The Benefits of the Arlo Pro Base Station - Arlo Blog

[BretD]

Ever curious as to why Arlo Pro uses a base station instead of using your homes WiFi network? One of the many benefits is it helps extends the battery life of the Arlo Pro Wire-Free Cameras. But that’s only part of the story! Click here to learn more about the Arlo Pro base station benefits.

[ak_nyc]

I was planning on a six camera set up but after reading this I'm a bit confused now on if this set up will work for my installation. 

I have a three story row house + basement. Total sq. ft is approx 5k sq. ft. across the three floors, maybe 5800 sq. ft including the basement. Build in the 1920's, the walls are thick, plaster. I picked up Orbi AC3000 Whole Home Tri-Band WiFi System Router & Satellite thinking all the cams would feed into the wifi and the Arlo base station would be plugged into the router.  But if the cameras feed directly to the Arlo base station, I am afraid that if I place two cameras at either end of the property to cover the outdoor area, and the remaining four across the four floors, connectivity will be an issue.

To visualize, the red squiggle in the attached photo is where I planned to have the Orbi router + Arlo base station. The two blue squiggles approximate where the two outdoor cameras would be. 

Thoughts on my design + set up?

[jguerdat]

Two options for Arlo:

1) purchase two or three systems that will total the number of cameras you need. Place a base on each floor or perhaps one on the 1st and 3rd floors. Sync cameras close to the appropriate base - might be home camera or 3.

2) use the Q cameras which use your WiFi for the indoor cameras. You may still need 2 bases to capture the outdoors wireless cameras. A WiFi extender or the Orbi satellite could be used to plug the second base in via Ethernet. Another possibility would be to more centrally locate the base which may be able to all both wireless cameras to successfully connect.

[ak_nyc]

For option #1 (i.e. using two or three systems), do they the base stations talk to each other seamlessly? Or will each be a separate "instance"? 

[jguerdat]

Each is separate, as if in a different location.

[ak_nyc]

Do they talk to each other? If so, what is being communicated btwn base stations? 

For example, if I want to review video recordings that are on cameras attached to each base station, can I do that seamlessly? Will I even know from a usability standpoint that there are two base stations setup?

[jguerdat]

No communication directly between the bases. Ever goes through the servers. There's no limit to the number of bases, just with the number of cameras. You would see all cameras in one login unless you choose to distribute the cameras across two accounts. You can then use Grant Access so everything is still seen in one login.

The biggest issue with thinks that you can only set up modes and schedules withe the cameras attached to one base. Thus, you need to set up modes on each base for those specific cameras. Since you say you bought a 6 camera set which includes at least one Q camera (to my limited knowledge) the Q camera operated on its own just like this. It's not hard to set up properly but will take a little messing around to understand the issues and get things configured the way you want.

[Cirofee]

I live in a two dwelling house. My brother in the other. My base station is in his apartment because that's where the wifi router is. Is there a way to have the base station in my apartment even though the router is not? I would like easier assess to it..

[jguerdat]

The use of a WiFi extender would work here. Plug the base into the extender and you should be all set.