Arlo on 5 GHz Wi-Fi

[STTH]

Is it possible to pick between 2.4 Ghz and 5 GHz frequencies for the Wi-Fi?

If not (meaning, if only 2.4 GHz is available), then is the hardware at least compliant, so that a future firmware update will simply enable that dormant capability?

[TomMac]

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@STTH wrote:

Is it possible to pick between 2.4 Ghz and 5 GHz frequencies for the Wi-Fi?

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No... it is auto picked based on the signal to camera, no user control

[STTH]

Could you clarify what you mean by "auto-picked"? It cannot be auto-picked unless I first provide authentication credentials from my Wi-Fi Access Point to the hub. So if I only give it the 5 GHz, it won't know about the 2.4 GHz and therefore it will not be able to use that.

Or, were you refering to the internal (proprietary) Wi-Fi between the cameras and the hub, in which case it would make more sense that the hub indeed has the choice to pick the right frequency, irrespective of what credentials I give it (to access my Access Point)?

Last but not least, what then, determines which of the 2 bands it will select (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz)? Congestion or speed self-test? Or merely based on the camera model or resolution settings?

[st_shaw]

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@STTH wrote:

 It cannot be auto-picked unless I first provide authentication credentials from my Wi-Fi Access Point to the hub. So if I only give it the 5 GHz, it won't know about the 2.4 GHz and therefore it will not be able to use that.

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The Ultra doesn't use your WiFi access point at all, so you never enter your WiFi credentials.

[michaelkenward]

@STTH seems to have started two conversations here:

Re: Extended Wi-Fi range to Arlo cameras - Arlo Communities

[STTH]

Indeed, one was by mistake as I picked the wrong camera model...

[STTH]

Funny, I don't recall whether or not the initial setup asked for my WiFi or not. Definitely not for the actual cameras, but not sure about the hub.

If the hub does not need my Wi-Fi, then does it mean that regardless of my location (within my home while connected to Wi-Fi or while away and connected through my cellular data or some other internet access provider), I will always go through the Arlo cloud to reach my hub?

Second question, is, going back to the original one: So if it's auto-pick, are you essentially that the internal Wi-fi (used by the hub to talk to the cameras) automatically determines whether it should use 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz and then does not tell me what it picked, nor does it let me force it?

It would be good to know. There are so many Wi-Fi devices that the 2.4 GHz is getting pretty flooded and even saturated, so I would like the ability to force the Arlo system to use the 5 GHz band so as to leave my older 2.4 GHz (slower to begin with) alone and free from unnecessary interference from greedy video feeds. Hope the question makes sense...

Especially since I'm the middle of setting up an other unrelated IoT system, which seems to be struggling with the Wi-Fi connectivity even though my WAP is in close range.

We have no visibility as to how Arlo determines which band it auto-picks, so any clarification would be great.

[michaelkenward · Accepted solution]

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@STTH wrote:

Indeed, one was by mistake as I picked the wrong camera model...

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You are not the first, and won't be the last, to get befuddled, by the structure of this place, My theory is that Arlo does this to confuse us all.

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Second question, is, going back to the original one: So if it's auto-pick, are you essentially that the internal Wi-fi (used by the hub to talk to the cameras) automatically determines whether it should use 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz and then does not tell me what it picked, nor does it let me force it?

You've got it. No control and no information.

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It would be good to know. There are so many Wi-Fi devices that the 2.4 GHz is getting pretty flooded and even saturated, so I would like the ability to force the Arlo system to use the 5 GHz band so as to leave my older 2.4 GHz (slower to begin with) alone and free from unnecessary interference from greedy video feeds. Hope the question makes sense...

We probably need more information from Arlo on how this works. 5 GHz is faster but it has a shorter range, which means that it is less likely to experience interference and crowding. It will go for 5 GHz is local circumstances allow it.

Then there is the fact that Arlo does fancy stuff with wifi that may not apply to the rest of our kit. There have been all sorts of tweaks to wifi in recent years. The rules we learnt before that technology came along no longer apply.

My line is that I won't worry about that stuff until I hit a brick wall. Why worry about which frequency bands something uses, 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, if it does the job?

I expect the technology to be good enough to work out for itself which wifi client to use. I have a pretty messy set up here. It seems to work.

[STTH]

So are you with Arlo or with some third party? You made it sound like you are not from Arlo; though you seem to know the product quite confidently. Or, are you working for Arlo but are not in the developper team, so are referring to them as separate?

Well that is the whole reason for the question to begin with. It was not just as of curiosity because I'm bored. The issue is that some of my other equipment (not Arlo) is not talking with my Wi-Fi and we're starting to wonder if the Arlo is not the culprit flooding our 2.4 GHz band. It's bad enough that I'm considering a spectrum analysis of the wireless signals to figure this out.

Any info would definitely help!

[michaelkenward]

I apologise if you don't like the answers you get. Sadly, there is nothing much I can do to changed them. That's how stuff works.

You will find the same answers scattered throughout messages that have appeared here. I was just bringing it together for your benefit.

At the moment, I have no idea what problems you have and what you have tried to fix them.

You should know that this community is essentially a user-to-user venue with some input from a small band of Arlo techies.

Most of the answers come from fellow users who have no connection with Arlo. They just have a lot of collective experience and are familiar with the sort of problems that turn up here.

[jguerdat]

I'd like to point out that are a number of FAQs here in the support section that are worth reading. Basically, if they don't say you can, you can't.

[STTH]

Thank you for the input, very helpful in getting a better idea of how the system works.