Arlo Ultra without cloud recording/uploading

[wharvey]

I have a 4-camera Arlo Ultra system at my cabin in the mountains.

I have a 4G router to supply the internet connection.

In 3 weeks it has used about 30Gigabytes of cellular data - suddenly a huge bill.

I have a micro-sd card in the basestation.

I would like the system to record locally, but only use the internet when I want to take a look.

Please don't tell me to set it so it is not triggered so often, I want to be able to see what has been going on when I go there and look at the locally recorded data.

Not being able to only record locally makes this system basically useless.

[TomMac]

That is a huge amount of veiwing then since 20 secs is about 2.5Mb per.

This system is cloud base and there is not much you can do if you want to view all the time remotely

[LandJS]

I can't swear to it but I thought that I had read on here somewhere that mid year a release would allow access to the SD card without removing it to a computer. Perhaps a moderator can confirm

[techgurumiami]

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@LandJS wrote:

I can't swear to it but I thought that I had read on here somewhere that mid year a release would allow access to the SD card without removing it to a computer. Perhaps a moderator can confirm

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That is true that they are working on adding that ability; but I dont think that addresses the OP primary issue with the storage to the cloud. The hub has to be connected to the internet to access the cameras or the local recordings when it is implemented. The issue they still have is the recording would go to the SD card and the cloud. 

I am not sure there is a way to record to the SD and not the cloud. All of the sub levels send some level of data to the cloud, you would need to be able to totally opt out of the cloud storage option.

[wharvey]

I don't need to totally eliminate the internet connection, just minimize the data uploaded.

I would be totally happy to stop all uploading to the cloud, I just want to be able to get an email notification that an event happened and access the hub directly to view what happened.

Some days nothing happens, others, bear, deer, mountain lions, racoons, foxes and rabbits seem to decide to have a party and trip the motion sensors a lot causing a lot of uploads using a lot of data.

[st_shaw]

A cloud-based system like Arlo will not work well on a metered Internet connection. Any event detected by the Ultra will result in video clips being uploaded to the cloud.  Viewing clips on-site will use more data downloading the clips from the cloud.  The Ultra bitrate is about 5 megabits/sec, which is about 2.2 gigabytes/hr.

In principle, you will need to block your Arlo hub from uploading to the cloud.  This might not be practical though.  Canceling your free subscription (if you can) might stop uploads.  Unplugging the hub from your router would do it.  If your router supported it, you could block outgoing traffic from the hub.  All of these steps will block you from managing your hub and camera from the web or app though.

You would be better-off with conventional IP cameras. You could select a model with a built-in SD card, or you could record clips to a local PC. Some models will allow remote access to view the cameras live through an intermediate server.  WIth some work you could setup your network to remotely access and view the recordings.

[techgurumiami]

That is the rub, I don't see a way to stop cloud uploads because all their plans require a login and some level of cloud storage. Maybe a call to tech support will reveal a way that is not apparent in the app as is; but I doubt it.

Just checked all my sites and do not see a Sub that will limit cloud upload.

Another idea that really does help to limit data would be lowering the quality or if they are plugged in setting up activity zones maybe.

[michaelkenward]

You have bought a system that lives and dies with a cloud connection. That is what it is for.

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@wharvey wrote:

Some days nothing happens, others, bear, deer, mountain lions, racoons, foxes and rabbits seem to decide to have a party and trip the motion sensors a lot causing a lot of uploads using a lot of data.

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The only way to limit recordings and their use of the cloud is to create rules that do not catch all that wildlife.

The Ultra has sophisticated zoning and "intelligence" that should allow you to reduce unwanted recordings.

Some people complain that rain and bugs trigger recordings. That really would cane the data allowances.