS server should not be an impediment to the proper operation of the Arlo system.

Your activity on the forum is appreciated.

[jguerdat]

No problem - thanks.

The issue with ISP DNS servers is that they're rather known for issues over time. I changed mine years ago due to Time Warner (now Spectrum) issues and haven't had an issue since. Google and OpenDNS (and likely a few others) have much better reputations but, unfortunately, it requires some user knowledge and intervention to set them up.