Arlo Hub Distance, what does the hub provide vs my WiFi?

[ElBeardo]

Hi

New here and am considering ditching my Nest Cams for some Arlos instead but the base station is putting me off a little bit.

I have a Ubiquiti UniFi WiFi setup with a rack in my loft and want to put the base station in there with the rack.

The first two cameras I will be putting in place will be over the garage (no direct line of sight but about 15ft down and 30ft across through a cinder block and brick cavity wall) and out back in the garden on a shed (approximately 20ft down and 120ft across) through a tile roof).

I can see that the hub has a maximum distance of 300ft clear line of sight so I’m a little worried and half wondering what exactly the hub provides given I have a great WiFi set up already.

Any experiences and advice appreciated. Thanks

Stuart

[JamesC]

ElBeardo,

Arlo Wire free cameras connect to the SmartHub or Base Station, not your home WiFi. The performance you experience will greatly depend on your specific environment. Physical obstacles as you describe above as well as interference from other WiFi devices can impact the connectivity between the camera and the SmartHub/base station. For best performance, we recommend you locate the SmartHub close to your cameras and away from other WiFi devices (where possible) to limit potential interference.

JamesC

[ElBeardo]

Hi James

Thanks for the speedy reply. Yep I got that much. For me that’s an issue. My old WiFi setup was unsuitable with a single router so now I have multiple APs the WiFi works great. This means that a single Smart Hub/Base station isn’t going to cut it.

Is it possible to have multiple hubs? I guess that would work but it’s frustrating that they would be effectively putting out there own WiFi signal, which given my setup would be prone to interference to the other WiFi being output.

Are there any designs for Arlo going hubless? Or a hub that can be centralised while the cameras piggy back on the main WiFi?

[JamesC]

ElBeardo,

Arlo Wire free cameras require the SmartHub or Base Station to operate. You can have multiple SmartHubs / Base Stations, many users utilize additional hubs to allow for strategic placement improving signal strength to specific cameras.

JamesC

[ElBeardo]

Thanks James.

I don’t think that really answers all the questions I asked but I think I understand; if I want my setup to work I’m going to have to have multiple hubs (obviously this will be additional cost) and I won’t be able to have them centrally managed with my other network equipment. This also means that I will have yet another wireless network taking up channels and bandwidth which feels unnecessary.

Overall this puts me off Arlo and to wait for alternatives or for Arlo to implement something closer to what I’m looking for. In the meantime I’ll stick with Nest.

[Deville]

Just to chime in here... I recently switched from some ring and nest cams to an Arlo Ultra system. If you’re used to the reliability of nest products, I think you will be VERY frustrated with Arlo. In my experience the Arlo cams aren’t even close and I would recommend staying away from these. The hub is basically a complete disaster. I have 7 Arlo ultras across 2 hubs, it’s about a 50-50 chance that if I try to look at a live view of a camera that it will actually work. The hubs go offline intermittently all the time, multiple times a day. Additionally the the range is horrible if you’re used to the performance of regular WiFi like nest uses. And if anything goes wrong with a camera (and I’ve had 2 that have just completely died), the support people are going to try to tell you to reset the hub which requires you to remove and then relink ALL the cameras, not just the broken one. Get on the ladder for each camera to push the little button, redo everything in homekit after that. It’s beyond annoying, it’s frankly just a horrible user experience. If you can’t tell, I’m pretty unhappy with these very expensive cameras. Really regretting my decision and I’m hoping to save someone the headache I’ve experienced over the last few months.

And just to avoid being entirely negative, the positives are that you can use them in homekit, you can be wire free if you want, and also the 180 degree view is really great. But the reliability is so bad that I think it outweighs these otherwise great features.  

Incidentally, I also have an Arlo video doorbell, which doesn’t require a hub and it works very well. I really wish Arlo had considered that reliablility needs to be the number one consideration. I will not be buying more Arlo products and I’m planning to move away from the Arlo ecosystem entirely once there are some better options for WiFi homekit cameras available. 

Hope this helps. 

[ElBeardo]

Thanks Deville. Super insightful and very helpful!!

I agree with everything you said so I’m going to stick with my Nest Cams until I find something better.

No one wants a million different hubs for all their smart home tech.

Interesting that the doorbell doesn’t follow suite with the hub. I didn’t know that.

Thanks again,

Stuart