arlo pro camera has super long unusable live video lag time

[oldgranola]

The camera's video lagtime while watching live is 40 to 60 seconds, even when using the camera's >tools>positioning mode. That make it useless to me and a waste of money. I purchased this system over others because I wanted to be able to see live and interact via voice. My cheap P2P WiFi HD cameras are far better in that regard, almost no lag via phone or browser, just not battery powered. In the arlo camera's 'positioning' mode I do see the warning of weak signal. I have moved the cameras around both away and closer to the base to no avail. I don't know if this is the issue or its your cloud.

The base is hooked up to the router via ethernet cable. I have decent internet speed, can stream 1080p. I have only one Wifi router, a couple of computers and two hooked to it via wifi. Have all 4g bars on the phones. My p2p cams are turned off to to try to trouble shoot this arlo pro system. No other sources of Wifi interference should exist other than distant neigbors. Pretty basic signal situation here,  I should not expect interference. But if so, this thing really sucks as I see no way to choose alternate bands etc for the base which is itself a type of wifi router. I have updated firmware for the base and the two arlo pro cameras. So what should I try befor sending this thing back for a refund?

[oldgranola]

I did try moving my centurylink wifi router from channel 1 to 11 to no avail, still super long lag time for live video (>60 seconds). I used a tool called 'wifi analyzer' on my phone to see that there is a strong netgear router now on channel 1. Its signal on 1 is as strong as my centurylink router on 11. There are only weak signals from neighbors showing, so shouldn't interfere with either. That means the outgoing signal from the netgear arlo base should be picked up fine from the cameras, don't undersand the 'weak signal' showing in the camera positioning mode. Their batteries look fine.

I think the problem is with the arlo.netgear cloud service. 

If I can't get this to work as well as my cheapo P2P wifi cams, I'm sending it back...

[oldgranola]

Base station self reports on the router as VBM4000

The cameras do not have any model numbers on them. The box says VMS4230 and "arlo pro". The list above has none of these but I put vmc4030 as a complete guess.

Its still a solid 60 second delay for the live cam even on 'camera positioning' mode. Unacceptable. 

[jguerdat]

What is your actual upload speed as reported by speedtest.net?

[oldgranola]

Hi, finally saw your reply.

Various speed tests report uploads between 0.85 and 0.7, ping is between 75ms and 55ms.  That's within specs. I've worked with the help center and we did reboots of the base and cams, reinstllation of cams, reboot of the modem, changing the wifi channels. I could see by a wifi analyzer program that the arlo pro base does a pretty good job of staying away from the wifi channel. Anyway, unless the base is bad, I don't believe its a local issue, rather netgears servers

[jguerdat]

.7-.85Mbps is NOT within specs and is likely the cause of your issues. Streamin requires 1-1.5Mbps upload speed. You can try setting the camera resolution lower by going to Settings, My Devices, your camera, Video Settings, Power Management to see if that helps.

[oldgranola]

No. I spent over two hours with your tech. They said my speed was fine. Besides, my cheap P2p IP cams give great video with almost no lag in HD. If I set the arlo pro to lower resolution, I won't be able to see a thing, already piss poor. You just have a bad product. Can't even pan..

[jguerdat]

I'll bet your cheap P2P IP cams don't use cloud services - major difference, like comparing apples to bananas.

The 720p resolution (actually the amount of compression used) is fine for most cases but zooming way in isn't particularly useful.

Define "pan" - if you mean a motorized movenet of the camera/lens, it was never stated that to be possible. Your lack of research doesn't affect the product. You can pan and zoom both in settings as well as when reviewing a video.

[JoeCymru]

What you are seeing on the WiFi Analyzer is what your phone is getting. Normally the Arlo base signal is channel coincident with your router signal. Even if you change your router 2.4GHz channel to a different fixed channel, eventually Arlo will follow it. All that is telling you is that your base and router are sending signal is about equal strength. Same with mine on 2.4GHz. Typical.

There is some inherent delay with Arlo due to multiple handling and the cloud. Quite unlike direct to router to viewing device. However the worst offenders are interference or very low upload speeds which will greatly exacerbate any delay. My own opinion is that even with what Arlo is recommending for minimum upload (what support said to you is not what Arlo advertises), they stick to the 1MHz even after several upgrades to accomodate new products,which I believe is stretching it. I must agree with @jguerdat your upload speed as reported will be a problem.

https://kb.arlo.com/000062043/What-are-the-minimum-requirements-for-installing-and-using-my-Arlo-sys...

• A high-speed Internet connection (minimum 1 Mbps upstream recommended).
  Note: Arlo works with the minimum requirements, but the functionality and video quality might be negatively affected. The lower your upstream bandwidth, the greater the possibility of the following performance issues:
  • Video quality might be pixelated and unclear.
  • You might experience a delay in starting a live stream.
• An Internet router with an available Ethernet port (if using an Arlo or Arlo Pro base station).