So, what I’m getting from the responses is that:
1 - The video stream goes directly from the cameras to my iPhone and is not routed through WYZE’s servers, so it’s not a congestion or bandwidth issue on their end, it’s some kind of issue on my end.
2 - Others seem to have noticed a downtick in reliability, though some others seem happy even with multiple cameras, including a mix of V1, V2 and V3 cameras.
That leaves the potential problem points to be:
1 - Internet Bandwidth on my end
or
2 - WiFi congestion on my end
or
3 - possible degradation in reliability in the camera firmware updates
or
4 - possible degradation in reliability in the software updates.
or
5 - possible degradation of my phone hardware.
#5 - To answer #5 first, I am always using the latest iPhone with the latest versions of operating system and Wyze’s software, and my iPhones have been getting more powerful over the years. I always go for the Pro Max versions… the most powerful phone Apple makes. So I think it’s unlikely my phone hardware has been getting worse.
#1 - As for bandwidth, my bandwidth at the office used to be HALF the bandwidth it is now when I first started with Wyze and I had perfect reliability in the beginning with 6 cameras there. Was 20Mbps up/300Mbps down is now 40Mbps up/ 650Mbps down. My bandwidth at the house is 1GB up and 1GB down. No change there… and it’s a true 1GB (~970Mbps) each way.
#2 - WiFi congestion. I would think WiFi congestion could be an issue because my studio does have a lot of people in it at times, up to around 15, so I was thinking that that was a possibility, but then I get similar performance when trying to look at my home cameras, and we never have more than 5 or 6 people in the home and when I am looking it’s more like 2 people. It’s a free-standing house, so there would be no interference from neighbors. Plus I never seemed to have WiFi congestion even at the office with lots of people at the beginning when I first set the cameras up.
So that leaves #3 and #4 - These two possibilities are why I wrote the question in this forum in the first place. I thought perhaps it was a congestion issue on Wyze’s servers, but I was informed that the video streams do not go through Wyze’s servers, Wyze’s servers are only used to direct the cameras where the video should go or where it is located. (Perhaps there could be some potential congestion if the Wyze app pings the Wyze servers every single time it accesses the cameras, but that is probably not the case).
Which leaves me to believe that perhaps there is another kind of congestion going on here and that is that the WyzeCam developers are getting overloaded with all the new products that Wyze is bringing out and they are not able to spend as much quality time improving the Camera firmware and phone software as they used to be able to spend and it’s possible that the quality of the software is getting worse over time. Perhaps the software is becoming bloated, meaning, too may features are being added and it’s affecting the performance of the software on the whole.
This is not a BS possibility as many big companies experienced similar things when they grew rapidly as well, for example, Microsoft Word became so bloated at one point, it almost became unusable.
I think that’s what we’re experiencing here, either bloat or camera neglect due to so many new items being introduced. I have some of the best Internet connections you can get (my office connection costs $200/mo and my home connection of 1GB up and 1GB down is only $40/mo, but it’s consistent.) I have one of the most expensive phones on the market. And my wifi connections at work and at home are WiFi 6 running into gigabit ethernet, where I can test for wifi congestion.
I used to be able to whip my phone out and show friends how seamless Wyze was in watching video, to see how your kids are doing in bed, to see what’s going on at the office, to show how I can go back in time and see video from yesterday and all of this for just $25 a camera! I sold so many cameras over the years.
I have not been able to do that lately, because it just freezes on me more times than not, and I quickly lose the interest of my friends when that happens resulting in no additional sales for Wyze.
So that is my summary of the situation. Take it for what it’s worth… (probably nothing, but it’s my perception of what is going on.)