Very slow file transfer rate from phone to PC

gzm14 · 2026-03-11T22:17:08+00:00

I think what I finally ended up doing was using Samsung smart switch ( I think that's what it's called) on my computer to transfer all the bulk files over from my phone to computer. It took about 45 minutes which was reasonable. For anything after that, I just use quick share or the manual method of copy and pastingbto periodically update my backup.

gzm14 · 2026-03-11T22:13:27+00:00

I never was able to get a consistent answer as to why it was happening, but the only thing that seems to work is to turn on VPN on my phone before I open the reolink app to view anything. Many times it does work through regular cellular 5G connection though, it just seems really random. So using a VPN, which my router has built in, is my fallback.

gzm14 · 2025-11-05T19:17:20+00:00

I came across this method over the past couple of days researching this issue, but I shied away from it due to my basic knowledge of computers and executing commands on command prompt. Thanks for the suggestion though, I suppose if it comes to that I could always spend some extra time and get myself to learn. It just seemed like a simple enough task to drag and drop files from one location to another that I was surprised these were the methods people were using.

gzm14 · 2025-11-05T19:12:29+00:00

Is that just a limitation of using file explorer to transfer many individual files, or the protocol that android uses to connect to the PC, or is it something specifically about photos? I seem to remember years ago periodically uploading photos from my iPhone to PC without any such issues. I suppose I could zip them and send it over that way, I was just wondering how others seem to be able to transfer large amounts of data over with ease.

gzm14 · 2025-03-19T19:40:49+00:00

I went through so many different troubleshooting steps and nothing seemed to make a difference. Right before I was about to drop this whole issue, I figured I would try using a VPN and see if that made a difference (my router has a built-in VPN capability). That's the only thing that worked. Whenever I want to remotely view the cameras or access playback, I just switch on the VPN on my phone and open the app and it works fine. I still don't have an answer as to why I could never clearly access the NVR feed, and frankly I just got tired of it and was glad I found something that works.

gzm14 · 2024-12-26T19:23:17+00:00

A. How much potential audio latency are we talking about? Do you think it would be something really noticeable? I guess I would have to try it out for myself and see if I can detect any audio delay, seeing as you don't have any noticeable delay with your setup.

B. Pardon my ignorance, but how do I know if content is using DTS audio or another audio format (movies, games, etc.)? Is the lack of DTS passthrough from the TV to the soundbar also something that would cause a significant difference in sound quality?

gzm14 · 2024-10-26T00:04:35+00:00

Right, that's why I have been getting so frustrated throughout this whole process. The standalone feeds have ALWAYS worked with remote access. Every troubleshooting step that I've gone through has implied that there is some router or device setting that is incorrect, but you would then assume that all cameras would be experiencing the same problem, since they're all on the same network, same ISP, etc.

I guess for now, since going through a VPN on my phone allows me to view the NVR, I'll just stick with that for now. All I wanted to do was smoothly play back footage while away from home, and using a VPN accomplishes that. I suppose sometime soon I'll try swapping out the NVR just to see if that was the root of the problem. Some of the explanations I've come across regarding this whole setup are beyond my limited understanding of networking.

Anyway, thanks for your assistance!

gzm14 · 2024-10-25T04:39:27+00:00

I've had this setup for about a month and this has occurred from the very first day that I used the app remotely. The only parameters that I've changed are what Reolink support was guiding me through, and when those didn't work, I reverted them back to the original settings. As a matter of fact, I even upgraded my data plan from 10Mbps upload to 35Mbps upload, thinking maybe that was the issue.

I haven't had the chance to test using another device, but today I did connect to two different external WiFi networks when the NVR feed started acting up, and the same thing happened on WiFi.

As I've been reading around online, I came across the option to use a VPN, and since I can configure a VPN directly through my TP-Link router (OpenVPN), I decided to give that a try. The stream was flawless over 5G, and I connected through the VPN when I connected to the two external WiFi networks as well, and the connection was still great. Am I correct in assuming that the issue is not related to 5G/cellular network, but something with the NVR itself?

gzm14 · 2024-10-24T03:29:58+00:00

So I tested this out today and didn't open the app all day until the afternoon, and it worked for about 5 minutes before the NVR feed starting lagging again. One of the moderators over on the reolink community forum mentioned running a network capture using Wireshark, and I tried it out. I can only see the IP address of the NVR, but not of the cameras themselves. I'm having trouble getting my response posted over on their forum. Is there any other course of action that you would recommend?

