Help Needed for Troubleshooting Connectivity Issue

Hi… I’m also a beta tester and just wanted to comment on the 90 problem. I get it all the time, which is a problem since I live a hundred miles away from the house… I also notice my version 1 camera, which is (literally) right next to my version 2 camera(I take beta seriously :slight_smile: ) doesn’t crap out anywhere near as often.
Since I have centurylink as an ISP I have frequent droppages so I get 90’s all the time & would really like to not have to but smartplugs for 3 cameras… so I propose a solution… why not have an auto reset, user selected, option? Every 24 hours, or whatever, the unit does a POC automatically. The odds of missing something are much less than just having a dead camera sitting there and it, should be, easy to implement and use little in the resource area. The pan, though I love it , is sooooo sensitive thats its almost unusable up there so I’ll back it up with good ol ver 1… thanks for a great product… looking forward to outdoors…

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A post was split to a new topic: Cannot open app on iPhone XR

I get this problem all the time. Power Cycling or “reset” in the app, help but trying to hold a connection for more than a few minutes is impossible. Or trying to pull up the camera while my dog is barking out the window never works. If I have a stable live stream, if i try and view playback it crashes

Hello @samjamie what current firmware version and app version are you on?

Camera 4.9.3.64

App: 2.0.26

Is there a way to pull down the local recording off the SD card. The camera is mounted somewhere not easily accessible and I was wanting to pull the recording off the camera without removing the SD card

Not yet, but there’s a Roadmap topic that you can vote for. Be sure to click the VOTE button at the top:

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so the topic got hijacked?
I’m still curious why we can’t have an option to auto-reset the camera once a day at a specific time… it could be as crude as a jump to 0000 0000, just like a power failure causes, or a cleaner shutdown/close everything. Having to buy timers for each camera seems like a bit of a hack…
Otherwise…great product!!

Not sure what it actually does in terms of resetting the camera, but you can schedule a short cut to turn off the camera and another to turn it back on. Not sure how close to a true reboot but it is something

Here are a couple of Roadmap topics that you may want to hop over to and vote for. Be sure the click the VOTE button at the top of each page:

v2 Pan Cam, up-to-date, t-mobile hotspot $10/month for remote location, 2Gb of 4GLTE, drops to 2G ‘G’ (128kb/s) when plan high speed data is used up. Using Android Wyze Camera application. Locally on the Wifi, or when the 4GLTE data rate is available, can view the camera, set to 360p, and the frame rate always reports much less than 128kb/s, so one would expect the camera to work on the dried up lower data rate of the plan shows up. I have simulated the exact same problems locally by using a second DD-WRT wireless router for the Wyze camera, where I start QoS but tell it the downlink and uplink maximum bandwidth is 130kb/s. I will typically experience a cycle through 1/3, 2/3 then 3/3 for a long duration, then a timeout and retry. Rarely will connect to the camera, but on those rare occasions that it does, it will show a few of the 360p frames perhaps, then drop to 0kb/s. All events appear to get through, so the camera and its ability to report to the ‘cloud’ is fine, so this is purely a limited bandwidth situation affecting live viewing and interrogation. I have two other ‘Alfred’ cameras (cheap or old cell phones redeployed as cameras) on the same link even using a higher resolution than 360p, they work fine for connecting and viewing. The ‘Alfred’ cameras work (using Nexus 6P, Moto-X and Huawei 5Y Lite) and the Wyze does not.

So I experience " bit rate dropped to 0 kb/s" and “only able to view the live feed on the local network (not remotely)” with a clear and easy to duplicate condition (2G or QoS of 130kb/s). I expect the main issue is that the application timeouts are set too low when trying to connect, or sustain a connection, with the Wyze cameras. Is there a means to setup the Wyze Camera application, or the ‘cloud’ infrastructure it is using, to use longer timeouts for low bandwidth situations?

smart plugs cost about $15 and work all the time.

Jeff,

The problem with a smart plug for remote or automatic reset of the modem/router is that once you remotely turn it off, you have no way to turn it back on since (by definition) the smart plug is offline. I searched, but (other than the device I linked) was never able to find a smart plug that could turn itself back on in X minutes in the absence of an internet connection.

I’m having a similar issue using a T-Mobile hotspot for connecting to Wyze cameras. I have a 6Gb plan of 4GLTE that then drops to 2Gb after the 6Gb is used. All was working perfectly for 4 cameras until I exceeded my 6gb (used up in 8 days!!!). After that it is really spotty to connect to camera, seldom gets pass the 2/3 authenticating cycle (tried repowering camera and hotspot, no difference). When it does connect the video may run for a second or two, then ends at 0kb/s. Seems like T-Mobile’s 2Gb should still be sufficient to live stream the cameras since streaming at 360p only transmits 35 to 80 KB/s??? Interesting though, event recording and notifications seem to still work ok.

Questions:

  1. Is there a firmware update in the works that could correct the 2g connection issue?, or any other suggestions? and

  2. What practices and recommendations are there to help me to minimize burning through 6gb of cellular data in just 8 days? (as it stands now, I’m needing to wait 3 weeks for my billing period to end to go back to 4GLTE service, for which I hope could get me through a full month.)

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#roadmap Needs to be a roadmap topic. Solve the problem with connection issues with network bandwidth is limited to 128Kb/s (failures at 3/3 retrieving phase). At 360p at least, but I have a few competitor cameras now that function fine at this b/w at 1080p, but not the Wyze device at any setting.

I have this problem only when the camera is facing a glass window, and usually when it’s daytime. As soon as I move it a few inches away from the window or I place my fingers between the camera lens and the window, it connects.

Interesting. I wonder if it’s low-E glass with a metallic film. From here:

https://blog.plumewifi.com/five-things-in-your-home-that-are-killing-your-wifi-35a5cd296e7

Energy Efficient Windows

Windows coated with transparent metallic films such as Low-E (low emissivity) to help with energy consumption can kill your WiFi signal in a — similar way to mirrors. The metallic films reflect light and other waves, including WiFi signals, so, these are the typical double-pane windows that are awesome for the environment, are not so awesome for wireless signals.

Yes, they are newly installed energy efficient double paned windows. The problem usually exists on sunny days and goes away later in the day.

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Based on my experience of have many “smart plugs”, turning the “smart plug” off does not mean you can’t turn it back on. When you turn any attached device, the power is turned off at the switch so no current is passed through to the device, The switch itself is still on and can be controlled remotely. Once you turn it on, the switch simply allows the current to pass through the switch and power the device.

@Jordanpaul, The problem I’m describing here is that the attached device is the modem/router. Therefore, once the smart switch is turned off, the modem/router is de-powered. While the smart switch itself is still powered, it has no way to communicate with the outside world since the modem/router is down. Therefore, there’s no way to turn it back on remotely. This is the problem that the EZ Outlet solves.

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I am trying to set up 4 cameras in a woman’s home who has dementia. I have followed all of your instructions but cannot get the cameras set up. I am certainly tech savvy. Now I find there’s a 5-7 day wait for help. This is unacceptable “customer service”. If there’s a 5 day backlog to get some help, it seems to me your product has some serious issues. That you boast “our team is available…” and cite hours and days but really NO ONE IS HOME and there’s no one to call and I have to now wait 5-7 days to try to get these cameras working is really pathetic. I am not happy. Can anyone blame me? To go over this:

I have: removed the clear plastic cover from the camera, I am on a 2G network, I push the button to get the blinking yellow light flashing quickly and get the voice prom. I open the app. I go so far as to re-enter the correct Wi-Fi password and nothing happens. So yes, I am criticizing THE IDEA that ‘customer service’ means a FIVE DAY WAIT!