WiFi interference

[sgibbers17]

I have been struggling with WiFi interference for months and keep seeing other complaints about it with arlo just saying that it is the way it is designed to work.  This is just wrong that arlo will not change the way that the base station picks what channel to use, it needs to pick a channel that is not the same as your routers WiFi channel.  My nest smoke detectors other smart devices have not been working correctly because of this interference.

I have found a work around that has made my net work completely stable.  First you have to move the base station away from the router.  The second step is to get a second 2.4ghz router and set up a channel, I picked channel 1 as it was the most congested in my area.  Nest I put that router next to the arlo so arlo will see it as the strongest signal and switch to that channel.  Then set your main router to a different channel, I picked 11.  Ever since I did this all my interference issues went away.

It is ridiculous that I have to make my house for EMF noisy to get arlo to not interfere with my network. 

[StephenB]

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@sgibbers17 wrote:

It is ridiculous that I have to make my house for EMF noisy to get arlo to not interfere with my network. 

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FWIW, I'd like to see a way to just set the WiFi channel for each base.

[TomMac]

Agree it would be nice to allow channel selections, but right now we work with what we have....

The setting channel and then moving the base away has always worked.  Also if there is interference, the answer can be to add more bases ( they don't count re subscription ) to cover the weaker areas.

( the only true way to expand area is with more bases )

[Retired_Member]

How far away do we need to move the SmartHub from the router to fix interference issues?

My hub is currently 5-7' away from my router and I'm having significant connectivity issues with my outdoor driveway camera. The camera is an ultra 2 and located about 50-60 feet from the router/hub area (with a wall and a garage door in between).  My garage door is a chamberlain "smart door" / controllable over an app so I'm wondering if that is causing wifi interference with arlo and what I can do about it. 

Any thoughts or suggestions for me to try? I'd really appreciate any help!

[StephenB]

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@Retired_Member wrote:

How far away do we need to move the SmartHub from the router to fix interference issues?

My hub is currently 5-7' away from my router and I'm having significant connectivity issues with my outdoor driveway camera. The camera is an ultra 2 and located about 50-60 feet from the router/hub area (with a wall and a garage door in between).  My garage door is a chamberlain "smart door" / controllable over an app so I'm wondering if that is causing wifi interference with arlo and what I can do about it. 

Any thoughts or suggestions for me to try? I'd really appreciate any help!

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You can rule out the chamberlain by turning it off for a bit, and seeing if the problem resolves.

I am thinking it is likely more signal strength/quality - likely affected by the construction of the wall and the garage door combined with the distance.  Test out your home wifi (using your phone) at the same location - disabling your cellular data.

You could also try moving the camera closer to the base and see if that helps.

If it is about distance, then you'd either need to move the existing base, or get a second base (perhaps locating it in the garage).  Or relocate the camera of course.

[sgibbers17]

Update. I got rid of my Arlo cameras and went with a unifi system and magically all my smart devices started working again. All my google homes and wifi smoke detectors stoped disconnecting every 10 min.


Arlo, your argument that placing the cameras on the same WiFi channel to improve stability if fundamentally flawed. There is may post on your forum stating this. At least update your firmware to allow manual control for the people that are having issues.

[andru13]

i have this same issue.  I have tried everything to get it to work.  My 2 cams on the front of my house are severely impacted.  I have weak signal and constant delays and cams go offline.  not to mention it kills my battery since it is always hunting for signal.  I am going to try and use a 2nd base station to see it if helps.  If not will be returning the entire system at this price point it should not be this difficult.  I have an Amplifi Alien mesh network.  I can get my wifi around the block from my house but these 2 cams can't find a solid signal.  Madness.  

[ShayneS]

HI @andru13

The Ultra 2 cameras utilize the base station as a router. The cameras do no connect directly to your personal router, therefore the range is solely determined by the placement of the cameras from the base station & any obstacles in between. Please make sure to avoid placing any other wireless frequency devices next to the base as this may impact signal/range. Various obstacles such as walls will impact the range as well. You can troubleshoot this potential range issue by bringing a camera closer to the base station to see if the placement is the issue. 

[andru13]

Thanks I have done all these steps.  the I move the base station 10 feet and the connection is strong i move away 10 feet and the connection is awful so i guess a 2nd base station is going to be my only solution would be nice if you actually could purchase and extra base station but you can't they are all sold out EVERYWHERE 

[LandJS]

Just as some routers are better performers than others so is other hardware that has the same function and Arlo's hub just sucks at it.  My hub and router are in the same room 10 feet apart and sending signal through the same walls and everything else my router can send a 4K TV signal flawlessly 3 times farther than Arlo can to a camera.  If they chose the hub could put out a stronger signal with a redesign.  You can set your router to a set channel and reboot the hub which will force it to use that channel and then put your router back to auto.  This works until the hub is reset for some reason and then you must do it over again.  Kind of a pain.  As for channels you could use a 2nd router dedicated just to Arlo and lock in a channel but that isn't going to give the hub a stronger signal.

[Retired_Member]

Just received my first batch of Arlo devices today having ordered over €1000 worth of Arlo kit and discovered the WiFi channel issue within 30 minutes.

Searching this forum and finding the first references to this problem posted in 2016 I thought 'There is no way on this earth that they haven't fixed this by now.  Surely they didn't stick with the 'using the same channel avoids interference' thing, but it seems they have.

Using the same WiFi channel as an adjacent access point will always degrade performance.  Each device is constantly receiving and analyzing radio signals as it tries to detect and process frames (packets).  The access point must always 'work' to determine if messages are present in the signals received and whether each detected message is addressed to itself or to another WiFi device.  Using overlapping channels means the access point has to 'work harder' to do this, affecting throughput, and can degrade the capability of the adjacent access point to communicate reliably with devices at a distance or through walls.  It has to analyze and discard signals broadcast by the Arlo device(s) and the reflected 'echos' of Arlo signals bounding back from walls in the building as it tries to detect and process messages from non-Arlo WiFi devices in the building.  In essence, if you buy an Arlo base station you have to buy a faster, more advanced access point to get the same WiFi performance that you had before you plugged in the Arlo and even then this might not solve the problem - it really is that simple.

I am disappointed that I have to write this message and 'explain' how WiFi works to a company that manufactures WiFi devices.  Give me the capability to configure the channel used by the Arlo base station.  Don't tell me to move the device - I built a shelf in the attic specifically to give the base station the best possible signal coverage for my cameras.  Don't tell me to plug in an old access point just to 'fool' the base station into using another channel.  Further - give me the capability to configure the SSID used by the base station so that I'm not announcing to any potential intruders with half a brain which brand of security cameras I'm using (and thus that every camera made by the company uses WiFi!!) before they even set foot on the property.  It's bad enough that sophisticated criminals can figure it out even without the 'Arlo cameras here!' SSID issue.  Please just do it, before the 'how to remotely disable Arlo security cameras for the lulz' post appears on some hacking forum, because this will inevitably happen sooner or later.