Notification lag due to overseas servers?

[Steven_P]

Notification and video lag is a nagging problem for most Arlo users. For U.S. customers, is part of this a result of Arlo's servers being in Ireland? Have you heard plans to add more servers based in North America?

[demannu]

I would also love to see more geo located servers, the delay on these cameras make it such an unusable security solution. 

[jguerdat]

While I agree I'd like US servers, I suspect at least part of the issue are privacy and data regulations across the globe being different so a lowest common denominator approach is used. Since the cameras can be moved to different countries, use of a US server, say, while the cameras were in  the EU might be a major legal issue. I can't say for sure that's the issue but it would seem to be at least part of it.

As for usability, each installation is different. I certainly wouldn't call it unusable since the typical lag is a couple of seconds-ish. For a cloud-based system, I suspect there's not another such system that would be any better. You can always buy a much more expensive system that isn't cloud-based and wire it up with Ethernet but that's not what Arlo is designed for.

[oaspirit]

Wow, only a few seconds of delay?  Where do I sign up to get that?  When I first installed my Ultra system I was seeing approx 15 seconds delays on average, and while annoying I convinced myself this is what a cloud based service is like (having switched from a local system with instant notification/recordings).  But over time the notifications have slowed to 2-3 minutes before we get the alerts, and the videos take even longer to show up in the library.  My system has reached a point where it is no longer useful as a real-time monitoring security system.  Is there a fix for this?  If so I'd like to learn about it.

[jguerdat]

What's your upload speed as measured by speedtest.net? Slow uploads can cause this.

[shaolin95]

I seem to have times when its VERY fast and times when it takes long. That is the reason I use 3 different security systems at home instead of relying on only one so my doorbell is different from my front Arlo Ultra and I have redundancy with cheaper Wyze cameras too.
If I am away, I hope at least ONE of my systems will still work in case something comes up with one of them 😄

[oaspirit]

The plan I have is 940Mbps up and 35Mbps down.  Testing from my laptop which is using wireless in a room not near my router I still test at pretty high speeds, here is a typical example which I just did just now: 269 Mbps up and 37 Mbps down.  If there is a way to test from the Arlo base station that would be helpful. 

[LandJS]

940 Mbps upload and only 35 down wow.  Can I ask who your provider is.

[oaspirit]

Cox

[StephenB]

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@oaspirit wrote:

The plan I have is 940Mbps up and 35Mbps down.  

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This makes no sense, I think you must have it backwards (940 down and 35 up).

FWIW, 940 down is what Cox advertises.

[oaspirit]

Oh yeah...  Apparently I've got a touch of dyslexia..  Thanks for catching that.  🙂

[LandJS]

At 35 up and 940 down speed isn't the issue.

[StephenB]

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@LandJS wrote:

At 35 up and 940 down speed isn't the issue.

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I agree.

[Dirtdogg]

I have the same issue. They said it's fixed but it is not. Even when it was working correctly I would get notifications and video days later. What's the point of having it? $1400 down the drain for the system. Very very very unhappy!  Have written to Arlo multiple times with no response.  Support sucks as much as the system

[LandJS]

I have never been happy with the lag although wi-fi will always have a bit I believe it to be to much but never in more than 2 years I have experienced such delays as that.   Until a little more than a year and a half ago there was a issue with Doze Mode on Androids that caused long delays from 20 min. to a couple hours but they fixed that issue.  Also on Androids it's necessary to turn off battery saver for the Arlo app  and the latest updates have started using adaptive notifications which needs to be turned off.  Guess they want to determine what's best for you.  The only thing is with each update they turn it back on and you have to turn it off again.  If your on a I-phone I'm no help.