Arlo Video Doorbell Chat with Neal Skura, Sr. Product Manager Thursday 12/05 at 11 a.m. PT

[JamesC]

Last week we launched the all new Arlo Video Doorbell. This week, we’re hosting a live chat in the Arlo Community with Neal Skura, Senior Arlo Product Manager. Please join us at 11AM PT this Thursday 12/05/19 as he discusses and takes your questions about the all-new Arlo Video Doorbell.

If you can’t make it during the scheduled live chat, we will leave this thread open until the end of the day Thursday 12/05/19 to allow you to post questions for Neal.

Neal Skura is a Senior Product Manager with Arlo Technologies, responsible for the Arlo Video Doorbell, Arlo Go LTE camera, and Arlo wired cameras, including Arlo Baby and Arlo Q. With over 17 years of experience in the consumer technology industry, Neal has held a variety of roles across product management, engineering management, embedded software development, and quality assurance. Fueled by his genuine passion for technology and technological curiosity, Neal is excited to bring new consumer products to market. Neal has earned an MBA in Management of Technology, complementing his Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering.

We look forward to having you join the conversation!

Thank you!

[Neal_ArloPLM]

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@jhorts918 wrote:

I am having issues with the activity zones on the Arlo Video doorbell.  I live on a VERY busy street with lots of car traffic and also pedestrian traffic on the walkway. Essentially, the doorbell would record all day long if I can't use activity zones. 

I've tried setting them up and selected only the area where I'd like the doorbell to record if motion. It seems that the doorbell completely ignores the activity zones and records when their is motion outside of the set zone.

I've essentially made a MINUSCULE zone in the cameras view and set the motion detection to 1. This seems to ensure that I don't get any of the street traffic - but it's also missing when individuals come up the steps as the zone is so small.

Do you have any plans to fix this? The doorbell is essentially useless on a busy street and I would recommend that NO one purchases it until Arlo can get this correct. 

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@jhorts918  We would like to work you directly to understand and resolve this issue for you.  We'll follow up with you afterwards so that we can collect your account information for detailed investigation.

[Charlif761]

As a new user, you should take heed that so many people are here with questions about their CURRENT products instead of wanting to discuss NEW products. We cannot get current products to work and aren't getting support of firmware updates that are workable. I don't think asking a company to support its' products is unreasonable......

[bmwdriver7175]

Probably because we have no other way to get anyones attention.  I agree it's not the way this should go down but the frustration level has hit a boiling point and Arlo keeps bringing out new shiny objects as if our problems are irrelevant.   If they would better engage, then this hijack would not be necessary.  My apologies for that!

[Charlif761]

I'll add that if Arlo REALLY cared, maybe they would sponsor a "Chat with Neal" about the issues so many of us continually have! As a single woman who is alone 90%of the week, having security cameras isn't just a luxury. I rely on them for my safety and security and the safety and security of my home and property. 

[Cowetatina]

What is Geofencing. I am a new customer

[Neal_ArloPLM]

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@Kami9a wrote:
Hello Neal,

I currently use an Arlo Baby cam, 4 Arlo Ultra cams and a Arlo doorbell that oddly required me to buy a separate base station (VMB4000) so I have two base stations for my system because the Ultra cameras came with a VMB5000 that does not work with the door bell.
My questions are:
Will this work with the VMB5000 base station?

Will this allow me to pair a Ultra camera with a door bell?

I have had a lot of intermittent problems with audio not working, either inability to hear or be heard by guest at door bell. Has this been tested with slower connections and what have been the issues?

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@Kami9a  The Arlo Video Doorbell connects directly to your 2.4GHz WiFi and works standalone, without connecting to an Arlo SmartHub or base-station.  You can configure the Video Doorbell to cross-trigger an Ultra camera within the Modes settings.  With this, other cameras can be set to record when the Video Doorbell detects motion.

As for audio, the Arlo Video Doorbell features a loud speaker and full-duplex, two-way talk for clear and real-time communication.  We do have recommendations for the minimum bandwidth requirements for our products, please check, Arlo Minimum Requirements .  For the Video Doorbell, we recommend 2Mbps upload as a minimum.

[jpottaway]

Nice to see the company “working with partners” line brought out re geofencing. The real question Neal is what has been happening the last 2.5 months since this issue was first raised here and during the 3 month Apple beta before that? Beyond that why is the Arlo app so terrible historically? Surly you can afford to hire some better devs? Bad software will eventually kill your company, nothing surer.

[lesreg]

There are a lot of issues with my current system. Now, they have the solar panels and I think they should have always been solar. It makes no sense to have to plug it in to solar when solar was available before.

