Arlo ultra so slow to load and livestream

[Jrad12]

My alerts are not very instant and when I go into the app to open live feed, it takes about 10 seconds to start streaming, then the live feed always has at least 5-10 seconds lag behind actuality. So basically if someone comes to my front door, they have left before I can even check who it is.

All my cameras do this and it’s always been like this, even if I hold one and sit next to my fast Orbi wifi router with 100mbs connection.

Is this normal?

It’s so infuriating how bad my Arlo system is, and to rub salt in wounds, I have to pay an extortionate monthly subscription to even use them.

I’m keen to hear if other people have had the same experience and if this is as good as it gets?

[jguerdat]

This sounds like a weak signal between the cameras and/or interference from other wireless devices nearby. How are your cameras connected - to a hub or WiFi?

[dcfox1]

@Jrad12   FWIW I have a 3-5 second delay loading Live Steam and it is about 3-5 seconds sometimes a little more behind when streaming so you may have a signal issue as posted. Not sure any internet-based cam is instant. 

[Jrad12]

Thank you for the replies. Mine is definitely slower than that, especially when the app notification and app load time is also included.

Mine are connected to the base station. Can the original Ultras connect via direct wifi?

My home wifi and connection are very fast and responsive and I have high end netgear equipment. I stream 4k TV in a matter of seconds via wifi and have no other networking issues.

[StephenB]

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@Jrad12 wrote:
Can the original Ultras connect via direct wifi?

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No.

Have you tried restarting the base?  

FWIW, the time it takes to get the livestream started is generally longer than lag (how far behind real-time the livestream is).   

[Jrad12]

Ok I ran some tests on my front door camera which is also the closest.

From moment of movement to iPhone notification: 8-9 seconds.

From clicking on notification to open app and get livestream going: 9 seconds.

Video lag is then 3-4 seconds behind actual.

So 20-22 seconds total.

[TARussellRd]

I have the same issue here. Super fast internet at home, zero lag with other devices in my home, but my Arlo cameras are awful. App takes forever to load them and by the time they have, whatever I was checking on has passed. Ridiculous.

If it is Base location, question, can you have more than one Base Station? If the issue is Base Station placement, I cant' place it in a more optimal place between cameras. Plus my cameras are claiming to have full wifi bars. 

IMO, just simply saying have you tried restarting is your Base Station is about as cliché and lazy a suggestion as, have you tried turning it off and on again.

[jguerdat]

Yes, you can have more than one base so cameras get an optimal signal when connected to the appropriate base.

Lag is sometimes caused by signal strength/quality. You state full bars but that doesn't preclude interference. Check for other 2.4GHz wireless devices near the cameras and/or base. Move the base away from the router. Bring a camera closer to the base for testing - if it's better, suspect the location.

Restarting the base is always one of the first steps to eliminate possibilities. It's not lazy, it's a starting foundation of troubleshooting. We have no idea about your environment or technical savvy (or lack thereof). Start with the basics and get more detailed as you winnow the possibilities down.

[Jrad12]

I thought I would update where I'm at. After much frustration with the arlo system and now batteries playing up, I decided to switch to a fixed hikvision setup.

[Steve63]

Yes I have the same issue and it seems many other also do. It’s not useable and Arlo should not advertise you can talk to people etc via doorbell when it’s so slow and not functional.

Had Ring before this and it worked perfectly. Would have swapped back already if I hadn’t spent so much on the Arlo doorbell and cameras. 

[teri52]

I finally have my Arlo system working very well after more than 5 years of tinkering and trying different solutions. Arlo online support is not the best and it took a lot of trial and error on my part to get Arlo working the way I expect it should. I found that radio interference and wifi connectivity were my problem areas. Here's a brief summary of what finally got things working. for me.

1. Always check internet connectivity on the device you are running Arlo App on. So many times while testing Arlo I walked into another room or outdoors where my devices wifi became degraded or switched to mobile internet.. either one giving the appearance of an Arlo failure. I know this sounds basic but it happened to me more often than I care to admit. Now I always do a speedtest check on my device whenever Arlo doesn't work the way I think it should.

2. 2.4G Wifi interference was a biggie for me. When I had the Arlo base station located near my Netgear Orbi wifi router, I did have significant interference problems (and resultant Arlo slowdowns) between the arlo wifi signal and the Orbi. If I separated them, I got my Arlo speed back. Both Arlo and Orbi radios are using the same 2.4G channel (which is by design) and should be able to cooperatively share the band (I know not the best setup but thats the way Netgear designed it) but apparently there is too much radio interference when they are located too close together)

Also I needed to be sure I had no significant 2.4G radio traffic on adjacent wifi channels, since that would really mess up both my Arlo radio and Orbi radio networks.