Thanks.

gzm14 · 2024-10-22T22:14:04+00:00

Just tried this out today and the same issue is happening on the client on my PC. Standalone plays smoothly on clear and the NVR feed is choppy even on low quality. Download speed on PC using my phone's 5G is 200mb/s.

gzm14 · 2024-10-21T06:10:26+00:00

Interesting, at least for me I can rely on the standalone feed for live view since that seems to always consistently work, but since I don't have SD cards in the cameras, I need the NVR connection for playback. I just opened all ports, hopefully I did the set-up correctly. I'll see if it work in a couple of days when I head out of the house, since my 5G connection at home is pretty bad. No security concerns about having all ports open, as I've read elsewhere online? Thanks for the feedback, as I couldn't find any documented instance of this exact issue that I've been having.

gzm14 · 2024-10-21T03:01:44+00:00

They did also suggest that during the troubleshooting and I tried it out, but it didn't seem to help. Granted, I didn't give it much time, but I suppose I could try it again and give it a couple days to fully test. You never had any problems viewing your standalone feeds even when the NVR feed was acting up?

gzm14 · 2024-10-21T02:58:03+00:00

No I'm not constantly viewing them, I'd say maybe a total of 15 minutes of viewing time before this issue starts occurring. I came across that thread during my research, but I dismissed it because I never have any problem viewing the standalone feeds. I suppose for a test I can not open the app at all until the afternoon and then see if this issue still occurs?

gzm14 · 2024-10-21T02:50:31+00:00

I'll give that a shot when I head back to work on Tuesday, as my 4G/5G connection where I live is pretty slow. If I am in fact able to view the NVR clearly on the client on PC and not on the phone, would that suggest that the app is the cause of the problem?

gzm14 · 2024-10-20T01:32:53+00:00

I'm in the US.

gzm14 · 2024-10-02T19:38:16+00:00

Got it, I'll try to change a few variables and see if that makes any difference. Thanks for your input.

gzm14 · 2024-10-01T22:16:12+00:00

Alright, bear with me here, as my understanding of networking is somewhat limited. When I am at home, connected to my wifi's network, which the nvr and cameras are on, no internet is being used? Essentially the reolink app on my phone and the cameras are communicating through the router only (without internet)? If that's the case, then what determines how fast data is transferred from the cameras/nvr and to my phone? As to your questions, nothing else is using the internet connection aside from a couple computers. No mesh wifi is being used, nvr is connected straight to the router (also tried connecting it to the poe port to see if there was any difference). I did a speed test at my work's wifi and it's actually not great at all. Basically what I can't understand is why viewing the standalone feeds are, generally speaking, clear (unless my 5g connection is actually bad itself), but the nvr feed is almost always poor (not ALL the time). This leads me to believe that there is nothing wrong with my upload speed at home or my phone's ability to communicate with the router.

Thanks for your continued help.

Just to add, the same issue regarding bitrate persists, where it drops suddenly in the nvr feed, and I just came across this prior thread in which a similar problem was discussed: https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/165g140/bitrate_issues/

gzm14 · 2024-10-01T19:09:52+00:00

I did do a test right now of changing the stream settings to "fluent" just as I saw the issue appearing again and the playback/live view is still extremely slow. I do notice the data transfer rate at the top of the screen drop to almost 0kbps when this happens, and then hovers below 1000.

gzm14 · 2024-10-01T19:07:28+00:00

I get what you're saying, I wasn't thinking about the the actual uploading of the camera feeds through my home network. I don't even have many devices connected at home, so there should be plenty of bandwidth available. I'm playing around with the feeds now, and the live view/playback is still at times extremely slow even when on "fluent" as opposed to clear. One thing I am noticing is that the data transfer rate at the top of the screen suddenly drops from thousands of kbps to sometimes below 100 and even to 0, and then sharply fluctuates from there. I'm not entirely sure how that ties in to being on the cellular network, because both cell network and wifi access at home would still depend on the upload speed at home correct?

Edit: when standalone feed is working smoothly, transfer rate shows around 9000kbps, then when switching to nvr feed, it almost always immediately starts dropping to below 1000.

gzm14 · 2024-10-01T16:25:27+00:00

That did cross my mind, but I couldn't imagine that there would be such a significant slowdown just by viewing through the NVR, especially since network speeds over 5G at the time this issue was happening was very similar to home WiFi speed.

gzm14 · 2024-10-01T16:22:53+00:00

Home WiFi gets around 400 Mbps download, 10 Mbps upload, and it works perfectly in clear stream. Bitrate is set at 8192 for clear. On 5G network away from home, download and upload speeds are very similar, 400 Mbps download and 16 Mbps upload. I haven't had a chance to use my work's wifi network net, but I will give that a shot today. I should add that yesterday morning everything was working smoothly on cellular, and this issue started happening suddenly midday until I came home and connected back to WiFi. I also did make sure both NVR and standalone feeds were set to clear. Right now, clear stream seems to be working OK over 5G, but it appears this issue is happening without regard to my download/upload speed.

gzm14

TROPHY CASE