Connectivity Range Shortened

[WeinerGus]

I have 4 Ultra-2 cameras and a VMB5000 base station.  The setup has worked great for approximately a year and a half.  Within the last month or so, my cameras that are furthest from the base station no longer connect and show up as offline.  I moved the cameras close to the base station, charged and reset them and they seem okay until I move them back to their original locations.  The cameras are probably at the outer specified range for connectivity, but they worked fine for a long time and all of the sudden stopped.  There have been no changes with my internet service or router.  Any ideas on what could be causing this change in performance?  

[BrookeN]

I am showing them all online at the moment, are you still seeing this same behavior? Does it do it randomly with the offline message or consistently? 

[WeinerGus]

One of the four cameras is currently offline due to a low battery.  Because the camera can no longer connect to the base station, the battery charge runs out in approximately 24 hrs.  

A second camera indicates it is online, but will not connect.  When trying to view this camera, it will either "spin" for a bit while trying to connect and then go back to the last saved image, or go offline.  

[jamieCM]

HI

I've started experiencing exactly the same issue.  I've had Arlo for many years and upgraded a few years ago to include some Ultra 2 cameras as well.

I understand that Arlo uses both 2.4GHz and 5GHz for their cameras, but when I use the Wifiman app that UniFi provides, near the places where cameras aren't working, often there isn't any 2.4GHz signal.  Sometimes the 2.4 GHz appears for awhile but then disappears leaving a far weaker 5Ghz signal.

The firmware for both of my base stations is a version (1.25.1.0_1769_1f1c874) which doesn't appear to be listed on here.

[StephenB]

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@jamieCM wrote:

I understand that Arlo uses both 2.4GHz and 5GHz for their cameras, but when I use the Wifiman app that UniFi provides, near the places where cameras aren't working, often there isn't any 2.4GHz signal.  Sometimes the 2.4 GHz appears for awhile but then disappears leaving a far weaker 5Ghz signal.

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Are you looking at the Arlo base station SSIDs?

Also, what model base stations do you have?  The VMB5000 is dual-band, the others are only 2.4 ghz.

[jamieCM]

I have two VMB5000 devices, VMB5000r4, at opposite ends of the house. Yes, I was looking at the SSIDs with WiFiman, an application that Ubiquity provides. I can't add images to this post, but leaving my phone in a fixed position, I can see the Arlo base station go from having strong 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals to periods of no 2.4 GHz at all. For one camera that has functioned in its location for three years, now it isn't stable at all where it is. I thought it might just be that specific camera, but I moved another of the ones that had worked flawlessly to the same location, and I got the same result.

[StephenB]

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@jamieCM wrote:
leaving my phone in a fixed position, I can see the Arlo base station go from having strong 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals to periods of no 2.4 GHz at all. 

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MIMO might factor into that, it's best to do that test at/near the camera position.

But your results when swapping the cameras suggests that something has changed with the wifi signal - either something in the enviroment is disrupting or interfering with the signal, or something is wrong with the base.

You could try swapping the bases + associated cameras, and see if the problem moves with the base (or not).  But that is a PITA.

[jamieCM]

I have tried the test at the exact points where the cameras are, and in this particular case, the 5GHz signal was weak (-87 dBm), compared to the 2.4GHz, when its present, at around -57 dBm. The only other WiFi access points I have are UniFi Access Points that have run, without issue, in their current locations for 6+ years. In this particular case, the nearest AP is some 8-10m from the Arlo base station, with a brick wall also separating them.

[StephenB]

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@jamieCM wrote:
I have tried the test at the exact points where the cameras are, and in this particular case, the 5GHz signal was weak (-87 dBm), compared to the 2.4GHz, when its present, at around -57 dBm. 

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-57 dbm is a good signal strength, -87 dbm is very poor.  So the Ultra should be using 2.4 ghz.

Is 2.4 ghz disappearing for both base stations, or only one?

[jamieCM]

Its just disappearing with one of the base stations.

I've shifted the base station for the camera location in question to the other base station.  It's just in range and works.

I have a 'spare' base station that I may swap into the same position as the one I've had issues with and see what it is like reaching cameras in the location which the current base station has issues with.

I had wondered if it was interference with any of the UniFi wireless APs, but I turned them off and it was the same.