Troubleshooting tip - can't sync camera? could be WiFi containment

[ohiocamguy]

I would like to present a troubleshooting tip.  This might be helpful if you are having trouble syncing a camea.  Especialy if you just purchased your Arlo system, or you just reset the base station to factory defaults.

Almost every home has a wireless (WiFi) access point.  An access point is what allows your tablet, laptop, smart phone, and other devices to communicate wirelessly.

What you may not realize, is that as an Arlo customer your home has two access points.  The Arlo "base station" is a wireless access point.

Did you know wireless is an easy way for hackers to break into your home network.  To protect your home network manufacturers include security features in the access point.  One such feature watches out for rogue access points.  Without getting into technical details, a rogue access point on your home network would be very bad.  When a rogue access point is detected, your access point can contain (block) it.   Some access points with these security features are detecting the Arlo base station as a "rogue" access point.  When this happens your access point will take countermeasures to block communication to the Arlo base station.  The results are are likely to be

- you won't be able to sync a camera

- the base station may not be able to send alerts, or upload video

- you may not be able to login to the My Arlo web page to manage your Arlo cameras

The solution is to go into the settings for your access point and add the Arlo base station to the "allow" or "safe" list.  This way when your access point detects the Arlo base station it won't try to contain it anymore.

On a related note, if you perform a factory reset of the Arlo base station it will begin broadcasting using a different name (SSID).  Your access point will again detect the Arlo base station as 'rogue' so you will need to add the new name to the allow list.

Hope this helps!