HomeKit Arlo Video Doorbell Sound issue

[Jeffwc]

I set my base station and doorbell up with HomeKit and almost everything is working fine. The only problem is that when I view my camera in the Home app, I don’t get any sound if I am on my LTE cellular network. I can talk to the person at the door and see the video just fine. They can hear me but I can’t hear anything. As soon as I switch my phone to wifi, the sound comes on. It does not matter if it is my home wifi or my wifi at work, the sound comes on. As soon as I switch back to cellular, the sound goes off. Is there a setting I am missing somewhere to fix this?

Sound works fine in the Arlo app for cellular and wifi.

[ShayneS]

HI @Jeffwc

  Please contact the Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link. Arlo Tech Support

[Jeffwc]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I already tried this. The tech rep told me that the doorbell would only work with my mobile device on HomeKit if my device was on the same local network. Since it was obvious that this wasn’t true, I figured he didn’t know anything about HomeKit support since it is relatively new for the doorbell. I then posted to this discussion board to see if the community could help.

[ShayneS]

May I ask which troubleshooting steps you have performed so far? I don't want to suggest any prior methods you have previously performed.

[Jeffwc]

I searched through the settings to see if I had missed something about cellular data. It took me a little while to figure out that it works fine on any wifi no matter where I am or which wifi I am on. It just doesn’t give any sound when I am connected to a cellular network. I turn on wifi and the sound comes on. I turn off wifi and connect back to LTE and the sounds goes off. I haven’t really tried anything else yet other than closing the Home app and reopening.

[Mark-V]

Hi @Jeffwc ,

Just to make certain of what I think is going on, I have an additional question for you: Does the issue occur when you are on a Wi-Fi network besides your own? If yes, then I think I might know the source of the issue.

A lot of the time with one-way audio, the issue is specific to a setting called "SIP ALG", which is a feature of many routers to fix the IP address on SIP Calls (voice/video calls over the internet). The feature is used to make sure the IP Address is directed to the correct place, but sometimes can break SIP calls. What I recommend is checking your router settings to see if SIP ALG is there. If it is and enabled, try disabling it and trying again. If it is disabled, enable it and try again.

If you aren't sure whether your router has the feature, let us know what model router you have. And let us know whether the SIP ALG setting might fix the issue for you. If not, we will follow up for more troubleshooting.

Thank you,

Mark V

L3 Tech

[Jeffwc]

Hi Mark. The issue does not occur on other wifi networks. If I am on my wifi network at home, sound comes through the Home app. If I am on my work wifi network, sound comes through the Home app. If my wife is on the wifi network at her work, sound comes through the Home app. The only time it doesn’t work is if our mobile device is on a cellular network. As soon as I connect to a wifi network (no matter where I am or what wifi network it is) the sound starts working. If I turn off wifi and connect back to LTE or 5G, the sound immediately stops. Connect back to wifi, the sound comes back.

[Ramses10]

hello, I'm French and I have exactly the same problem. I don't see any solution. Can you help us ? thank you

[ShayneS]

HI @Jeffwc

May I ask which iPhone model you are using as well as Mobile provider?

Thank You!

[Jeffwc]

iPhone XR iOS 14.4 AT&T

Thanks!

[Ramses10]

And me iPhone 12 mini, iOS 14.4, operator sosh.

[ShayneS]

Hi @Ramses10

Are you still experiencing this issue with incoming audio when on mobile data through HomeKit?

[ShayneS]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to clarify if you are all running the latest version of the following on your devices.

• Video Doorbell Firmware: AVD1001 - 1.14.0.0_931_5ed3664_1c4138d
• iOS version 14.4.2
• iOS Arlo Mobile App v3.1

[Ramses10]

Hello, yes indeed I still have the same problem with outdoor sounds, I do have the latest versions that you mentioned. Do you have a solution?

[Jeffwc]

Yes, I am on those versions and still cannot hear sounds on HomeKit while on cellular data. I can talk to people through the doorbell and they can hear me, but I cannot hear them. It all works fine when my device is on Wifi.

[ShayneS]

Hello,

This issue is on Apple's side. I will provide an update when Apple fixes the  issue. 

Thank you