Can I use a Powerline adapters with Arlo Q Plus cameras?

[Estrom]

In order to avoid saturating my wi-fi network, would it work to use the POE connection with a Powerline adapter.  I am planning on setting up a 5 camera system - 3 Arlo Pro (outdoor) and 2 Arlo Q.  Having 5 cameras on wi-fi seems like it might drag down performance, so if I move the two indoor cameras to powerline, it will offload that bandwidth from the wi-fi.

I found this article:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Knowledge-Base/How-can-I-increase-the-range-of-my-Arlo-Smart-H...

But it doesn't seem to mention using the powerline adapter for individual cameras, only for moving the base station.

Thanks.

[TomMac]

The Q cameras can work on extenders as they use your home wifi system to connnect into... ( arlos don't as they connect only to bases )

As to a problem, I run 12 cams on the original base and have no problem, it is limited traffic as

1) bases can only stream a max of 5 cams at a time 

2) there is compression being used for the data transfers from bases

3) bases and Qs run differently ; Bases are their own 802.11 wifi on 2.4ghx, Qs can run on 2.4ghz and 5ghz if you have it available,.. bases effect your total data thru-put not your wifi, but Qs will effect the wifi directly cause thats where they connect to.

You really would have only 2 cams ( the Qs ) on your wifi. Etherenet takes the Q off the wifi and routes directly thru your router (not wifi )

[Estrom]

Thank you.  This was very helpful to understand the architecture.

I think I have this now - basically, the base station + Arlo Pros are an independent proprietary wireless network on their own.  The Qs use my traditional wifi network.  Both will upload data data, so both are affected by my ISP limits for bandwidth and total monthly data usage.  But only the Qs will affect my router's wifi limits for bandwidth.

[Estrom]

So although the response was super helpful, I'm not sure if my original question was fully answered.

Can I use the Arlo Q plus's POE connector with a powerline adapter?  A powerline adapter is not really a wifi "extender" in the traditional sense, since it doesn't use wireless signals.  It sends ethernet signal over the power grid in your house.  This would avoid the Q cams from sucking my wifi bandwidth.  

I assume it should work, but nothing like someone who has tried it successfully.

[jguerdat]

It's a bit of a fringe case so a response from someone who has actually tried it may be long in coming.

Does the powerline adapter support PoE?  If not, that part won't work and you would simply be using the PoE adapter to connect via Ethernet to the powerline adapter.  I don't see why that wouldn't work.

As for "sucking my WiFi bandwidth", unless you have very old WiFi I'd think you'd be hard pressed to notice the usage.  I certianly can't tell the difference when the camera is operating - my upload bandwidth from my ISP is another issue.

[Dmmack · Accepted solution]

I have an Arlo Pro base station and one Arlo Q Plus running off a Netgear PL 1200 powerline adapter, with the Q Plus running power via USB. It seems to work as well as the same camera on WiFi. These Arlo Q/Arlo Q Plus cams have their own issues, but I haven't been able to isolate the powerline adapter as a source. 

My setup consists of 4 Arlo Pro Cameras connected to a base station connected to the powerline adapter, 2 Arlo Q Plus cameras -- 1 on wifi, 1 on ethernet via the same powerline adapter the base station is running on. I have a Netgear switch that splits the single powerline adapter signal into two (one for the base station and one for the Arlo Q Plus). I'm using a Nighthawk R8000 router. 

[As a side note related to the Arlo Q/Q Plus: I have continued, unresolved problems (since November 2016) with 4 Arlo Q cameras (2 current Q Pluses and 2 former Arlo Qs I returned for the Pluses) -- whether on wifi or ethernet, the Arlo Q cameras have triggered and CVR footage with no audio, frozen frames, and visual pixelation/glitches. I do not believe any of these issues are isolated to a certain defective camera, since they have repeated on 4 different cameras. These issues occurred before I ever introduced a switch or ethernet to the Arlo Q Plus, and continue to this day regardless of signal strength or daily resetting of the cameras.]

[jguerdat]

What is the upload speed measued by speedtest.net?  That could explain the issues although I suppose there could be other local environmental issues at play. Is it possible that the WiFi signal is low or has interference from other 2.4GHz devices?  When using Ethernet, is it plugged into the powerline adapter or the router? Have you tried each? Anything that interferes with the transmission of the data from teh camera could be suspect.

[Estrom]

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jguerdat wrote:

That could explain the issues although I suppose there could be other local environmental issues at play. 

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No issues since I haven't installed all the cams yet.  I am just being cautious about competition from so many consumers of my wifi bandwidth - streaming movies, gaming, etc.  As a general strategy, if I have a choice I try to get things off wifi and onto ethernet.

[jguerdat]

I can't tell when the cameras are recording even when I'm streaming HD movies. Obviously, it depends on how your usage is but the cameras, even if you have several recording at the same time, don't consume that much bandwidth. A decently new router should handle everything with no issues. Depending on your isp's speeds, it's much more apt to be their upload speed that's the big issue. I do use upload QOS to just under my actual upload speed to allow multiple operations to occur at once.