IoT: Security Cameras

Just a few years ago, if you wanted security cameras for your home, you had to buy a separate surveillance system, with its own recording device, similar to a DVR, wire your house for the cameras, and then set it to record.  These days, you can buy a single camera, or multiple cameras, possibly a base station, and use your existing internet connection for 24x7 surveillance, near real-time alerts, and cloud-based storage.

I already subscribe to a third party security company with their own alarm and door sensors.  So to complement that, I purchased a Foscam FI9821W from Groupon a few years ago.  Admittedly, the setup wasn't very intuitive.  However, for $70 dollars, it allowed me to see inside my house while I am away.  It had night vision, and with an SD card, can record the video.  For a monthly fee, it can also store video on the cloud.

Netgear's Arlo camera series have been getting a lot of good reviews lately, so I decided to try an Arlo Q to add to network, and maybe monitor my garage.  The Arlo Q is a single camera that you connect directly via Wi-Fi to your router.  At $150, it is more than twice the price of the Foscam.  So what do you get for $150?

• It comes in a really nice package.
• Setup is a breeze.  It took me all of 5 minutes to get it up and running.  With the Foscam, you had to fiddle with your router to put a static IP address on your camera, and then open up a port to allow access from the internet.
• Basic cloud storage is free.  You just need to give your credit card.  (This part, I don't like as much.  If it's free, why do you need my credit card?)

I did have some issues initially, which I now discover is its limitation.  Because the garage is the farthest point from my Wi-Fi router, the Arlo can't broadcast live to the app.  It works for a while, but overnight, I am no longer able to see a live feed.  It can still alert you that there is motion or audio detected, but you won't be able to see it.  This issue has been discussed in the Arlo section of the Netgear Community.

This was a big issue for me, as the whole point was to get the motion and audio detection notification from the garage.  I suppose I could buy a range extender, but my computers and tablets work fine in the same location.  I switched the Foscam to the garage, and so far have found no issues.  The Foscam does have an external antenna which I suppose helps.  The problem is that it doesn't have motion detection alerts.

The other solution I found in the community was to buy the whole kit which had a base station.  They said the base station broadcasts the signal 10% stronger than the router.  I'm not sure I will spend much more for such a system, since I only need one camera, and the base kit comes with 4 cameras.

In the end, I did find that my device had a factory defect.  Amazon replaced it free of charge, and now the new device connects correctly and consistently to my router even if it is in the garage.

We are in the early innings of the truly smart and connected home.  A camera is just one piece of a complete smart security solution.  I recommend buying one to complement your existing security system, but I would wait until the technology and integration matures so that you have one system that connects your door locks, window sensors, garage door openers, and cameras together into one single security system, that then integrates into your smart home controller, which could be Alexa or Google.