Well, let’s treat this as a test over a period of a couple days. We really need to gauge whether or not all issues are handled by monitoring the link quality, signal strength, supervision attempts, etc.
It’s my understanding that Skybell HD streams are still using Skybell infrastructure, not ADC, and that the service is simply integrated into the app. I’ll check to make sure that this is true of the slim line, but I don’t see it being different.
I can tell you that it looks like signal quality and signal strength are both now reading 100%. That is excellent and should not be an issue, but the 24 hour supervision attempts still show a low percentage of success. Let’s give it 24 hours of 100% Signal quality and see if that resolves the supervision errors. If it doesn’t, I’m inclined to believe the issue may indeed be in the Skybell or its firmware.
no small part of the appeal and usability of this doorbell is the ability to interact with the person at the door. If this is hit-or-miss because of the time for the stream to start, then what’s the point?
I’m with you, the issue you are seeing is a problem, but it is not the expected function. From our own tests, accessing the stream takes less time than receiving the notification. Ultimately within about 7-10 seconds of the button press we are seeing video.
It would stand to reason there are a finite number of simultaneous streams they can handle, thus needing to enqueue the stream requests awaiting availability.
I would not assume this to be an issue, but if supervision attempts come back in 24 hours as being 100% it may be more likely. If supervision still shows a lower success rate with a 100% quality connection, I think we are dealing with something else.
As long as the access point remains close by to ensure 100% signal and quality, that’s all that is needed. Once we have a confirmed 24 hours of 100% signal, the supervision statistics should tell us what we need.
Another interesting puzzle piece: Each time the doorbell has been rung, even though the video stream might start 15, 30, 45 seconds later and after 1-4 retry attempts, the whole video is available, saved and viewable, from around 15 seconds before the doorbell activation until the visitor leaves.
This would mean to me that the issue is creating the connection between ADC and the phone app. The video stream is clearly, and in a timely manner, getting to ADC’s servers from the skybell. Now before I rush to blame the cell network, the issue exists even when my phone is on wifi with a fast up/down connection, such as at home or at work (both locations provide download speeds that are over-the-top for these purposes). For whatever it’s worth, I’m at work right now, and can start a 1080p movie streamed from my QNAP NAS at home in my basement in a matter of seconds, every time, without any issue, via VLC, KODI, or Plex (of course, I don’t actually watch movies at work, but, I could). I even have no problem doing the same over the cell network (AT&T; I’m in Times Square, NY, NY).
Note that it may be a little early to tell, but so far the supervision success percentage has actually gone down, with the latest failed supervision being this morning. The last couple were successful. Keeping our eye on it through tomorrow, but it appears that there may be an issue to even just ping the Skybell.
Supervision attempts have actually dropped to 42% successful. This would strongly suggest an issue routing remote requests to the Skybell.
Something is amiss in the network or with the Skybell HD.
As networking is more likely the issue, the one place where I would question is between the router and the extender. 5Ghz network range is pretty short, and drops off very quickly as you near the edge of its range.
Have you been able to try to connect the Skybell HD directly to the 2.4ghz network of the R7000?
I’ll try that. And it’s not the SkyBell HD. It’s the SkyBell Slim
Yes, my apologies, I know this one is the Slim-line, the “HD” is a force of habit since there are other Skybell models not compatible with Alarm.com.
Ideally you would want a wifi access point hardwired to the router to test, so if you have an old router and ethernet cable that may be the best test.
If the Skybell Slim has poor connection to the primary router you’ll likely see similar issues, though since supervision success dropped I am thinking it might be due to excess distance between the router and extender when you moved it closer to the Skybell Slim, suggesting that may be the underlying issue.
If you connect to the router and we still see a higher supervision rate even with a lower signal strength, that would at least help confirm the issue is related to the extender.
Ok. I have disabled the extender, re-enabled 2.4 radio in the R7000 and the skybell is connected to it.
Also, I set the speed/mode of the 2.4 radio to max 54Mbps. The choices are 54, 299 (?) and 600
What to do now?
Your link quality and signal strength are far too low right now, but the supervision success is up considerably, so I do believe we are on the right track.
How far away is the EX7000? Do you have the EX7000 set with a unique SSID and key, on a separate 2.4ghz channel?
The extender is using a unique ssid and is the only 2.4 radio enabled in the house. The doorbell is the only device connected to it.
The extender is approximately 10 feet from the doorbell. The only way I can get any closer and remain hardwired is to make a long cat6 cable and run it across the floor since, like most people, I don’t have a network jack in my hallway. This, of course, is not a long term solution.
Is SkyBell requiring that houses be built around their doorbell?
Is SkyBell requiring that houses be built around their doorbell?
No, there is a problem. Two last things to verify:
Make sure the wifi is set to 20 MHz Channel Bandwidth.
Use WPA security protocol. If using a different protocol, please switch to WPA and give the connection a shot.
Networking issues can be a pain with video, but it shouldn’t typically be this tough. I would say it is pretty safe to request a replacement if the above do not help, but make sure to try those last two things.
The only option regarding band is ‘Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence (2.4GHZ)’; I went ahead and enabled that without a change. The security I’ve been using is WPA2-PSK (AES). The only choices in this extender are None, WPA2-PSK (AES), and WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]. WiFi Speed is currently set at ‘Up to 600 Mbps’ with other choices of ‘Up to 54’ and ‘Up to 289’
No, there is a problem. Two last things to verify: