Extend without wifi extender

[LoraMae]

My Arlo Ultra was originally installed by Best Buy service person.  All 5 cameras worked perfectly for at least a year and all were placed outdoors quite far from the main base.  The batteries wore down, the system went down, and with various problems I had to delete my account and re-start from scratch. 

I pay for the monitor service but am not getting much use because the system constantly provides weak signals once the cameras are placed outdoors.  I have VMB5000 connected to my Orbi router and using a Medicacom modem.  The modem was just replaced.  The Netgear wifi extender is useless (according to Mediacom rep) and will be returned.  Connecting Arlo to an Orbi satellite does not work, as the base will not connect online.  Bottom line, the cameras were purchased for outdoor mounting but they get weak signals and do not work.  I don't understand why they worked perfectly with professional installation and now work intermittently.  

[StephenB]

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@LoraMae wrote:

Connecting Arlo to an Orbi satellite does not work, as the base will not connect online. 

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I have one VMB5000 is connected via an Orbi satellite, and it connects with no problem.

Have you checked that the Orbi satellite is actually part of the Orbi mesh?  You'd look in the attached devices list in the Router UI for that, you should see the satellite at the top of the list.

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@LoraMae wrote:

The Netgear wifi extender is useless (according to Mediacom rep) and will be returned. 

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Are you talking about the Orbi?  Or something else?

[TomMac]

Same here.... running via an Orbi satellite.  No issues as to base connection via the satellite.  You may have to check the rest of the system.

[LoraMae]

In response to your question, I bought the Netgear wifi extender for $150.  The purpose was to extend my Orbi wifi range.  The mediacom person noted that it was set up in the front of my home to attempt extending my signal to the front and outdoors and said it was serving no purpose as it wasn't involved in the mesh.  I don't know what most of this means.  When I look at my computer, I can see all devices connected to wifi and I definitely see Orbi and the three satellites.  I would think as each satellite is placed in different areas of the house, the satellites' signals would be weaker.  Still frustrated and have close to $1500 invested in Arlo and it barely works.

[StephenB]

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@LoraMae wrote:

 I would think as each satellite is placed in different areas of the house, the satellites' signals would be weaker.  

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The satellites and the Orbi router interconnect on a dedicated radio that is more capable than typical wifi clients.  They also have client-facing radios, so overall they extend your WiFi range.

Anyway, the extender was something else (not part of the Orbi system).

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@LoraMae wrote:

Still frustrated and have close to $1500 invested in Arlo and it barely works.

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Understandable.

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@LoraMae wrote:

Connecting Arlo to an Orbi satellite does not work, as the base will not connect online.

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You are saying that you've connected the Arlo base to one of the satellites via ethernet, and the Arlo base shows up off-line in the app (or on my.arlo.com)?

If so, does connecting the base to a different satellite give you an on-line status for the base?

[LoraMae · Accepted solution]

SOLUTION:   My outdoor cameras failed the minute I walked outside to mount them.  I made several small changes and am unsure which change provided success.  I'm posting so that others who become seriously frustrated may also learn from this.  My modem connects to Orbi.  My modem also has a built-in router, so I turned my Orbi settings to AP so it would not compete with the modem/router.  Within Orbi, I changed the 2.4Ghz setting to 11.  In an attempt to ensure the Arlo base could only find the 2.4Ghz setting, changed the 5Ghz signal in Orbi to 25%.  Connected the Arlo base station to an Orbi Satellite with ethernet cord.  Turned Orbi off and on again so that it would signal to each satellite at only 25% and hoping the satellites also were more available at the 2.4Ghz rather than 5Ghz.  When Arlo was then connected to a satellite, it recognized 2.4Ghz before the 5Ghz.  I took the outdoor cameras outside for a test run and they worked!  I then re-set Orbi router back to 5Ghz at 100%.