‎Doorbell camera doesn't work AGAIN | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
mb43's profile

58 Messages

Wednesday, November 11th, 2020 5:51 PM

Doorbell camera doesn't work AGAIN

My doorbell camera works occasionally and I'm getting very frustrated with it.

It has a strong WiFi signal, when it does work it shows that the signal and upload speeds are "good". -49 dBm and 5.59 mbps.

70% of the time when I try to connect to it I get "Camera Connection Dropped. Your camera is disconnected from the internet". If somebody comes onto the porch or rings the bell I'll get an alert (2 of them actually) but if I try to view the video I get the "No Video" message.

It is connected to a WiFi extender that is literally 6 feet away, there is nothing else connected to that SSID. I have 200 Mbps service, I get 224 Mbps down and 37 Mbps up.

I've replaced the transformer with a 16VAC/30VA version but it's made no difference.

This is the second doorbell I've tried, I had the same problems with the first one. Tech support suggested replacing it. They also suggested installing a WiFi extender - which I already have and told them about.

I don't know what else to do here. Does this product just suck? Any suggestions about how to make it work?

Captain

 • 

6.2K Messages

4 years ago

@MB43 my internet is 75 down, 19 up which is a fraction of yours and my 3 simplicams and doorbell cam work fine. I use Google WIFI (original) and was having issues when I first installed the doorbell occasionally. When SS updated the phone app that allowed for testing the connection speeds up and down, I found that it was below the minimum speeds required. Upon further investigation I found that the doorbell had connected to an access point on the other side of my house and not the one in the next room to the doorbell. No clue why that happened, but did the following:

1. Uninstalled the doorbell
2. Confirmed closest Google WIFI point was active
3. Reinstalled.

No issues since and I do check all of the camera connections once a week in the SS app and wifi points in the Google app (my choice) to make sure all is as it should be.

58 Messages

My Wifi network is "WIFI" (for example). The extended has a network called "WIFI_2GEXT".

ONLY the doorbell camera is connected to that network, and the extender is close enough that when I test it with Wifi Analyzer on my phone the graph shows the needle pinned all the way to the right. The signal for that network is super strong right there.

No other devices on the network have issues with connecting to anything, it's only this device.

I'll try uninstalling it and re-installing it but I've done that so many times I doubt it'll make a difference.

Captain

 • 

6.2K Messages

I don't think I would bother, as you already did it and it has only the one access point to connect to. I apologize that it appears what worked for me won't resolve your issue.

58 Messages

4 years ago

Oddly enough I've had no issues with the doorbell since installing the TP-Llink RE230 extender (the newer version of the RE220).

I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days but it looks like this may have fixed it.

58 Messages

4 years ago

The Simplisafe website lists the TP-Link RE220 as the recommended WiFi extender, I've ordered that and will replace the Netgear extender that I'm currently using and will see if that makes a difference.

https://simplisafe.com/wifi-extender

58 Messages

2 years ago

I found a solution to my issue.


I removed the Simplisafe doorbell, the WiFi extender and installed a Nest wired doorbell. It connected to my 5 GHz network, has not dropped a connection, has not reported any recordings have been lost and alerts immediately when there is activity. 

6 Messages

1 year ago

Super disappointed. My doorbell worked, but just wasn’t recording video. The live feed worked just fine. I ordered and installed the Wi-Fi extender from SimpliSafe. That didn’t work. I called tech support, and they had me reset the doorbell multiple times. They had me attempt reinstalling it, but we were not able to complete the reinstall. The yellow light flashes, I hear some clicking noises, the two red lights are on the lense, but I never get the flashing white light so that I can continue with the set up. Because it’s out of warranty, they want me to purchase a new one. Maybe it’s time to switch to a Ring or Nest. I hate doing that though because the rest of my security system is SimpliSafe. So frustrating, because before I called tech support it was connected and working, just wasn’t recording video. 😔

Community Admin

 • 

3.4K Messages

@nancyt​ I see that you contacted our Support team and they were able to help you get your Video Doorbell up and running. Are you still experiencing this issue? If you are, please let me know and we can troubleshoot further here.

New to the Community? Get started by reading our Welcome Article and please be sure to review our Community Guidelines before posting.