3. Ive also found that Arlo 2.4G radio signal strength needs to be 2 bars or more, as stated in Arlo documentation. I purchased additional Arlo hubs to achieve this level for all my cameras. Also, 5 cameras per hub seems to be the maximum they can support with good performance. I've found that if I have more than 5 on a single hub, I'll get performance degradation.

4. Ive checked the signal strength at each camera and found that the Arlo 2.4G radio is pretty impressive actually, Im getting 2 bars of video quality on the app with a measured signal of -70 db at the camera. I wouldn't have expected that, so I was impressed by that.

5. The Arlo App sometimes has its issues on my Galaxy S21. The App sometimes refuses to refresh information on the screen until I close/stoo the App and then restart it again. I don't seem to have this issue when using the web version on my PC. Dont know if this is an android problem, phone problem, Arlo app problem... or whatever... but workaround is quick and effective for me in getting Arlo video working again

6. Lastly... I had to tame my expectations of 'instant' response, since Arlo is a cloud based product. A delay of 20 to 25 seconds with alerts is acceptable to me, but nowadays if I decided I needed more timely alerts, I'd think Id go with a product that doesn't rely on cloud services. But then I'd loose all the smart features and cloud video retention, which are good tradeoffs in my situation.

Hope any of this helps solving some of the frustration.

[scottkensai]

Exactly, I am reading to turf my arlo everything and looking for alternatives

[Spgosw]

Google also have "smart" functions but is working so much faster and more reliable, so I don't see why only choose one of the options.

[Tiger77]

If I'd taken the time to read these threads, I probably wouldn't have purchased the Arlo Ultra 2 Spotlight camera 2 pack.

@teri52 were something I had already tried in terms of separating my WiFi and the Arlo SmartHub.
And this made it go from completely unusable to just annoying.
Due to the setup of my lounge and where the only internet connection come into my house, all of my WiFi, NAS, AppleTV etc is located around the TV cabinet.
I now have the WiFi on one side and the Arlo on the other.

This took down the lag from over 40 seconds down to about 10

Local streaming made another big difference.

This took the lag down to about 3-5 seconds.

I tried using 4G only on my phone and to my surprise, it was still about 3-5 second lag.

Then I put my phone back on WiFi and configured Homekit and this is when I noticed the next biggest difference.

I'm not sure if it was switching back and forth between 4G and WiFi or configuring Homekit, but suddenly, I have some thing like 0.1 second lag on the Home App.

Early days yet, so will need to see how consistent this is, but live streaming working how I expected it to in the first place. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

After much and lengthy testing, I've come to the following:

- Arlo uses the WiFi signal of the router as a range extender or range enhancer as it were, if there is such a term. This means that if your base station is connected to the router, your router should have 2.4GHz WiFi on, too, as this is what Arlo Ultra uses. Switching the 2.4 WiFi off, as I had done, as the majority of my devices use 5GHz, on your router, results in communication problems between *some* Arlo devices, *regardless* of how close those Arlo devices are to the base station and how much strength they display (full bars). So far, I've established that on the basis of my Arlo doorbell, but not tested this with Ultra cameras. I had had 2.4GHz WiFi enabled on a Devolo adapter at the other side of my home, but despite that, there had been a communication issue. This made me think that it has to be the router, or whatever is nearer the base station, that has to have 2.4GHz network enabled, though I'd like to test more by moving the base station nearer the Devolo adapter and switching off the 2.4GHz WiFi on the router at the same time.

- This set-up would probably explain why the base station closely 'follows' the router's, or access point's, WiFi channel and it maybe also provides an explanation why Arlo is so reluctant to let us interfere with the channel your base station is broadcasting on.

If Arlo ran a beta programme for their app/firmware releases, I'd consider joining it...

[StephenB]

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@Edinburgh_lad1 wrote:

Arlo uses the WiFi signal of the router as a range extender.

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Absolutely not.  The Ultra connects to a closed wifi system created by the smarthub/base.  It never connects to the router's WiFi.  FWIW, there is no such thing as a "range enchancer".

The base does follow the router's channel (actually whatever channel it detects that has the strongest signal).  That is because Netgear decided long ago that was the best approach to avoid interference, and Arlo has never changed it.

I remain a bit skeptical on that particular approach, and I do wish Arlo provided some controls over the base station wifi.

Your devolo adapter might be too far away for the smarthub to choose to follow its channel.  If you have an Android phone, you could install a free wifi analyze app, and see what channel it is using, and also what competing signals are in your area.  Or just leave the 2.4 ghz on the router on (assuming that solves your problem).