I am having an issue with reliable connectivity with my new Duo Cam Doorbell. The live view, and really any access to the camera (SD Card, etc) isn’t working. I can only connect 1 time after a restart of the camera, or when I quickly go to live view after the doorbell is rung. Any longer than that and it hangs on “Step 2 of 3. Authenticating with the device”.
I’ve tried:
Restarting the doorbell via app (which I can only do when I CAN connect to it)
Pulling out the battery for a hard restart (I’m not hardwired)
Factory resetting
Changing from 5 to 2.4 network bands
Re trusting my iOS device
Confirmed I’m on the latest firmware and app version
I have several other Wyze cams and I don’t have this issue.
Anyone have any suggestions on what I should try next, or has anyone experienced something similar?
This sounds oddly similar to something a lot of Comcast Xfinity users were reporting earlier this year. Just out of curiosity, is your internet through Comcast Xfinity and are you using their XB7 Gateway? If so, that may be the issue and we can elaborate more about that. But the reason I doubt is that you are saying the rest of your cams don’t have the same issue.
Will you open your Duo Doorbell’s live stream page, open settings, select Device Info, then where it says Signal strength with the bars, tap on the bars so it shows a number instead and tell me what the negative number is that is listed there?
Are you using it on Battery, or is it wired to power?
I’m in Canada, so not on Comcast Xfinity. Currently reading -55, which I could certainly get even better, but I forced it to use an AP that was a little further away to force the 2.4 which I thought might be more stable. I’ve ruled out WiFi signal by bringing the device inside and testing right beside an AP and I can reproduce the same issue.
It’s almost like the doorbell is going to sleep or something. It does capture events though, so it’s functioning still even though I can’t connect.
I’m not hardwired, battery only. It’s been running for 3 days or so now, at 95%.
Oh Canada, What about Rogers Internet then? They had the same problem. They have a contract with Comcast Xfinity to copy and use everything from them including the same gateway and settings, protocols, etc.
I’m not concluding that’s the problem by any means. Just trying to rule out very common similarities.
What if you disconnect from Wi-Fi when you try to connect to it? Does it work better if you’re using mobile data than on the same network or is it the same either way?
That is interesting that it is uploading events okay, just not allowing the live stream. P2P connection itself. This is the issue we saw with Some Comcast/Rogers gateways allowing events but not live streams unless they rebooted the camera/gateway, then it would work for one or two connections and then stop again. It sounds exactly like what is happening to you. Which is why I am asking if you have Roger’s Internet or an xb7 gateway. Because it sounds almost identical to what others were reporting.
The strange thing here is that you report that most of your other cameras are working okay. Do you mind if I ask what models those are? The reason for me asking that, is because people reported that some model cameras would still work while others wouldn’t. So if the ones you have working are ones that don’t use tutk protocol, then we may have figured out what the issue is. But if the ones you have working are cameras that use tutk, then it will add to the mystery of why what is going on for you.
For what it’s worth, I do have a Duo cam doorbell and I’m not having the streaming problem. So I’m just trying to figure out what’s different to have you have this issue.
It is entirely possible that you just got a defective unit too or that there is some other bug we need to have wyze look into.
If it does, turn out to be the Rogers/xb7 gateway blocking issue then there are some potential workarounds for that.
No, it is not limited to the Duo Cam Doorbell (there are some others that do it too…I think the OG was the first model to start doing this), but unfortunately, it doesn’t work with all Wyze devices including both of the models you listed. I wonder if it is just the models with an OS of FreeRTOS instead of Linux-based. I haven’t really paid attention.
I wish they would update all of the cameras to do this though. The actual RSSI number is SOOOO much more useful than the 3 bars because there is no standardization in what the 3 bars mean. Everyone uses them differently. But for the RSSI number, anything under -70 dBm is usually a good signal, so I like to ask people what that number is if it’s easy to obtain. You can also see it on your router, but a lot of people don’t know how to access their router, so it’s nice when Wyze makes it accessible in the app.
I have the Duo. It’s sitting right here beside the router. I’m still testing its reliability before installing.
It’s offline at random times. There are times when I need to remove the battery to make it connect again. And there are times when I have to reboot the router. It’s the only camera now that’s giving me problems.
Totally agreed, I used to do that on my iPhones back in the day until Apple removed the option.
We should riot to have them implement it on all their cameras
Yeah I know, however I opted for a service vs, router, I have Eero 6 at both my locations and I love the simplicity of remote accessing them, but no customization
The workarounds I had in mind are related to the XB7 gateway, and they aren’t ideal. For example, people found if they switch the gateway to Bridge mode, then they can use a different router and everything would then work. Others were able to convince the ISP to give them a free upgraded Gateway model by letting them know the XB7 has a known incompatibility with some of their devices.
I’m not even confident that issue still exists. Wyze mentioned they were working on several ways to resolve this issue, and we haven’t heard anyone talking about it for a while now, so it’s quite possible it got resolved. Still, what you are describing sounds very similar, so I thought I would ask.
At this point I would consider contacting support. If they can’t resolve it, they might assume it’s a defective unit and send you a replacement. Then we’d have more answers depending on if the replacement resolves it or not.
