General Product Questions

[byw]

hi

i am having a very difficult time with the (non arlo) camera that i recently purchased. the main issue is that the cameras are having a tough time on 2.5g and/or 5g.

so the first question is, does arlo products compatible with the new routers where is full 5g or 2.5g/5g with auto band direction? also, looking for about 3 cameras to start, wondering what the experiences have been with base station and/or smarthub? and based on experiences, which have you found to be more consistently reliable? i have property that needs monitoring while im away with two ssids that share same password. any help would be greatly appreciated it

spent way too much time trying to get they other manufactures camera to run; only have had 7days of coverage from time of purchase. thank you and have a wonderful day

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

One thing you should consider is whether you will need an Arlo Secure subscription.  This article gives you some information on features you lose w/o a subscription: https://kb.arlo.com/000062312/What-options-will-I-have-when-the-Arlo-trial-ends

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@byw wrote:

so the first question is, does arlo products compatible with the new routers where is full 5g or 2.5g/5g with auto band direction?

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The arlo cameras that connect directly to your home wifi only support 2.4 ghz wifi.

I use an Orbi mesh system, that is 2.4/5ghz (with no ability to disable 5 ghz, or configure separate SSIDs for each band).  I've been able to onboard these products to my own home WiFi, but others here have had trouble doing that - particularly with Eero or Ubiquiti systems.

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@byw wrote:

wondering what the experiences have been with base station and/or smarthub? and based on experiences, which have you found to be more consistently reliable?

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Of course when you use a base, the cameras are not connected to your home wifi.  They connect to the base over a closed wifi network.

If you want 4K, then you will need the Ultra (which requires a base).  Though I don't find that much difference between the 2K and 4K recording quality.

Personally I have some base stations (smarthubs).  I'm not sure if they are more reliable than using my home wifi or not.  They do enable some features (direct access to local recordings, and the modes allow me to easily control all the cameras connected to the base).  My impression is that the batteries last a bit longer with the base.

A couple of disadvantages - you can't control the WiFi channel selection with the base, and there are some cases where it doesn't seem to pick the best channel.  Also, each camera needs to be paired with a specific base - there is no mesh, where the camera connects to the base with the best signal (or can fail over to a different base if one fails).

[byw]

thank you very much for your comments!