Arlo Not working consistently with Amazon Show

[eric-m]

Hi,

I’m using regular Arlo Cameras and basestation, and an Amazon Echo Show.

I recently setup my cameras, and they work great with the arlo app. However, they are extremely inconsistent when I use them on my echo show. When I say “Alexa, show me the back yard”, she replies “okay” and the “waiting for Netgear...” shows up. After about 3 seconds, it returns to my home screen. No error messages at all (most of the videos I’ve seen while trying to troubleshoot display some sort of error message).

To let you know what steps I’ve done so far:
- Restarted Arlo base station
- Restarted Echo Show
- Restarted cameras
- Uninstall / reinstall Arlo Skill on Echo Show
- Devices have been synced (each camera has worked exactly once with the Echo Show).
- The first camera showed the live feed after the second attempt
- The second camera showed the live feed after about 20 attempts
- Each camera has now failed to show the live feed after ~30 attempts, but works fine in the arlo app

What at am I missing? Any help is appreciated.

Eric

[darkiss]

I am also having this same issue.

It is unfortunate that I did not read this first before buying the echo show and Arlo baby.

JamesC is there any update on this or is this the expected behavior?

[kynetic]

Using this camera a a monitor in my kids room, initially it seemed the patch within the past 2 weeks helped. However after a few days we now continue to get the cannot connect, or your device is having a problem message when trying to stream overnight on Alexa Show. A new issue has also presented itself, as when we are able to connect finally a couple hours into the stream a popping noise will occur periodically but consistently though the stream appears to still be functioning. This is exceptionally annoying because we are awoke at 3am now...with no actual known reason or cause.

I am confident that we are not experiencing a network issue as having that as my background I immediately took to troubleshooting from that perspective. That and when you view the camera from the Arlo app it functions fine without these issues. I even switched Alexa Shows just to rule that out as the possible issue. As bloody expensive as these cameras are and how flagrantly they are touted as working with Alexa, It seems fair to set expectations for a seemless usage.

Please give us an update on whether this is identified and being addressed still by the engineers...seems like it might have more to do with whatever interface or API

[darkiss]

I am happy to hear that other people are having the exact same issue but at the same time very sad that NetGear is not taking any action at all to resolve the issue at hand!

cc @JamesC

[JamesC]

I've escalated this topic back to engineering. I will provide an update when I have more information.

JamesC

[gillSpie]

Good for you JamesC.

This issue has been going on for years now. We're glad to see that someone is escalating it to engineering.

One thought however, since this has gone on for so long, what guarentees do any of us have that "engineering" is going to fix the latency issues?

Also, is it possible that there aren't enough servers allocated to avoid latency? Wouldn't that be an issue with the infrastructure that netgear has setup to support ARLO?

[darkiss]

gillSpie I agree here and it does in fact appear to be an issue with Arlo Network and that the cameras under wifi should connect directly to the Alexa Show rather than relying on what appear to be arlo network that is not good enough.

@JamesC can we please setup a phone call with the Engineering team and perhaps also include @gillSpie as I would like to escalte this a little bit more than what you are suggesting.

[Lalo3]

Having the same issue as everybody in the forum. Arlo and Echo Show do not work. I should've read forums before being mislead with the information regarding their compatibility.

[guestmc]

System worked acceptably in March/early April but now has the same issues as reported here.  I run 3 - Arlo Pro 2 Cameras, 2 - Arlo Pro cameras and 1 - Arlo Q Plus Camera.  None of the 6 now display on Echo Show when they previously did early this year.

I also use the Echo Show to display two other brands of cameras.  One for my front doorbell and that camera also does not work any longer although it worked earlier this month.  The other camera whichis in my Living Room is the only one that still works well on the Echo Show.

If your tech support wants to know the brand of camera that does work, contact me and I will provide you the brand names.

[Rob7152]

 I am having the same issue with the echo spot.  Video feed works sometimes and other times not. 

