Nest cam and doorbell live view unavailable in home app

[Ebotterill]

After many many hours of messing around, I am making some progress on this issue. I’m not totally fixed but after making some changes to multicast settings on my router ASUS BQ16 Pro) the video on the app comes up 90% of the time. Better than the 30% of the time before these changes. 

 check out the igmp snooping and multicast settings specifically. These may not be the same on your router but may give you some clues where to look.  Let me know if you can improve on these… 

[Ebotterill · Accepted solution]

Don’t expect any help from Google support. After chatting to first and second line support, it was sent to engineering. 

Their ‘considered’ response being “After thoroughly investigating the issue, we've found that the inability to access live feeds across multiple devices is most likely related to a network connectivity problem.

We recommend checking your internet connection or contacting your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for immediate assistance”

Before buying these devices, make sure you have access to an experienced network guru. Otherwise you may be disappointed. At least the settings above for me are improving the situation. Further analysis of multicast settings may improve this further. Don’t fall for the “restart, reset or move closer to your router” nonsense that seems to pervade these forums. 

[Ebotterill · Accepted solution]

Don’t expect any help from Google support. After chatting to first and second line support, it was sent to engineering. 

Their ‘considered’ response being “After thoroughly investigating the issue, we've found that the inability to access live feeds across multiple devices is most likely related to a network connectivity problem.

We recommend checking your internet connection or contacting your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for immediate assistance”

Before buying these devices, make sure you have access to an experienced network guru. Otherwise you may be disappointed. At least the settings above for me are improving the situation. Further analysis of multicast settings may improve this further. Don’t fall for the “restart, reset or move closer to your router” nonsense that seems to pervade these forums. 

[DeboraJ]

Hi @Ebotterill,

Thank you for reaching out to the community! I understand that you are experiencing some inconveniences trying to access the live feeds across multiple devices within your Google Home app. I'm sorry to hear that you have been facing this situation, but please don’t worry, let me handle this for you.

I also understand that you have already contacted us via phone and our phone support provided you with a resolution that did not meet your satisfaction. Let me check what else I can do for you.

• First, if you have a case ID from your previous contact, could you please provide it?
• What types of cameras and doorbells do you have?
• How many cameras and doorbells do you have in total?
• Who is your internet service provider (ISP)?

Once you provide this information, I will be happy to assist you.

Best regards,

Debora

[Ebotterill]

Hi Debora, what we really need from Google are technical white papers that articulate how devices communicate to help us troubleshoot performance ourselves. For example I read on one of the community threads that the cameras use multicast. Making changes to such settings on  my router made a dramatic improvement in live video streaming. That is why I posted the image above with my router settings to give others some clues where to look for answers. 

Such technical papers could also perhaps help us understand why occasionally devices appear offline in the Google home app while simultaneously appearing online in the device manufacturer’s app (eg Kasa). 

OR why does a speaker group in the home app disappear, then reappear, then reappear… is this a communication issue?

I don’t think you will ever be able to solve all these types of questions given the variability of devices and networks. We need more technical materials that help us troubleshooting ourselves. 
Example:- why are you asking who my ISP is? My ISP provides fibre to the door with 200mbps up/down. But I use my own router/mesh…the ISP would likely be unable to help here. 

case number is 2-1187000038702

cheers

[Ebotterill]

Any news Debora?

one of the cameras went offline again last night for no apparent reason…

Servicing these cameras is taking more effort than the value of the service they provide IMHO. 

[Ebotterill · Accepted solution]

Debora. Your silence is deafening. 
Admit it you are not going to provide any help or technical support here. It’s up to the community to self help, correct?

That is what I see from the other similar threads, support people checking in to see if the issue still exists or if the users have given up hope… and so the thread is closed without resolution. 

[Jeremyhall2727]

When you use your Google home app; the cameras say can't connect? Or do it say offline 

[Ebotterill]

Hi. Before I made the changes to the wifi settings above I (like many other similar posts to the community) would not be able to get a solid, stable live view - consistently getting “live view unavailable “ or “offline” messages. 

I read many similar threads where the recommendations were, “ reboot your router” or “ reset the camera” or “ restart the camera” - basically no more than have you tried switching it off and on again aka useless. 

I made some changes per the image above and it made the stream more stable. So I was looking for technical documentation of white papers to assist the other uses having similar issues to ‘self help’. 

The lack of support/info from Google is telling…

[Jeremyhall2727]

• Sadly,  I hight doubt any of us will see the white papers. At least you got the stream more stable. It is a bit off putting, the replies. I think a lot of the replies are copy and paste 

[Ebotterill]

I was just looking for someone to say, yes you did the right thing and that is as good as it will get, or, have you thought about X or y… having worked for a software company “trial and error” does not appear to be a solid support strategy. I had higher hopes for Google. I was mistaken.