So, does the live video stream ALWAYS go out to the Wyze server and is served to the user from there, even in cases where the user’s monitoring device (iPad or phone) is on the same LAN subnet as the Wyze device generating the video stream?
The connection for the video stream is negotiated (via the Wyze servers) between the camera and the viewing device. If both are local, the stream should remain local. Only the initial connection goes through the servers.
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Then I don’t understand why I am getting so may disconnects and delays and video freezes for seconds to tens of seconds at a time.
The wifi should be rock-solid. Two of the devices are within direct line of sight of the wifi router and 15-20 feet away. A third device is about 5 feet off to one side, maybe 20 feet direct to router. All devices have maximum bars (three, I think… don’t have it right here in front of me) and two of them are one bar off of max (which also shouldn’t be except for one of them which is farther away than the others, maybe 30 feet).
Other devices that use the LAN’s wifi run flawlessly on the wifi, so there is nothing wrong with the wifi itself.
Everything is running the latest released firmware (the devices) and software (the Wyze app).
I’ve done all of the troubleshooting described in various posts on this forum.
It’s not fatal because I can usually re-establish connections from the app without cycling power to the devices (all of which are on Kasa smart plugs), but it’s really annoying and shouldn’t be happing anywhere near as often as it does if most of the stream traffic is local.
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I can’t help with the troubleshooting. Too many variables in everyone’s personal configurations: different routers, different phones, different cameras. Most times the problem is the wifi. Is your phone on the same wifi network with the cameras (not using cellular connection)?
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@WildBill is spot on:
And, it’s not the strength of the WiFi signal that is important, but the quality of that connection as managed by the router.
My last router was a top of the line Speedy Gonzales Gigabit Mesh spider with antaennas everywhere… But it was built for Streaming Internet Media and Gaming. That meant that all the router’s resources and data prioritization went to the 5GHz network and devices. I had to disable QOS and prioritize what devices I could just to get mediocre bandwith in the 2.4GHz IoT band.
It seems like many of the new mesh routers today do not like a P2P stream on the 2.4GHz band. They are built for performance on the higher bands that demand more resources.
I have 5 GHz disabled on my router. I have absolutely no need for it.
What do you suggest for a router that is known to work well streaming video at 2.4 GHz?
Honestly, I am going to come off sounding like a real Kool Aid drinking cult fanboy by telling you, and I kind of feel like this is just an unpaid ad. So please get some other opinions. I know some of the other experienced users and @Mavens & @Mods have had great experiences with other brands as well. I tagged them so they can share their experiences.
I was using a TP-Link mesh previously which couldn’t keep up with my exponential IoT device expansion from four different IoT ecosystems. Then I went with the Wyze Mesh Router Pro and currently employ a 3 node Mesh network.
All my stream integrity issues are gone. My load latency is minimal. While I do power cycle my cams nightly on smart plug schedules (legacy habit from the old router), I have zero offline issues now.
That being said, IMO, Advanced Router Users will be a bit beside themselves with the lack of depth in advanced configuration controls and reporting. I am still a bit frustrated with not being able to see or do what I could on my last router. But, in my personal network topology and application, what it lacks in UI it makes up for in network stability and coverage.
I recently installed a WiFi Chromecast on my TV and installed the Tiny Cam Pro App (IP Cam Viewer). I was live streaming 16 cams simultaneously on the TV for several hours in IR NV (lower FPS) without a single drop. In shorter sessions, 16 cams daytime and 23 cams nighttime were also surprisingly stable. I was amazed. It honestly felt like I was watching a CCTV feed.
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I wouldhave to search for all of my experiences as I had streaming issues with TPLink Decos in the past. All issues went away when I started to use the ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 Mesh System. My only issue with it was the upload speed would not go above 200 mbps. I then switched to the Wyze Mesh Router Pro’s and have had nothing but positive experiences. My upload and download speed are 700+ and streaming issues, like I had with the TPLink, are non existent.
As with @SlabSlayer , The Wyze Devices are one of the best router setups I have used. Other than the upload speeds, the ASUS was an exceptional MESH router setup as well.
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I’m probably stuck with the router I have (Netgear 4300) at least for the short and mid term. Turns out I did NOT have 5 GHz shut down; fixed that, and it made no difference.
I have 2xCam+Spotlight, Indoor/Outdoor Cam V3, and Cam-Pan-V3. The Cam-Pan-V3 has a “privacy” mode where the camera points down and is essentially shut off. I find that when that camera is in privacy mode, all is well with the other three. Bring it out of privacy mode and all four cameras begin to stall and disconnect.
I have two wifi networks, one on the Netgear 4300 and the other on my Internet cable modem / router provided by Comcast (also Netgear). Maybe I can move the Cam-Pan-V3 to the cable modem wifi.
Can we assume you have different SSIDs for the two wifi networks? If not, that’s definitely trouble. Even if separate SSIDs, depending on physical locations, the two networks could be interfering with each other. Wondering why you are running two wifi networks?
