Why no SMA connector for WiFi antenna on the base and/or cameras?

[jult]

I don't get why you put useless USB ports on the base station, yet you don't offer a way to put a directional WiFi antenna on the base? I own several, and it would have been great to put one on the base for better reach to especially the furthest away camera that now only gets 1 stripe of wifi on the Live view.

Who designs these things? Must have been drunk.

Even an added SMA connector on the cameras would not be that bad. They don't pull more power, yet they can amplify the signal by 10dB for even cheaper antennas you can buy out there.

[jult]

Adding to that;

What is the directional beam from the base-station? Where inside the base is the Wireless antenna, and on which side do we get the strongest signal? Do I really have to open up the base myself to find out? And solder my own antenna to it?

We used to buy electronics in the old days where you got a clear test-result paper with it, showing us what the directional beam of the base signal was, so the consumer knew what he got, how to position the damn thing.

These days all those big brands assume we're all idiots or something, I don't know what that is about. This changed with the Apple-craze, I guess. Now all that seems to count is making as much money as possible, getting out in time ("Out of production!" labelling) and screwing the consumers over with insecure, badly tested, unsustainable IoT devices.

I mean the fact alone that I can't even access the base station to see the WiFi settings it uses bothers me to no end.

[TomMac]

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I've rotated my base for testing a better signal and found that  (as you prob already know ) it's more or less omni.

Adding an antenna would be a nice option and prob should be posted here; https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange/idb-p/arlo-idea-exchange

I have played with the Arlo cameras placed in the focus of a parabolic antenna and range has been greatly inprove as would be expected.

Just think tho, you'll have to operate out of the box on your own - these are designed for non-tinkers.

[LovelyNot]

that's something I don't understand;

So you intend to target these to non-tinkerers, then you expect them to be working well, not?

What if they don't because of that?

I mean yes, offer them to non-tinkerers, but give the tinkerers options via "Advanced config".

Nobody ever got hurt from an "Advanced options" link hidden in the bottom.

And frankly, my believe is that *all* humans are tinkerers, most just don't really know they are. That's why it's all chaos with such devices.

I agree with jult here, it's silly that we don't even get to change the base station settings anywhere.