Arlo Wire Free VMB3000 base station cannot connect to the Internet

[spurs4cl]

Hi all, I just bought one of these 2 HD cam with base station package and unfortunately the base station is saying it cannot connect to the internet (amber light).

I tried many things from changing the cable, restarting every device related frm router to NAS to PC to base station and resetting it.... still the amber light is on!  Contacted Arlo technical chat, and they believe it is due to blocked ports 80, 123 and 443.  I tried to contact my ISP (which are actually a mobile phone network service provider, I'm using 4G LTE "home" network you see) but they told me they cannot do anything to help me.

I tried opening these ports on Windows Firewall, my router (TP Link) port forwarding and disabling my Kaspersky Internet Security temporarily, but all in vain. Is there anything else I can do? 

Sad thing is I live in a rural area where fixed internet is rubbish and hard to bear, so I use my LTE internet at home, which is about so much faster than using my telephone line.  If the only to get the Arlo to work is to change to slow and unreliable ISP, then I'm just hugely disappointed, as I was really looking forward to putting the wireless cameras up to protect my family.  Now I'm worried that even wired IP cams won't work with this "ISP".

Please offer any help or direction! Thanks!

[TomMac]

It's a hard game when using hotspots as ( your 4G lte network ) your internet access as you have less control.

Have you been able to acess and stream vids like Utube?  No other problem accessing the internet on you computer??

If you don't have problems as a rule, I don't think its a port problem ...

as to where to look Sorry, not much here...do know Bit defender was cauing many problems as to hooking into internet.

[spurs4cl]

Hi TomMac, no I've had no issues with my LTE internet at all, YouTube, Synology NAS, even bit torrent clients have all worked fine for a few years now. I can browse the web without having to do any special configurations, so I'm just baffled as to how to get my Arlo cams to work. If those 3 ports are blocked, then what ports am I using to access http, https or ssp?

[TomMac]

Honestly don't think it's the ports.....

but out at the same time , can't say how to fix it.....

Only thought is can you borrow a wifi extender with Ethernet port and test thru that?

Jeff, any ideas?

[spurs4cl]

"Only thought is can you borrow a wifi extender with Ethernet port and test thru that"

That was in fact the first thing I did out of the box, used a TP Link power line extender at my porch and connected the base station to it via Ethernet cable.. Amber internet light came on. I'm thinking to take the base station to somewhere where they have normal fixed internet and see if the base station will connect normally. Though I'd have to wait until the weekend for that I guess. I'm hoping I won't need to return it for an exchange (no refunds here in Hong Kong).

[jguerdat]

Yeah, I doubt ports are an issue unless you've been changing security settings in the router.  I think taking the base elsewhere and just plugging it in to see if the Internet LED goes green is the best solution at this point.  If it doesn't, swap the system at the store - bad base.  Otherwise, opening a case using the Support link at the top here would get you more soecific help.

[TomMac]

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spurs4cl wrote:

"Only thought is can you borrow a wifi extender with Ethernet port and test thru that"

That was in fact the first thing I did out of the box, used a TP Link power line extender at my porch and connected the base station to it via Ethernet cable.. Amber internet light came on. I'm thinking to take the base station to somewhere where they have normal fixed internet and see if the base station will connect normally. Though I'd have to wait until the weekend for that I guess. I'm hoping I won't need to return it for an exchange (no refunds here in Hong Kong).

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Are you sayin the Hotspot DOES NOT have a build in ethernet port?  and that you were trying to run it to an extender with a port?

If so, then maybe it's just a non-compatible extender

And Yes, test at a fixed internet location ...at least it will confirm if the base is good or bad... No refund, but maybe exchange.

[spurs4cl]

Re: TomMac

No no, my LTE router has 4 nos. ethernet ports plus WiFI antennae, but I've hooked it up to a powerline network so that I can use the internet around the house.  One of my powerline extenders is placed at the front of the house, that's where i was planning to set up my cam, hence I tried it there first then got the dreaded amber light. Then I moved the base station to plug it directly into the router, but guess what: amber light. 

Re: jguerdat

I actually contacted Arlo Live Chat last night, they asked me to try loads of different things, such as restart, power cycle, change ethernet cables, then they asked me to check if my ports are open and incidentally, the website said they weren't.  Then tech support told me to contact my ISP to open the ports up.... I'm stuck here right now.

I'm thinking to take it to the shop tomorrow actually because it's not too far from where I work and ask them to try to get a connection.  If it turns green, at least it proves that it's my problem.

[spurs4cl]

Went back to the shop today and the guy helped me test out the base station. It got a GREEN light! Then we proceeded to test out the rest of the gear and I got the cam up and running within 15 mins, even took a snap shot on my iPhone with it.

The shop keeper said no refund or exchange, but recommended me liaise with my service provider again to open those ports up, probably for a small fee. I'm now waiting for them to get back to me for the 2nd time.

Still no reply from Arlo tech support after raising a ticket last night though.

[spurs4cl]

Major breakththrought this evening!

Got a reply call from the ISP and they said no ports are blocked, as I was at work I said I'd try when I get home.  So logged on my PC and tried those free online port checkers, guess what, the ports are still blocked!

Anyway, I decided to try my luck one more time and messed with my router a bit (did a bit of internal IP / mac address binding) and powered on my base station.... guess what, the internet light finally turned green!!

Well I switched on the camera I'd managed to sync earlier yesterday at the shop and i'm now up and running with Cam-01!

OK.. wait for the bad news... now I'm trying to sync my second cam... guess what... pop in the batteries, blue light comes on briefly (good sign?), press the sync button on the base station for 2 secs and the sync led flashes on the base station..... but when i press "sync" on the Cam-02, nothing happens! No matter how many times or how long I hold it for, there is no reponse. 

So I pulled the batteries out and plugged them back in, the blue light comes on briefly... tried to sync but again nothing happens on Cam-02 when i press "sync" on it.

Now fearing those new batteries fresh from the box might have problems, I removed the batteries from the already up and running Cam-01 and swapped the two sets of batteries. Guess what, Cam-01 is working fine still but still no response from Cam-02 except for the initial blue light when i first insert the battery.

What does this mean?

[jguerdat]

The base sync press should be brief - <1 second.  Maybe that's the issue?