How I troubleshot my Wireless Arlo system

[woseyjales]

Maybe this will help some of the newer users, at least I hope it does.   Re: Smearing videos? 2015-09-05 07:47 AM

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Wire-Free-camera/Smearing-videos/td-p/970550/page/6

I can only say, that my setup was almost exactly like yours, cable gateway at 2.4 and 5ghz, with 2.4ghz telephone and 2.4ghz printer, all within about 8 feet of each other.

The first few weeks out of the box, not a single problem, it worked flawlessly. I was in europe and could stream all 5 of my camera's live and they caught the guys mowing my yard and all the mail deliveries. Then there was an update and everything went to scrap and I still think that is part of the issue.

My problems included only 1 out of 5 cameras online, sometimes 2, sometimes 4, sometimes all of them worked, but mostly, I could only get 2 camera's online at any given time and even that was sketchy. The furthest camera was at 60 feet all the rest were 35 feet or less from the base station in a one story ranch style home.

The little green light on the base station saying your camera's are communicating, doesn't give you enough information, as it will light up green, when only one camera is online, even when the others are offline. Also, the little radar icon doesn't seem accurate, as all my camera's but one had a full 4 bars and the furthest one would go back and forth from 2 to 3 bars, I guess depending on the enviroment, time of day, weather, whatever.

After going through all the support, I got a 50 foot ethernet cable and an extension cord and I just started moving the base station around while watching my laptop and I could actually see it pick up communication with some of the other cameras and then I'd lose that one I just acquired or one of the ones, that was working, very frustrating indeed. I would get all the typical messages, getting status forever, camera offline, base station offline, which seems to correct itself, by logging off then logging back on, but most of the cameras would never be acquired or I'd acquire one, just to lose another.

Finally I got the base station in just the right spot and wham, all 5 camera's just jumped online and no issues at all for a couple of days, except stepping over the 50 foot ethernet cable and the extension cord, I was using for my experiment and then I was back to square one, same messages of being offline and same issues with the cameras.

So, I decided to just take a chance, as it seemed to be a communication/reception issue to me and I figured I had nothing to lose but my frustration and a few more dollars and I jumped out their and purchased a range extender. Again, I had to experiment where to locate the range extender and the base station, but it seems, I've found the sweet spot, at least I hope so. All my 5 of my cameras are within 30 feet or less of the base station, which is in another room about 25 feet from my cable gateway and I haven't had a hiccup in 3 weeks.

Again, your support and input is invaluable to all of us novices out here, I was simply trying to pass on my personal experience, in hopes that it might help someone like me, that was on the verge of pulling their hair out.

At least in my case, it seems to indeed be a wifi issue in combination with the last update netgear pushed through.

[JamesC]

woseyjales,

Useful information, thanks for posting.

JamesC

[woseyjales]

Thought I'd bump this, as I see quite a few newcomers are having issues and it actually might help ease some of the pain trying to get their systems working for them, instead of them working for the system.

[woseyjales]

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woseyjales wrote:

Maybe this will help some of the newer users, at least I hope it does.   Re: Smearing videos? 2015-09-05 07:47 AM

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Wire-Free-camera/Smearing-videos/td-p/970550/page/6

I can only say, that my setup was almost exactly like yours, cable gateway at 2.4 and 5ghz, with 2.4ghz telephone and 2.4ghz printer, all within about 8 feet of each other.

The first few weeks out of the box, not a single problem, it worked flawlessly. I was in europe and could stream all 5 of my camera's live and they caught the guys mowing my yard and all the mail deliveries. Then there was an update and everything went to scrap and I still think that is part of the issue.

My problems included only 1 out of 5 cameras online, sometimes 2, sometimes 4, sometimes all of them worked, but mostly, I could only get 2 camera's online at any given time and even that was sketchy. The furthest camera was at 60 feet all the rest were 35 feet or less from the base station in a one story ranch style home.

The little green light on the base station saying your camera's are communicating, doesn't give you enough information, as it will light up green, when only one camera is online, even when the others are offline. Also, the little radar icon doesn't seem accurate, as all my camera's but one had a full 4 bars and the furthest one would go back and forth from 2 to 3 bars, I guess depending on the enviroment, time of day, weather, whatever.

After going through all the support, I got a 50 foot ethernet cable and an extension cord and I just started moving the base station around while watching my laptop and I could actually see it pick up communication with some of the other cameras and then I'd lose that one I just acquired or one of the ones, that was working, very frustrating indeed. I would get all the typical messages, getting status forever, camera offline, base station offline, which seems to correct itself, by logging off then logging back on, but most of the cameras would never be acquired or I'd acquire one, just to lose another.

Finally I got the base station in just the right spot and wham, all 5 camera's just jumped online and no issues at all for a couple of days, except stepping over the 50 foot ethernet cable and the extension cord, I was using for my experiment and then I was back to square one, same messages of being offline and same issues with the cameras.

So, I decided to just take a chance, as it seemed to be a communication/reception issue to me and I figured I had nothing to lose but my frustration and a few more dollars and I jumped out their and purchased a range extender. Again, I had to experiment where to locate the range extender and the base station, but it seems, I've found the sweet spot, at least I hope so. All my 5 of my cameras are within 30 feet or less of the base station, which is in another room about 25 feet from my cable gateway and I haven't had a hiccup in 3 weeks.

Again, your support and input is invaluable to all of us novices out here, I was simply trying to pass on my personal experience, in hopes that it might help someone like me, that was on the verge of pulling their hair out.

At least in my case, it seems to indeed be a wifi issue in combination with the last update netgear pushed through.

---

Just another bump, as I see some folks are having connection issues. There's a link in my first post on this subject with some more information.

Hope this helps some of you out there.

[jguerdat]

I saw this the other day and tried the mapping the other day.  Interesting results:

http://www.komando.com/downloads/1994/pinpoint-wi-fi-issues-in-your-home-or-office

[woseyjales]

This looks like a great tool and I bet some folks that are having some issues could make good use of it. I'm going to check it out myself.

Appreciate the link jguerdat!!!