Netgears Arlo, a premium brand in smart-home security, is often ranked alongside Amazons Ring and Googles Nest cameras in terms of reliability. Arlo cameras can be expensive, and the updated subscription tiers make it seem extremely unfriendly to anyone who does not want to pay a monthly charge.
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Arlo is reducing the amount of customer service access that you have if you don't pay for a subscription. You will need to pay at least $3 per month if you purchase Arlo cameras. Customers who do not want to subscribe to their cameras will be able to access customer service via community forums, virtual assistants, and manuals.
Customers who are new to Arlo can test customer support within the first 90 day of purchase. This includes priority agent routing as well as live chat support. Only the first year after purchase, live chat support will be available. After the first year, you will be disconnected unless you sign up.
StaceyonIoT flagged the pay for support tier. It described Arlos' move to charge all users for live support as a motivator and a carrot-and-stick strategy. Arlo will give priority to users who pay for accounts. If you don't want to spend more than $250 on an Arlo camera, you will be relegated automatically to help.
Arlos subscription plans don't allow for much flexibility. A base Arlo Secure subscription costs $3 per month for one camera, and $10 per month for unlimited cameras. This includes video cloud storage, 2K recording for 30 day and interactive alerts and priority assistance. For $15 per month, the Arlo Security Plus Tier is the most robust. It unlocks 24/7 emergency response as well as 4K video cloud storage.
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Arlos pricing structure is competitive with Googles Nest Aware plan. It offers two tiers: the basic Nest Aware subscription for security cameras, which gives you 30 days of event logs for all Nest security cameras, for $6 per month; and Nest Aware Plus for $12, which provides 60 day event history and 24/7 recording for 10 consecutive days. Nest Aware can be tested by Google for 30 days. Amazon's Ring Protect subscription pricing can be just as competitive. Basic video recording is included for just $2 per month, or unlimited devices for $10 per month. While you will get more features if your pay up, Amazon and Google do not require you to subscribe to just to talk to customer service over the phone.
Arlo's decision to make such an aggressive subscription push at a time when security cameras have become more competitive is strange. Eufy and TP-Link both offer affordable security cameras that don't require a subscription.
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The widespread delays in global manufacturing are most likely to be the reason Arlos strategy was developed. StaceyonIoT points out that hardware production is expensive. Subscriptions may help to offset some of these costs. It is unclear, however, if Arlos' reputation for being reliable security cameras will convince people to pay more for customer service.
We reached out Arlo for comments and will update when we hear back.