I think you have this covered, but if your phone is on one wifi network and the camera is on the other, the stream will go out over the internet and back. Only if the camera and viewing device are on the same local subnet will the stream stay local.
Yes, moving the Cam-Pan-V3 to the other wifi network could be something to try.
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Yes, that’s correct.
Up until yesterday I had one wifi on 192.168.x.x (private network). Yesterday I upgraded my Internet connection and got a cable modem that has built-in wifi on 10.1.x.x (also a private network). The 192.168.x.x router is on a Kasa smart plug that connects to the 10.1.x.x wifi. So, if the 192.168.x.x router crashes, which it does rarely but it has happened, I can access its smart plug through the other wifi and cycle its power.
At least, that’s the theory.
Note that these issues were present before yesterday so swapping the router and upgrading my service isn’t the problem.
Well, maybe not. The network topology is like this:
Internet → Cable Modem 10.1.x.x → Wifi router. 192.168.x.x
The 192,168,x,x router gets its feed from the 10.1.x.x router, so I can access the latter network from the former. I have a couple of computers on the 10.1.x.x network that I can ssh/ftp/etc. from the 192.168.x.x network. But maybe the stream still has to go out over the internet, hard to say right now.
I did that and so far it hasn’t had a great beneficial effect.
This is interesting, to me at least. 
I would work with one camera first. Connect it and your phone to the 10.1.x.x and see if you can connect to the camera and use it as normal. Then put your phone on LTE (Cell only) and see if you can still connect to the camera. If it seems to work, I would then move the camera to your 192.168.x.x device and then do the same test. Make sure your phone is connected to the 192.168.x.x network as well.
Note: You will not need to delete the device from your app, simply go through the setup again and the WiFi will be updated accordingly.
Then do the same test you did on when it was on the 10.1.x.x network.
My Suspicion is that the provider may leverage the 10.1.x.x network for something and you are receiving some form of conflict. I ran into this with my work in the past. I used the same network scheme as my office did, caused a lot of issues.
If possible you could change the 10.1.x.x to something different and see if that helps as well.
You may also want to make sure your 192.168.x.x is not being filtered or blocked and it has full permissions to get out to the internet and back in. Sort of like putting it on the DMZ.
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Do I really need a mesh router?
If I understand correctly the concept of a mesh network, and I’m not sure that I do, you have a bunch of mesh routers that combine to provide coverage over a wider area, correct?
So a “mesh” router won’t really do very much over a regular router unless I have two or more of them, right?
(a bit unclear on the concept…)
you don’t need a Mesh Setup. However, I am finding that more and more vendors and individuals seem to be migrating to them.
I personally have not experienced any issues with my Mesh Setup including using one SSID for all Channels being provided.
Well, it’s Comcast after all, and I’m sure 10.1.x.x is shared by a whole big bunch of Comcast subscribers in this area.
Up until yesterday my Internet speed was 25 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up. As of yesterday it’s 100 Mbps down and 20 Mpbs up, and a speed test showed 118 Mbps down and almost 30 Mbps up (it’s usually not quite that good). I gotta believe that is many times more than what is needed for any reasonable security camera installation.
The only thing that was blocked is IDENT. I put my 192 router into the 10’s DMZ and it didn’t make any difference.
Moving the Cam-Pan-V3 to the 10 network seems to have helped a little, as did moving my iPad (that I use for monitoring and configuration) to the 10 network. But, ultimately I’ll need all this stuff to work over the Internet to hundreds of miles away, so I don’t know how this is all going to work out.
I’m getting a bit of buyer’s remorse here… I haven’t totaled it up but my guess is I have most of a grand tied up in this stuff and that’s a lot of money for something that just isn’t working very well yet…
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Don’t get discouraged. Sounds like the issue may be how your second network is set up.
Have you looked into Bridge mode? I don’t use it, but it may function as you need it to. Assuming you can use Bridge mode on the second router
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Why don’t ‘they’ just allow access to the crazy-granular plug-in, utility, whatever that the mfr, engineers, devs use(d) developing the module for the production Wyze app? For those interested and able to use it?
It could save the configuration state of your current setup before you started fiddling, allowing you to try tweaking ‘risk-free’ and reset to previous config (or router default) when/if you make things not better or worse.
We should contact ‘them’ and make this happen. 
[If this is harebrained you need not be politic in any response. License granted to say so directly if you prefer.]
That doesn’t appear to be available on the Netgear 4300.
If I do have to buy another router, is there a compelling reason to buy the Pro rather than the non-Pro? The difference in price is not far from x2. I currently only have 4 cameras and it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever have more than 8-10 (far less likely if I don’t get these running better than they are).
Is the Wyze router a reasonable replacement for the Netgear 4300 (or Netgear routers in general)?
Not really. The main reason for me was the coverage and the USB port.