HELP! Offline arlo ultra

[Casey_o]

Looking for anyone that can help. How can I use my arlo ultra without internet!

I purchased 4 Arlo Ultra cams with a base station.

I set up the cameras with my home wifi before powering off and taking them to our shed at another property.

I have a wifi only connection there, with no Ethernet and I cannot access or use the cameras without an active internet connection into the base station. I’ve spent 2 days trying to connect a NETGEAR wifi extender using my iPad hotspot with no luck (I connected it through the extender worked through the home wifi no problem)

I obviously don’t expect the base station or cameras to update to the cloud not being connected to internet but I was under the impression that I would still be able to connect to the base station and view the cameras via the app through my phone.

Further to this I checked the SD card and while there were some recordings the cameras haven’t recorded all activities (entering and exiting through the same areas, some recorded, some didn’t) even when I reconnect the lot to the internet at home I can’t access the videos that were recorded while they were at the shed except for on the sd card.
When I look at the videos they don’t seem to be recording the whole time either. For example the one inside the shed records me coming into the shed (sometimes just coming in, sometimes coming in and for a few more seconds) but doesn’t record all the movement that occurs in the shed even if it is right under the sensor or near the door that triggered the recording in the first place.

Is there something I’m missing because at this point I’m beyond frustrated and ready to throw them out. The cameras aren’t working as I was led to believe they would and I feel like I’ve thrown $1600 down the drain.

[TomMac]

The Ultra ( like most of the arlo series(except Q and Baby )) needs an ethernet connection to function.

The base unit connects to the internet via ethernet and the cameras then connect to the base ( which creates it's own wifi system).

If you have only wifi at the new location , the base would need a wifi extender with an ethernet port.... If the extender is in range of wifi then the system would work.

By itself, the arlo base/cameras will not function unless previously setup and then the internet fails... in this case the unit will record to the mem backup if prev setup to function ( but you will have no control over the system as all commands come thru the internet )

As to the videos... the backup is backup only... any videos recorded to the mem card during no internet ARE NOT later sent to the cloud.

They reside on the mem card only.

[Casey_o]

"The base unit connects to the internet via ethernet and the cameras then connect to the base ( which creates it's own wifi system)."

Its this exact comment that led me to believe the cameras would work without internet. In multiple forums it states that the arlo base creates its own wifi, so why can I not connect to that wifi to view the cameras. 

"By itself, the arlo base/cameras will not function unless previously setup and then the internet fails... in this case the unit will record to the mem backup if prev setup to function ( but you will have no control over the system as all commands come thru the internet )"

This is the real frustrating part because I can't even connect to the base station to eject the SD card safely to view it, surely its not hard to allow the phone with the app to connect to the same wifi network that the base station puts out, this is a software fix. 

"As to the videos... the backup is backup only... any videos recorded to the mem card during no internet ARE NOT later sent to the cloud. They reside on the mem card only."

That's fair enough, but still doesn't explain why they aren't recording everything to the SD card. 

Does anyone have a work around for this?

[StephenB]

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@Casey_o wrote:

Its this exact comment that led me to believe the cameras would work without internet. In multiple forums it states that the arlo base creates its own wifi, so why can I not connect to that wifi to view the cameras. 

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That wifi is closed, so you cannot connect to it.  Also, Arlo has adapted it to reduce the power consumption in the cameras, so it isn't 100% standard wifi.

More substantially:  Arlo could have designed their system to operate stand-alone, by giving you software that connected directly to the base station and not the Arlo Cloud.  But they haven't designed it that way.  It's architected as a cloud service, and that requires internet connection.  There are other products out there that would do what you need, but Arlo doesn't make them.

If the seller will still allow an exchange, you might want to do that.

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@Casey_o wrote:

That's fair enough, but still doesn't explain why they aren't recording everything to the SD card. 

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That could be related to camera positioning ( https://kb.arlo.com/000062211/How-do-I-position-my-Arlo-Ultra-camera-to-detect-motion-in-specific-ar... ) or it could be related to the motion sensitivity ( https://kb.arlo.com/1114344/How-do-I-use-the-motion-detection-test-for-my-Arlo-device  ).  Also, recordings can be missed if the Ultra has problems connecting reliably to the base (for instance, if it is too far away).

We can help troubleshoot this, but the main question for you is whether you can use the system at all, given that it needs a 24x7 internet connection to work properly.