IP cameras connection to Orbi unstable, slow, frequently disconnects

[Bloodrule]

I have six IP cameras that I can connect wirelessly to my Orbi system (reserved IP addresses). However, accessing any or all of the cameras is painfully slow and frequently one or more of the cameras drop their connection altogether to the point where the cameras are unusable.  The same cameras work flawlessly if I remove the Orbi and go back to my ISPs router/modem.  The cameras are a mix of D-Link, Foscam and Chinese rebranded cameras (Shenzhen Reecam Tech Ltd) which have worked well pre-Orbi.  Any thoughts?

[Bloodrule · Accepted solution]

Happy to report that adding a second satellite appears to have completely solved the problem.  All six cameras now working as crisply as ever.  Thanks to everyone for contributing to the solution.

[tucsontico]

I have 4 wireless IP cameras similar to your setup (mixture of FOSCAM, etc.). There always has been a very laggy response by the cameras (10-15 second response times). I beleive it is the nature of using a wifi connection to operate the cameras. If I run a Cat 5 cable to my closest camera the response times improve dramatically (<2 seconds). Unfortunately, I cannot run ethernet to my other cameras so I'm stuck with the laggy performance!

[Bloodrule]

Thanks for replying. Can't agree that it's an inherent feature of wifi. The cameras work almost instantly when wirelessly connected direct to my ISP's modem router and have for years. I think it's either an inherent problem/incompatibility with the Orbi or (hopefully) an Orbi configuration problem.  I hope it's the latter and that someone might have found an answer.

[FURRYe38]

Try setting the cameras resolution for lowest resolution possible and test. Having that many online at one time using high resolutoin could be a factor. Many videos streams maybe congesting the system. 

[Bloodrule]

Thanks for that suggestion.  I've tried setting the bit rate for each camera down low but it hasn't helped.  It also doesn't explain the fact that I can have 6 cameras running hi-res and high bit rates flawlessly when connected direct by wifi to my ISP's router/modem. As soon as I use Orbi wifi they slow to a crawl or randomly disconnect completely.  I've given up and taken the Orbi system down which is a shame as it was providing excellent coverage to all other devices in my house.

[FURRYe38]

Is the ISP modems wifi running at the same time as the Orbi's? Is should be disabled entirely if you have the Orbi wifi running. 

[st_shaw]

I don't know if you have satellites or not.  Note that cameras do not roam to the nearest AP like phones do. You would need to power cycle each camera after the Orbi system boots and becomes stable, or the cameras would all connect to the router (which boots before the sats).

If the cameras connect to the most distant AP, they could connect at a very low link rate and eat up all your airtime.  One camera connecting at 5 Mbps uses 20X the airtime as one camera connected at 100 Mbps.

If you have satellites, before giving up I would suggest you ensure each camera is connected to the nearest Orbi AP and see if that helps.  Unfortunately, you will need to reboot the cameras after every power outage.

And, as suggested by another poster, do make sure you power off any other WiFi APs when using Orbi.

My WiFi cameras worked far better with Orbi than with two other WiFi routers.  I've since replaced the WIFi cameras with wired POE cameras, though, and they are far superior.

[Bloodrule]

While the Orbi system was connected the ISP's modem/router was set to bridge mode so it did not broadcast a wifi signal.  Sorry should have said that I have an Orbi plus one satellite.  I'm fairly sure that the cameras closest to the satellite were connecting to the satellite and not the base Orbi (when checking connected devices details) but I may need to check that again if I reinstall the system. Unfortunately PoE is not an option given the placement of my cameras.

[FURRYe38]

I would disable the following and test with the cameras. Maybe just a couple of cameras at first then add one by one:

Set manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz. Any unused channel on 5Ghz.

WPA2 and AES only.

Disable Beamforming, MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming. Save settings and reboot both Orbi and Satellite.

[waynealight]

make sure upnp is enabled, statically assign each camera an ip address  and add a port forwarding rule for each camera ip address. just a simple ftp with a complete port range of the cameras.  ie 80-8000.   this step was not needed before i started using netgear routers but for some reason it does now.

[Bloodrule]

My problem isn't that I can't connect the cameras to the Orbi's wifi - I can.  I don't have a problem with IP addressing the cameras.  The problem is that the video is very sluggish, jerky and cameras frequently lose their connection.  

I've tried these suggestions but the problems continue (thanks for suggesting these):

Set manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz. Any unused channel on 5Ghz.

WPA2 and AES only.

Disable Beamforming, MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming. Save settings and reboot both Orbi and Satellite.

[Bloodrule]

Progress report:

I disconnected all six IP cameras and then reintroduced two of them.  So far the two connected are working normally.  Seems that six were choking the system somehow but I would like to be able to redeploy them.  Thanks for all the suggestions and if there are any more please post them.

Not sure if an additional satellite (I have one at present) would make any difference to the system's capacity?

[FURRYe38]

I was wondering if your system was getting congested having that many cameras on. You might try another Satellite and see if you can add more cameras. If you can make sure the others will connect to a new addion. Orbi is fairly automatic and cameras are probably same. 

[st_shaw]

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@Bloodrule wrote:

Progress report:

I disconnected all six IP cameras and then reintroduced two of them.  So far the two connected are working normally.  Seems that six were choking the system somehow but I would like to be able to redeploy them.  Thanks for all the suggestions and if there are any more please post them.

Not sure if an additional satellite (I have one at present) would make any difference to the system's capacity?

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I hope my comment about link rates is clear. The best thing you can do is make sure each camera is operating at a high link rate, as described above. This means getting the best signal you can at every camera.

If the cameras are far apart, then adding an additional Orbi sat could help, as it could reduce the AP-to-camera distance for all the cameras.

Again, I do not expect your cameras will roam, so you it is critical to manually restart each camera after Orbi is stable, to get each camera to associate with the nearest AP.

Orbi is not the best design for your scenario, because all APs operate on the same channel and they all share a common wireless backhaul.  If you had a business grade set of wired APs, you could set a separate SSID for each AP, and set each AP on non-overlapping channels, and get better throughput.

[Bloodrule · Accepted solution]

Happy to report that adding a second satellite appears to have completely solved the problem.  All six cameras now working as crisply as ever.  Thanks to everyone for contributing to the solution.

[FURRYe38]

Glad a 2nd one fixed it. I presume this was just a bandwdith issue with having these cameras online as the same time and installing a 2nd Satellite helped elieviate the bandwidth issue. 

Enjoy. 

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