Hello, my first dabble with Wyze and I already experiencing difficulties.
Let me try and explain.
We have quite a big property and to have our Wi-Fi reach every corner we have a setup with 3 routers, One is directly connected to our modem, the other two are used to extend the network. The routers are Apple Airport Extremes. I realize they they are getting older and Apple no longer makes them but they have been working fine and I prefer not to swap them out just yet.
Last Friday I installed a Wyze Cam V2 in our main hallway to try these cams out. We mainly use it to monitor the hallway and front door.
Installation went fine, so did the setup. I was quite surprised that everything worked out of the box.
During the weekend we started experiencing random disconnects. I suspected that my wifi setup was the culprit and after some reading I disabled the 5Ghz network, only leaving the 2.4Ghz operational. This sped up the connection to the cam for some reason.
Yesterday I started getting more problems with my wifi. I randomly could not connect to the internet anymore with other devices and only a hard reboot of both my modem and all routers solved it temporarily.
I checked my wiring, modem etc… and everything seems fine so I suspect my Wifi is acting up again.
So I powered down the cam for a while and the problem seems to have disappeared.
Now my question: Could it be that the camera is transmitting so much data that my wifi setup is unable to handle it?
I have to add that I had the cam set to HD. At this moment I am testing it in Standard Definition to see if this makes a difference. So far so good, but I am not convinced yet.
One hour after my post I experienced another disconnect. Camera is not found and Internet connection is lost. After waiting for a few minutes the connection is restored, I guess switching to SD didn’t do the trick.
I am going to say this. The cameras are probably not the reason for the instability here. Connect a laptop to the same connection and see if that has issues too. If so its definitely not the camera. I would upgrade to a mesh system anyways that doesnt rely on a single router then extended and extended again. The latency is mind blowing through all of that. Also I would stay away from Apple’s ecosystem personally as their stuff is pretty much useless every couple of years from their lack of updates and the need to sell you more afterwards. I have a newer netgear router that I love but I still wish I could go to the google wifi. Ive heard there are some issues with that though too. So a little more research for me is needed. But test a couple of other devices connected to the same access point. Give it a different name to make sure even.
Caveat - I have never owned or used an airport extreme, so my comments are of the “general principles” variety. I do have a lot of iOS devices however.
I seriously doubt it - it should be only uploading the 12 sec event clips to the cloud. How many of those are you getting per hour? Surely not enough from one cam to crash a network?
Do you have a lot of other constant traffic on the network? Do you have an easy way to monitor how much traffic you are getting?
Are you setting up a steady stream to watch the cam constantly on a device? A device in another location maybe?
What is your modem connected to? Cable, FiOS, DSL, Satellite? Is it generally solid? I only ask because sometimes “big property” is code for “living in the boonies” where internet connections are sometimes marginal. (this is me)
Is the cam connected to the airport closest to the modem, or further down the line? Are the airports connected in a line 1-2-3 or are two of them connected to the main one?
Maybe leave the Wyze cam off for a day or two and see it things return to normal?
@ Urbnized
The instability is through the whole network. So all connected devices experience problems.
I am not going into the whole Apple is evil discussion but I can say this. Their products have been serving me well for at least 20 years. And the same can be said of Google etc…
The routers I have now are old (I would say at least 8 years) and might need to be replaced, not that I am looking forward to spending the money. If I were to upgrade to a mesh system, what would you recommend? I have been looking in to this in the past and was eyeing a Linksys Velop Tri-Band AC6600. Would that be a good option?
@ sodcam There is a steady stream of traffic (spotify, laptops, phones etc… ) but the only constant change in traffic was the addition of the camera. We do have guests that stay here and connect, until now without problems.
And yes, we would like to watch the cam for longer periods f time. Usually when we have guests. I own a Country Inn: HERE The property is quite large as you can see and it is somewhat remote but we are lucky to be situated next to the building that provides the internet service (Bell). Our internet connection has been solid for years and probably the fastest in town.
The modem is connected to DSL. The cam is (usually) connected to the router closest to the modem. I say usually because when I experience a disconnect the routers restart, everything that is connected to the wifi then starts randomly reconnecting.
And yes, I will leave the cam off for a day and see if this improves the situation. I did this forhalf a day and it seemed to solve it. But then I start using the cam again in SD to see if that would work too. Then the problems started again. Coincidence? I’m at a loss.
You disabled your 5 Ghz network! Of course that might have an adverse effect on your connectivity for those other devices that were trying to use it. (Wyzes only speak 2.4 Ghz.)
Does your 2.4 network use the same SSID as the 5 Ghz band? That can cause confusion. Are your other routers connecting to the main DSL router via LAN cabling or by some kind of wireless bridging / extension?
Agreed it is unlikely the camera’s fault, though it’s possible if its radio is going nuts.
Sorry for not explaining clearly. I am slightly out of my dept here lol.
The disabling of the 5Ghz is had no adverse effect on other devices. It was not being used. I disabled it in an effort to see if it had a positive effect on the camera connection and for some reason it did…
All devices in my network use 2.4Ghz, the routers are setup to offer a standard 2.4Ghz we use. The Wyze cam is connected to it and so are our laptops, desktops, a media server, printer, backup drives etc…
I have a separate guest network (also 2.4Ghz I presume) that our guests are using.
The other routers are wirelessly connected to the main router. The main router is cable connected to the modem. The picture shows what this looks like. The Wyze is connected to router AE001
Okay, since this thread was going flat I decided to randomly replace stuff lol.
I bought a new router system, a Ubiquiti Amplifi HD, the Gamer Edition to be exact. FYI I am not a gamer/Apple fanboy. The reviews were good, it was available and on sale and I like the aesthetics.
The installation was easy. It improved my Wi-fi drastically. And most important of all, I have no issues anymore with my Wyze cam.
