No connection with Arlo Bridge ABB100

[Cobra99]

Hello everyone,

For several weeks, my Arlo Bridge and my four Arlo Security Lights were showing as offline in the Arlo app. No matter what I did, I was unable to get them back online. For this reason, I contacted Arlo Support via chat, and we went through several troubleshooting steps together – unfortunately, without success. Support finally informed me that the Arlo Bridge was defective and needed to be replaced.

I then purchased a new, original Arlo Bridge from China, as Arlo itself no longer manufactures this bridge. And then came the big surprise: even this brand-new device did not work, no matter what I tried...

For clarity, here are the troubleshooting steps I took:

- I tried this with two different mobile phones to make sure it wasn't a problem with the phone itself (Bluetooth/WiFi).

- I have three different WiFi routers in my IT environment, one slightly older model and two newer models. I tried connecting the Arlo Bridges to all three devices independently of each other – without success.

- I plugged the Arlo Bridge directly next to the router to ensure the best possible signal.

- I only connected the Arlo Bridge via the 2.4 GHz WiFi band.

- I set the WiFi signal to 802.11b, as I read in a forum post that this would work – without success.

- I set the security protocol to WPA2 and WPA3 on one router.

- MAC address filtering was not enabled on any of the three routers.

- The mobile phones and the Arlo Bridge were always connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

- No VPN was available.

- I disabled the router's firewalls.

- I moved the Arlo Bridge – yes, it actually connects to every router, but not to the Arlo app – to the DMZ to ensure that there could be absolutely no restrictions on internet traffic.

- I performed several factory resets of the Arlo Bridges.

Here are my findings:

The Arlo Bridge connects to the router/WiFi just fine. This can be seen from the fact that it appears in the network menu of all routers (name: ABB100) and has also been assigned an IP address by them. This IP address was pingable, i.e. I always received a response from the Arlo Bridge (without any losses).

However, the Arlo app (version 6.5.2_6050402) was never able to connect to the Arlo Bridge, which means that this must be where the problem lies. Unfortunately, it is not possible to connect directly to the Arlo Bridge and find a simple menu with logging data there. Accordingly, I am unable to determine exactly what is causing the problem.

I would be interested to know whether other Arlo Security Lights users are currently experiencing the same problem. I would expect Arlo Support to address this issue and review the changes made in the latest app updates. When an entire Arlo Security Light environment suddenly stops functioning, it is more than just inconvenient. Currently, I can only use the Security Lights as motion lights, but they no longer interact with the cameras.

Regards,

Cobra

[BrookeN]

Are you still seeing this same behvaior?

[Cobra99]

Hi BrookeN,

I just ran a new test and the behavior is still the same. The Arlo Bridge can connect to the WiFi and receives an internal IP address which you can ping. But it can't connect with the Arlo App - connection failed.

I don't know what else I could do...

BR

Cobra

[LuckyCharm]

I have the same problem! It started when I had a general internet connection issue. I have replaced both my modem and my router, which were both outdated, and now the Arlo bridge is the last thing I am unable to add.

[BrookeN]

How far away from your router is the bridge? You might try moving the bridge closer to your router to see if you experience the same results.

For additional troubleshooting, take a look here: I can't set up the Arlo Bridge that came with my Arlo Light Security system; what do I do?
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[Cobra99]

BrookeN,

Let's say 10 centimeters. I think this should be close enough on all three routers. The connection with the WiFi isn't the problem. The main problem is the connection to the Arlo app (server).

BR

Cobra