Cameras miss 99% of all motion events

[LordBracht]

I added a new pro 5 because newer is better. Boy was I wrong. Ever since I updated the app my other cameras seem to be more unstable and I now miss 99% of all motion events. The cameras are now useless. Thumbnail images don't load, cameras don't respond, larger breaks in the CVR footage, CVR footage freezes, and more. I can now walk through most of my cameras and maybe one will pick me up for a second. Maybe I'll get a one second recording. Arlo please fix this or people will leave. I know I'm thinking of leaving Arlo once my cameras get to the end of life.     

[jguerdat]

You either have a faulty camera or something in your configuration needs tweaking. It rather sounds like the camera doesn't have a reliable connection for the camera (WiFi or to a hub?) so some experimentation may be needed. Move the camera closer to the router or hub to see what happens.

[LordBracht]

I removed the new Pro 5 from the hub and everything went back to normal / working. I then added it to the 2.4GHz network: it connected but killed  / disabled my 5GHz network. After about 2 hours I was able to connect it to the 5GHz network and is now stable. Now to figure out the lack of notifications for the new pro 5. All of my cameras are around 30 - 40 ft +/- from the Arlo hub well within the recommended 90 meters. The hub is in a central area and the house is wood framed and no massive brick quantities, so I'm not worried about building materials causing any interference. 

[jguerdat]

It's the straight line connection between the router or hub and the camera. WHile you say there's no massive brick installation but that may not matter if the brick is in that straight line. Also, things on/in the wall can drastically reduce the signal. That's where repositioning the camera/hub/router may help, even if it's just a bit.

No idea why the 5GHz band would cease working for a while.

Lack of notifications can be due to phone app settings or your rules not including notifications. Have you checked both?

[StephenB]

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@LordBracht wrote:

The hub is in a central area and the house is wood framed and no massive brick quantities, 

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Some wood-framed houses have metal flashing under the siding, which will also block the wire. 

If the router is fairly close to the smarthub, you can get a good estimate of the wifi signal qualify by using the free Ookla speedtest app on your phone at the camera location.  Disable mobile data before running the app, to make sure you are testing your wifi connection speed.  Upload speed is more important than download speed.

[LordBracht]

Would I be testing the 5GHz or 2.4GHz upload as the hub is wired? 

[LordBracht]

What mbps should I be expecting at each camera? I have 7 connected to the hub and one to the 5GHz. Is there a baseline I should be following? 

[StephenB]

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@LordBracht wrote:

Would I be testing the 5GHz or 2.4GHz upload as the hub is wired? 

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The hub is creating wifi for the cameras to join.  The estimate assumes that the bandwidth of your home wifi will be about the same as the hub's wifi.  That is generally true if you have a single router that is near the hub.  If you have a mesh network, or if the hub is nowhere near your router, then the estimate isn't useful.

The pro 5s camera is dual band.  If you have a VMB4xxx hub, then test with 2.4 ghz, as those hubs are only single band.  If you have a VMB5000 you should test both.

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@LordBracht wrote:

What mbps should I be expecting at each camera? 

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The bandwidth requirement for Arlo 1080p cameras is 1 mbps upload speed.  The 2K cameras require 2 mbps upload speeds, the 4K cameras require 3 mbps.

Ideally the wifi speed at each camera location would be high enough to handle the case when all cameras are active at the same time.  Though you can get by with less bandwidth.  It should certainly be comfortably above the single-camera upload speed for that camera.

[LordBracht]

My router is further away from the cameras than the hub. But the download speed is most likely the issue; on the 2.4GHz the download fluctuates between 2-10 mbs at each camera. So it's not getting the 14 -16 mbs it needs for all cameras. On the 5GHz its closer to 40mbs. I have noticed that around 4:30-5:00 pm everything becomes a lot more stable. To bad the Pro 4s cant use the 5 GHz network. It's weird that this happened all of a sudden. 

[StephenB]

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@LordBracht wrote:

 But the download speed is most likely the issue

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Download is used to 

• send audio from your phone/PC when using 2-way talk
• send commands to the cameras
• send firmware updates

So not much bandwidth need for download.

Upload is the critical parameter here.  Still, if download speeds are poor,  generally upload speeds are also.

If you have an Android phone, there are several free wifi analyzer apps that will give you some idea if there is a competing wifi signal getting in the way.  (There is also at least one that you can get for a Windows laptop).  You could also try changing wifi channels (though the hub might not follow the router if it is some distance away).

[LordBracht]

I meant to say the upload is the problem. The download was around 32mbs on the 2.4Ghz. I'll definitely have to check a wifi analyzer.   

[StephenB]

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@LordBracht wrote:

I'll definitely have to check a wifi analyzer.   

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That will also show you the RSSI values for the Arlo WiFi network(s) created by the smarthub.