I have 4 Arlo devices (the standard non-pro version). 3 of the cameras work and one doesn't as it says the device is offline. It's a temporary thing and an easy fix in that if I remove the batteries the camera will come back online. The problem is that the camera is mounted out of reach on the wall of my driveway. I change the batteries means getting a ladder out.
Last night there was a small 'blip' with my internet connection. A simple outage that lasted a few seconds. This wasn't anything major and is to be expected every once in a while. Absolutely every other device in my house handles this well. The exception is Arlo.
The base station immediately refused to see each of the 4 cameras. I re-booted it (and actually spotted it doing a firmware update). At first, 3 of the 4 cameras went offline.
After trying various things I couldn't get the cameras to come back on. Bear in mind this was midnight and I don't want to be mucking about removing batteries especially when I've gone to bed.
So...I ended up leaving this overnight and as of this morning only had 1 camera working. I've got to 2 of them and removed and replaced the batteries and they immediately came back online.
The driveway one hasn't as I need to get to the batteries. The problem is that now I need to be at work so it will have to wait until this evening.
This is a stupid situation to be in.
Why can't there be a simple re-try option or a re-try on the camera so that it attempts to re-connect after x minutes.
It shouldn't be a difficult thing to do (having spent 20+ years in the software world I see this as easy).
If you are going to have a device that connects remotely that you are supposed to put out of reach then it's not inconceivable to ask for a simple re-try at some point.
Having to go and get a set of ladders out to remove the batteries because of a small blip is somewhat stupid. Having (what will be) a day without camera use due to a small 5 second connectivity blip is a very 1990's archaic approach that really shouldn't exist these days.
Come on Arlo/Netgear. It's the little things that make the difference. Please add a re-try or some way of sorting this without having to get a ladder out and remove and re-insert the batteries.
As a side note (amusingly) I can re-set the Arlo router and randomly get a different camera so I can effectively cycle through this until I get the high driveway camera working and then remove the batteries from the ones I can reach easier. This suggests to me that it can work and is just a failing in proper testing of this product.
