To leave the Arlo Ultra base station on the same WiFi channel as my router or set it to a different

[n1976jmk]

Good afternoon all, I’ve been reading a lot past posts about the base stations using the same WiFi channel as the wireless router which is by Arlo’s design.

I also understand how to get the Arlo base station to change to a different channel from the WiFi router.

My question is am I best to leave it as Arlo has designed it or put the base station on a different channel?

Thanks!!

[StephenB]

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@n1976jmk wrote:

My question is am I best to leave it as Arlo has designed it or put the base station on a different channel?

I suggest leaving it as Arlo designed it, and then revisit that question if you have issues.

[TomMac]

Leave it,... as if you do change it and it's in range of your main router, it will follow back again like it was designed by Netgear ( that has more experience in networks than most )

[LandJS]

everyone's provider setup is different,  The wi-fi on the modem from my provider is not turned on because my router is better than theirs and my router is plugged into one slot leaving three.  Because of the channel issue I plugged my Arlo hub into one of the extra slots their modem.  It worked great with it doing it's thing and not using the same channel.  The problem is that once Arlo activated SD access in the phone app this no longer will work because the hub and phone must be using the same wi-fi for that feature.  All depends on how you wish your system to function and with what features.

[StephenB]

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@LandJS wrote:

everyone's provider setup is different,  The wi-fi on the modem from my provider is not turned on because my router is better than theirs and my router is plugged into one slot leaving three.  Because of the channel issue I plugged my Arlo hub into one of the extra slots their modem.  It worked great with it doing it's thing and not using the same channel.  The problem is that once Arlo activated SD access in the phone app this no longer will work because the hub and phone must be using the same wi-fi for that feature.  All depends on how you wish your system to function and with what features.

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It sounds to me like you are double-routing (your modem is actually a gateway).  FWIW, I also do that, but I connect my base to my Orbi router, not my ISP gateway.  So direct access to local storage works (as well as local 4K streaming).

As far as the channel selection goes, I am thinking that your base station isn't near your WiFi router - and that if you moved it close to your home WiFi it would end up selecting the same channel.  The base only uses the signal strength of the nearby WiFi signals when it makes it's selection - there is no API in the router that tells the base what channel the router selected.

[LandJS]

All I an tell you is it worked better and I only switched because of the access to the SD change which is so limited with only one person able to access it that I'm probably going to switch back.  I find I prefer to pop it in my computer for a full screen and takes a couple minutes is all to do it. I don't change anything other than which one I plug the hub into, no location change or anything.  When plugged into the router Arlo is always using the same channel, when plugged into the providers equipment it is always on a different channel. I also plug my smart TV and Roku into the providers equipment.  If it works and works better it's an option, as I said everyone's setup is different.