[ArloIn2Homes]

I see a lot of posts and complaints about geofencing. I had issues with geofencing for a long time and it caused a lot of frustration. I was eventually able to sort them out by making changes to the way my phone (Samsung Galaxy 😎 handled battery saving functions related to the Arlo app. I agree that Arlo should be more proactive in acknowledging and helping users figure this out. However, it is ultimately a phone issue and not an Arlo issue. I have two houses. One with 3  Arlo Pro 2s and one base station and the other with 3 Arlo Pro 2s, 1 Video Doorbell and a base station. Geofencing works well almost all the time. When it glitches, it is due to a phone related function. Regarding the Video Doorbell. I've been living with it for 9 days and am generally pleased. I certainly wish there was a way to assign a unique ringtone to the doorbell. The other "issue" is that I like the video doorbell motion detection to be active while I'm home, so my wife and I have had to learn to avoid using the front door in order not to get notices of ourselves.

[Neal_ArloPLM · Accepted solution]

We're out of time for the live portion of the Community Chat.  I'll continue to check in to answer any remaining questions over the next few days!  Thanks for the feedback and great questions!

Neal Skura

[Tkafff]

Definitely not happy with Arlo at the moment, I don’t know why you guys got ride of the 2 weeks free storage plan on the video doorbell. And I also read that you guys will not integrate HomeKit with the doorbell. I will be uninstalling the video doorbell and returning it. Instead I will be purchasing Netatmo video doorbell free storage no nickel and dime subscription. I have the ultra as well, we were promised local SD card storage viewing through the app in the second half of 2019. And 2019 is almost over, have not seen it. Arlo has a repetition for broken promises. Will be returning the ultra as well. Just lost a loyal customer.

[tomtiger]

Obviously, ARLO has a lot of problems to iron out, since everyone has the same frustrations as we do with our system not running smoothly of efficiently! Too many hick-ups, delays, and freezes!  We are all on hold when it comes to new products from ARLO....it's sad.

[rseward]

Another hour of my life wasted on Arlo

[azarloGuy]

Exactly why I won’t buy the doorbell or Ultras. Seems that Arlos strategy is as long as they can get new customers they’ll be fine. Forgetting about your existing customers is a sure fire way to go broke. It’s a lot easier to get an existing Customer to upgrade when they have confidence in the company. With all the competition to get new customers you’d think they’d understand that you can’t get new customers at the expense of losing existing ones. It’s just not a winning strategy. I hope some smart people see this is and clean house internally before it’s too late.

[Esmca]

Honestly I’m not 100% sure what I did. I could get the cameras to connect so Alexa suggested disabling and then enabling. I did that but it didn’t work so I deleted the skill complete and re-installed. No camera but now I get the voice notifications.

[JustinPPPPP]

Typical, you mark this thread as solved and haven't answered 90% of the comments and certainly haven't addressed any of the issues which MULTIPLE people are reporting.  Here is your summary, FIX geofencing, FIX lack of Alexa compatibility.  Report back in 10 years when you are gone and none of this is still fixed.

[FPersing]

Has this been answered. We have the same issue and would like this answered/explained.

[Anahimia10]

My doorbell was working fine and now it’s not working I do t her a call anymore when someone rings so I don’t know if there’s someone there what do I do????

[Tomwebb81]

Hi Neil,

My cameras are useless at the moment due to geo fencing not working. Been around 3 months now. For the last 6 weeks I have been dealing with your 2nd line team and I feel I have been part of your test team, testing and feeding back with various changes they want me to do with no fix in sight.

When is this going to be resolved?

Thanks

Tom

[Shoeless1]

I’d like to know why I should spend more money when my original product doesn’t work as advertised?

[jpottaway]

10 years? Lol. 2 at this rate. All that is keeping them afloat is some favorable Amazon and App Store reviews. At least the later I suspect are being manipulated given many recent written reviews are 1 star and the few 5 star ones like “great app!” have click farm written all over them. Coasting from when Netgear ran the show. Rate if you can!

[Rhbellamy]

I would just like it to work with the Arlo chimes!

[Rhbellamy]

The video doorbell does NOT connect with the Arlo chimes.

[Neal_ArloPLM]

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@kellydavid wrote:

Is there a way to power the doorbell of a wall plug?  I have no existing doorbell power.

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@kellydavid Yes!  There are plug-in AC-AC transformers available.  Just be sure that you meet the minimum voltage and power requirements, 16 - 24VAC, and 10VA minimum.  When you setup the doorbell, select "None" as your Traditional Chime so that the doorbell doesn't close the circuit and briefly short the transformer when the button is pressed.

[Neal_ArloPLM]

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@GT500 wrote:
Will a full wireless video doorbell be made? One that you do not need to use existing doorbell wiring to hook up?

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@GT500  Thanks for the question - the Arlo Video Doorbell is a wired solution, but we do have the Audio Doorbell which is wire-free and can be paired to operate with our wire-free cameras.