Sending it back

[jeremyfd]

I bought the Arlo wire free starter set. I have spent the whole afternoon setting up and troubleshooting, only to fnd on this site that media streaming is still buggy and in reality there are a shedload of unresolved issues.

A product should work out of te box, and this one although a great concept, isn't ready yet for the mainstream.

I'm taking it back to Maplins and getting my money back. Pity. As Brando said... "coulda been a contender".

[GeordieDan]

Been using mine a week now and no real issues, what's up?

[JamesC]

jeremyfd,

What issues are you experiencing? Please let us know more about the issue so we can help.

JamesC

[jeremyfd]

The media streaming error message. Whatever the cause, anything smarthome has to work out of the box, I just dont have the time to fiddle with settings, go onto user community sites. These things should be like fridges or TVs, you plug them in and they work. 

Thanks for replying, much appreciated.

[JamesC]

jeremyfd,

Do you get this error message whenever you try to live stream? Is it intermittent or does it always happen when trying to live stream? Does it occur on both the mobile app and the browser?

It could be an ISP/router issue, what is your ISP/router model?

JamesC

[jult]

"What issues are you experiencing? Please let us know more about the issue so we can help."

How can you write that? The forums are literally *full* of issues and good ideas. None of which are being executed or solved. You can help by putting the damn firmware and base station software on github and have people actually *work* on it. It's the worst type of camera system I've seen, honestly, it's worse than that cheap Edimax cam I have, worse than Zavio. Actually, Zavio turns out having the best camera firmware I've seen. Hardware is also extremely solid. I have one of their indoor cameras from 2009, it's still running 100%! And everything you would want is in there. The arlo's *only* advantage is that they can be mobile because of their wirefree concept, but that is pretty much ruined by the fact that you don't offer us control over the wireless channel settings. Oh and no external antenna-options. So the wireless range is more like 3 meters with line of sight. All the rest is lies.

This could have been such a good system, if only you let your users change your stupid config. I'd gladly use some more battery power if it would allow me to change color/whitebalance/hue/brightness/contrast, motion sensitivity that actually does something, specs that actually mean something. Let us control those devices, up to the tiniest detail, and we'll have happy fine-tuned systems and happy users. Instead you've locked it down. It sucks, it really does.

[jeremyfd]

James - I shouldn't have to care about routers or ISPs. 

Like I said, they should work out of the box, like switchin on the lights, plugging in a fridge and we  shouldn't have to have "troubleshooting guides" or user communities. This is a smart home product, part of the growing world of the internet of things, it's not Apple II, Sinclair Spectrum or DOS 3.2 days any more!

I appreciate the desire to help but we really are out of the geek phase on these types of products.

[jult]

That's actually pretty bad advice, Jeremy. Even the geeks hate this arlo stuff, because it's in Apple Mac style total lockdown everywhere. No config, no user control, nothing. They could at least have offered geeks control through an 'Advanced settings' board on their base station, through which we could set the radio frequency to use between the cams and the base station, to set the signal power to use, to set the bitrate of the streams, to set the buffers for network throughput, to set the beacon frequency etc. etc.

I hate those users that force brands like netgear into lockdown, you create horrible hardware that way. It will not last, because its user-base is gone after the last firmware release. Closed source is a thing of the past. IOT smart home devices need github, users changing their custom setups to their liking!

[jeremyfd]

I hear what you say. I am approaching this from the pure end-user viewpoint. I buy a SmartHome item and it should just work, and if there are optional settings, then this should be intuitive and easy to navigate and set up.

Now, from the other end of the spectrum, having a good developer programme, or the ability for users to get technical if they want to, is obvioulsy a good thing.

Overall, I think NetGear have a great product with Arlo but totally flawed execution.

[JamesC]

jeremyfd,

I apologize for any frustrations, given the many variables in each specific users environment it can take some troubleshooting to isolate a specific issue. If you are willing to troubleshoot further please send me a private message and I would be happy to help.

JamesC