Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras
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Tla65
Aspirant
Aspirant

Hello, I recently installed the Arlo Wire Free..

 

Works great all through the house but the signal won't reach to my garage (comes through perfect then suddenly drops completely). My router and base are in my basement. (Must be) .. My smartphones get reception in the driveway, even inside my car. But not the cameras. Above the garage door. Was using the iPhone app to position and that signal was great).

 

Is there something I could do to increase the signal strength for the cameras? Is there a signal booster for the base station? ... Something. ?   I am packing it all up now but thought I would just shoot out this post before I return it. Love the system otherwise. ....But the main reason we purchased is our car was broken into the driveway. So that is the most important camera. 

Thanks. 

10 REPLIES 10
jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

The best you can do it to reposition the base. You can do this with a long Ethernet cable or a WiFi extender. That may allow you to position the base in, say, a corner of the basement that's closer to that camera for a better signal. 

 

Edit: Another possibility is to just rotate the base or move it around in its current placement to see if that works. You may simply be blocked by something like ductwork that a minor placement change may fix.

 

You don't say why the router and base must be in the basement but you may want to seriously reconsider that placement. While you get decent coverage that way, a raised position will give you much better signal overall. 

Tla65
Aspirant
Aspirant

Hi, thanks for your suggestions.

We have to have the modem/router in the basement becaus Bell Fibe requires a phone jack, and the only ones we have on the ground floor are in the kitchen and in another spot we don't have a tv or a place acceptable for a whole modem/tv setup.

So I do have a wifi extender on the upper floor so we get wifi in the bedrooms. (It still does carry up there but is slow sometimes. The extender makes it perfect. ) The whole ground floor and as I mentioned sitting in my car in the driveway, are all totally fine signal.   with it in the basement. 

 

I tried putting the base station up high on top of a bookcase but it didn't help. 

ok so if I put my extender on the ground level or buy a new one ..then I can reprogram the base station to use that network instead?

 

 not really sure how that works? Since it is still wired via Ethernet to the modem.....?

maybe I am just getting dumb from looking at it too long. 

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Not dumb. :). By using a WiFi extender, you simply disconnect the base from the router and plug it into the extender. It's that simple. Of course, since you're already using an extender, be careful of how close they end up getting placed relative to each other so they don't interfere. You could also possibly get away with a cheap network switch plugged into the existing extender so you could plug multiple devices into that single port. You just don't want your upload speed to be impacted by multiple devices but if it's mostly streaming or downloading I don't think that would be a problem.

Tla65
Aspirant
Aspirant

Ah-ha, really not dumb, because my extender has no ports. Just plugs into the power outlet and boosts the signal it gets. That's why I didn't understand about the Ethernet cable with an extender lol. 

 

. I could  just assign the extender's  SSID in the base's setup. I can't remember where I did that...probably just in initial setup. .. i will find it.

 

Then I will move the extender to the ground floor instead of the upstairs(hopefully that will be ok for the bedrooms)...if that works, the camera will be literally like 30 feet away. 

 

 .. Ok got  2 options to try now. ...Thanks. 

 

jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Alrighty, then.  Many WiFi extenders have an Ethernet port on them so you can use it to add wired devices like the base station to them, extending the network even for those wired devices and not just wireless.  Since the base requires an Ethernet connection to work, you'll have to get an extender that has a port - there's no way to connect the base wirelessly (well, there probably are some devices that convert Ethernet to WiFi but that's what the extender would do in the first place).

Trevwmitchell
Aspirant
Aspirant
My signal is rubbish on the cameras, i have tried multiple locations and used an extended with an there port but still no luck even when I am only 15ft away through glass it tell me I am disconnected Ted. 😞 i had gigs hopes for this unit given the price...
Trevwmitchell
Aspirant
Aspirant
# ethernet port..
Schorschi
Prodigy
Prodigy

Trevwmitchell wrote:
My signal is rubbish on the cameras, i have tried multiple locations and used an extended with an there port but still no luck even when I am only 15ft away through glass it tell me I am disconnected Ted. 😞 i had gigs hopes for this unit given the price...

The "disconnected" message may just be between your browser/app and the cloud, which in turn connects to your system via the base station. There may not necessarily be a problem between your base station and camera(s).

 

On the camera page, can you see the Wifi-signal strength indicator above each camera? That indicates whether and how well a camera is connected to the base station.

 

If you're using the app, try the browser access at http://arlo.netgear.com. If you're already using the browser, try another browser. It may be Flash not working properly in your browser.

 

P.S..: You can edit your own message up to 30 minutes after posting. Hover over the cog wheel and select "Edit Reply" from the context menu.

Tla65
Aspirant
Aspirant

Just following up, that I did buy a long ethernet cable from my modem which is at the back of the house..now the base station is at front of the house, underneath the garage. My other cameras are also at the front of the house and all is going just fine. Battery life has so far been excellent. (Well we burnt through the first set of batteries quickly because of the wifi strength issues but now is fine) I purchased the 50' flat ethernet cable on Amazon.ca for around $13 CAD.

 

My only complaint now,  is that it takes a long time to get into Live view. Sometimes I can't get in at all for a few minutes as it says "try again" ... If someone is at the door I want to check who it is but most often they are gone before I can get a stream happening.

(uh-oh..if this isn't concerning wifi strength I guess I'm hijacking my own thread. ? )

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

Tla65,

 

It sounds like there could still be some interference issues between the base and the camera. You indicate the base station is now underneath your garage. This suggests that the distance between the camera and base station is separated by the ground/floor of the garage. This could be affecting the signal strength resulting in the error you describe above.

 

Would it be possible to place the base station somewhere on the same floor as the camera rather than your basement?

 

JamesC