[gillSpie]

Thank you for your input. 

I'm not the sharpest tool that fell off the shelf but in my opinion, if Amazon is onboard then this should be a simple fix.

You don't need me.

Ping from an arlo IP to the needed Amazon server. 

If it is good then your service will be good.

Otherwise, contact Amazon for help.

Please let me know if you have questions or if I may be of any further assistance.

I would love to assist but I am not on the payroll so you would first need to ensure that I am compensated in advance.

Regards,

T.

[CMW23]

Same issue. Arlo doesnt work with echo dot consistently. Needed this for baby monitor and cant be trusted. After reading these posts amounts to false advertising by Echo and Arlo ecosystems

[Bill716]

JamesC - is there any progress with your engineering team on this issue?  It's been a while since you escalated this problem to them.  I have 3 main problems - 1: I get the message "Hmmm, the camara isn't responding".  2: I can hear the audio but the screen says "Waiting for Netgear"  3: Occasionally I get "buffering" on the screen but eventually it works.

These 3 problems happen about 60% of the time.  The other 40% it works fine.  Thanks.

[Hankr225]

When Asking Alexia Show “Alexia  show front Camera(or any Camera). She says ok.  NETGEAR flashes on the screeen, and a second later goes back to Alexia Home Screen.  Worked well until I addded a forth camera, which Alexia will not let me add  this camera.  States no new device found.  Will not work with my Amazon Fire either.

[Twistedneck]

Arlo get your act together. Im going to contact the VP of engineering if i
Don't see a response by close of business today.

This is not the wild west or some flea market. We purchased a product and its not working properly. Fix it or compensate.

[Ruskin]

This issue has gone unaddressed for months. It’s ridiculous. I think everyone should begin an “educational” campaign on social media. It’s not difficult to make public our frustration with this product. Post on Facebook,’Instagram and anywhere yo find an ability that provide feedback or reviews on this product.

[Twistedneck]

Guys i emailed Director of software engineering Dennis Aldover in an effort to get eyes on this issue and this thread in particular.

I hope he responds to me and to this thread.

Jeff Check.

[Hankr225]

Still no response from NETGEAR .... on this site.  Was on hold for over an hour, and had to go to a meeting.  Hoping they will fix this problem, Also Alexia will not recognize the new camera I purchased.  The other three are but will not work on the Alexia Show,  or Amazon Fire, which also worked for a short period.as it did for a few months, now nothing 

[Twistedneck]

As i write this i am watching Alexa hang for about 3 min so far with the message "waiting fir arlo".. thats normal. These cams are much more reliable in google home. Just say "hey google play front door cam on living room tv".. shows up fast and reliable compared to alexa show.

Fwiw, no response from the software director yet.

[Hankr225]

I don’t have google home.  Also still not working on Alexia Show or Amazon Fire ....

[Arlolo]

Has Netgear publicly acknowledged this issue at all?

This was whole reason I invested almost $1000 in arlo cameras, arlo baby, and echo spots.

[diademz]

this has been going on for a long time for me, i bought the echo show when it first came out and it worked great at first with the arlo cameras but i started having trouble after one of the echo shows firmware updates, i had an issue with my show where the urls were showing up in html code, a firmware update resolved that but then my cameras became inconsistent and have been that way ever since. and i believe you cannot stop firmware updates on the show. i don't know if these companies don't care that this hasnt been resolved yet or they aren't smart enough to figure it out. could be both.

[gillSpie]

We don't need the CEO's information. What we need is any information on the class action suit for Netgear not staffing at a level to have prevented the issues we have. We paid for this device. Why can't they simply fix the dns issues they have and move on?

[Bill716]

I definitely agree.  They either they are under staffed or are incompetent – maybe both!

[gillSpie]

Netgear could fix this if they wanted. 

This is basic network engineering.

Problem is, basic network engineering would tell them that they nee to increase infrastructure and that costsn 🙂