Ultra 2 connection

[rozzamac15]

Hi guys, I have a poor connection to my ultra 2 cameras. My home base is only 15 metres away from the furthest camera. I bought a Wi-Fi extender and that did nothing. Please help. Meant to be easy but it’s far from it.

[StephenB]

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@rozzamac15 wrote:
I bought a Wi-Fi extender and that did nothing.

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Correct.  The base station wifi is closed, and cannot be extended.

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@rozzamac15 wrote:
I have a poor connection to my ultra 2 cameras. My home base is only 15 metres away from the furthest camera.

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Often there can be stuff in the walls that block signal - pipes, chimneys, etc - or metal appliances blocking the direct signal path to the camera.  If you have concrete construction, there might also be rebar in the walls that can block signal. Some windows (Low-E glass, or maybe metal window screens or blinds) can also affect the signal strength. So maybe start with thinking about what barriers there are along the path between your base and the cameras.

Another thing that sometimes gets in the way is wifi interference from the router.  If the base is right next to the router, try moving it as far away as the ethernet cable will reach, and see if that makes any difference.

The main two options here are to

• try moving the base and/or cameras to see if you can get an acceptable connection
• add a second base (if the cameras are too far apart for a single base to reach both).

If you have an android phone, you should be able to see the signal strength of the base station at various spots (using a free wifi signal analyzer).  Unfortunately, those analyzers aren't available on iOS.

You could also try bringing the cameras closer (as a test) so you can estimate the coverage boundaries of your current base.

[rozzamac15]

I have an Apple iPhone. How do I check the signal strength?

If I get a second base what do I plug it into? The router will be too far away. Can I plug it straight into a LAN port near my modem?

[StephenB]

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@rozzamac15 wrote:
I have an Apple iPhone. How do I check the signal strength?

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I do too, and unfortunately I don't have a good way.  If you have a laptop, you can also find some analyzers that run on the laptop.  I have one called "NetSpot" on my Windows PC.  That's of course not as convenient as the phone.

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@rozzamac15 wrote:

If I get a second base what do I plug it into? The router will be too far away. 

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If the extender you purchased has an ethernet out, then you could connect it to the extender (setting up the extender to connect to your router's wifi).

Another option is to use powerline networking adapters to bring ethernet to the base.

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@rozzamac15 wrote:
 Can I plug it straight into a LAN port near my modem?

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Maybe.  If you follow up with posting the manufacturer/model of the modem, we can probably find out if that would work.

Many modems are actually routers (often that combo is called a "gateway") - so if it has 3-4 LAN ports, you could connect it to one of them.  The main disadvantage is that livestreaming would need to go through the Arlo Cloud, since your main router's firewall would prevent a direct connection.  Probably not a major problem, unless you have an upload cap and livestream a lot. 

Onboarding the camera and base into the account would either require you to connect the phone to the gateway's wifi (if it has that), or set it up by connecting the base to your router first, and then try moving the base to the gateway.