Bandwidth throughput issue someone might care about

I just installed a 3rd v3 and noticed a problem. I have heard of similar problems that some have resolved, but here is some insight in case you haven’t been able to resolve it.

You all know the “throughput meter” that shows up on the camera you are viewing live, right? Where it shows the Kb/s (kilobits per second) of bandwidth being used. Normally you will see numbers constantly changing. E.g. 120Kb, 80Kb, 180Kb, 90Kb, etc. constantly changing. Well my 3rd camera, as I was watching it, would show a number; e.g. 120Kb/s, then ZERO (0), then another number like 94Kb/s and then ZERO (0), and so on. Every few times the camera would reconnect. Almost like it had a week wifi connection and was trying to reconnect.

The thing is, the WIFI signal was very strong. The WIFI Mesh node was probably only 20 feet away. The other 2 cameras seem to be working fine. I was thinking that I had a bad camera. Not a problem, lemons happen. I knew if I contacted Wyze, they would make it right. But I was getting tired trying to troubleshoot this camera behind the couch. (It was a window mount camera). So I took it down and set down in the dining room to experiment. When I plugged it in again in the dining room and monitored the live feed… IT WAS WORKING PERFECTLY??? I took it back to it’s window mount, repowered up, and got the inconsistent bandwidth throughput again.

I have come to the conclusion that my 2nd v3 was only about 7-10 feet away from the window mount 3rd camera. The 2nd one covers the actual area inside the house to monitor pets and any potential problems. It appears that the two of them, so close to each other, was have some interference.

I changed power outlets, even using an extension cord for testing. No change. Ran one off of regular AC with the provided power pack and the other on a USB battery bank. Do difference; the 3rd one still had inconsistent throughput. But when I physically moved them away from each other; 20+ feet, it worked fine.

This could just be a weak WIFI in the 3rd camera; it could be interference in that part of the house. (I doubt it being the cameras are the only things using 2.4ghz. All my other devices in the house, that are wifi, are using 5ghz and 6ghz. Even the microwave oven was off. So, at least in my situation, it seems that having 2 cameras too close to each other is an issue.

Of course, I could be wrong. But so far, I’ve eliminated everything else I can think of.

Anyway; maybe this will help someone with similar issues in their troubleshooting adventure.
Mike

FYI the bandwidth meter shows kiloBytes per second, so 8x higher than bits.

Properly functioning Wifi doesn’t cause interference with nearby devices on the same network (and even with the modern standards, can coexist with different networks too), so that is unlikely the reason. There is a small amount of interference but Wifi is designed to handle it. There are some rare circumstances where the distance is just right to cause signal reflections that cancel each other out but that is typically only with high power access points that use multiple antennas, doubt it would come into play here (and even with those antenna arrays, I’ve only seen it once or twice when someone totally botched it up). It is possible a bad radio is spitting out RF garbage, or something in the area (bluetooth device, cordless phone, etc) is interfering though. Windows can also present a bit of a challenge, if the antenna on the cam is outward facing (not sure where it actually is), it could be transmitting out the window and not able to get back in well. But given plenty are using them in windows, I’m guessing the antenna is on the back or top, and is most likely omnidirectional.

However a weaker signal will reduce throughput and performance your entire network. It could be as simple as that cam has a worse signal path back to the node, or as you say, it could have a weaker/defective radio in it. Or it could be that it was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and 3 cameras running on a 2.4ghz repeater (especially if a wireless repeater) is just too much.

Each cam will need 1-3 megabits depending on the complexity of what it is viewing, and a weak signal can easily put you down into the sub 10 megabit range for your whole 2.4ghz network.

I have two OGs stacked on top of each other, and another a few feet below them. All perform well.

I definitely agree with you Dave. The two v3’s next to each other shouldn’t have any affect on each other. I’ve never been a fan of Wifi as the primary means of passing data. Unfortunately with some items, like cameras, cell phones, tablets, etc. being tethered by wire isn’t very practical. Unfortunately, wireless creates some very mysterious situations at times. I’ve been working with RF most of my life and it still amazes me. Either way, I did resolve the issue by subtly moving the 2 cameras a couple of feet. The throughput is now stable on both of these cameras.I duplicated the issue by moving them back to their original position and the problem came back. So, for whatever reason when these 2 cameras are operating at a certain position, there was some sort of interference.

And that was the premise of my post. Whether something should or shouldn’t do something doesn’t mean it will or won’t. In the world of radio waves, there’s a lot of variables. Especially with 2.4ghz. Turn on your microwave, baby monitor, some bluetooth devices, cordless phones, etc. If people have issues, they need to think outside the box.

Absolutely, but the difference there is that is just blind interference on the 2.4ghz band, the wifi system isn’t able to “communicate” with it or avoid it. Whereas with clients and access points, they all negotiate and coexist. Some APs have incorporated bluetooth coexistance, it works to a certain extent, the basic doesn’t seem to have much impact, but pre-emptive helps a lot with BT devices that support it since it is a 2-way negotiation.

But yes, RF is a total PITA, especially if you don’t have spectrum analysis tools laying around, which obviously very few do. I still think it is more likely that something else was interfering with either the camera, or the path back to the AP, but who knows. I typically recommend to people who have wifi issues to reposition the router or the device and see if it helps, sounds like in your case moving the camera did (the reason why, not necessarily clear).

I’d be curious if you swap the position of the two cameras (at the problematic distance), does the issue follow the camera or stay in the same spot? If it is a bad wifi radio (or possibly disconnected internal antenna), the camera having the problem probably isn’t the one causing the problem. Though you’d think that camera that is spitting out RF noise would also be having connectivity issues.