Haley Donahue
And having Kosciusko Connect do it, it was just a matter of meeting Jason at my house and him installing them and walking me through a few app settings, and that's about it. It was super simple.

Laura Seney
Welcome to Connected Conversations, the official podcast of Kosciusko Connect. Kosciusko Connect is a subsidiary of Kosciusko REMC. Since 2021, we have been providing fast, reliable fiber to the home internet service to rural portions of northern Indiana. On Connected Conversations, we talk about fiber internet, technology, community, and how to navigate the digital world in which we live. I am your host, Laura Seney. Thank you for connecting with us today.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Connected Conversations. Today we are going to hear firsthand a customer's experience with our Arlo security cameras, from purchase and installation to daily user experience.
Our guest is Haley Donahue, Customer Engagement Specialist with Kosciusko Connect. Hello, Haley. How are you today?

Haley Donahue
I'm good. How are you, Laura?

Laura Seney
Good. Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what your role is at Kosciusko Connect?

Haley Donahue
Sure. My role here at Kosciusko Connect is Customer Engagement Specialist. I do a range of things for Kosciusko Connect, ranging from social media to print material, and even some illustrations.

Laura Seney
Fun. What's something that you've illustrated recently?

Haley Donahue
Most recently I designed and illustrated a children's book for Kosciusko Connect, featuring the activity characters that we put out last year. So I'm excited for that to come out.

Laura Seney
How fun. I'm excited for that to come out too.
Can you tell us what prompted you to look into a home security system?

Haley Donahue
Well, truthfully, I am home by myself quite often. And I have two young children, so being able to see them, even if I'm inside, what they're doing outside or to see if a package is delivered, it's really helpful to know who is coming and going from my home.

Laura Seney
That makes sense. What specific challenges or concerns led you to consider an Arlo security camera specifically?

Haley Donahue
Specifically Arlo? I liked the night vision that Arlo has. It's way better quality than I've seen, even at my parent's ring camera system. And I just I really liked them. I had blink before, and it was really difficult to get everything connected in sync with the little homebase that blink has to the app. There's a lot of steps involved in that, and Arlo is just quick and easy. You set the cameras up, you link them to your app, and they're good to go.

Laura Seney
Nice. Did you consider any other brands before choosing Arlo, and were those like the deciding factors of why you chose Arlo?

Haley Donahue
Yeah. So like I said, I had blink and it was actually a nightmare. And plus they have different generations and then you have to upgrade. If you upgrade one, you have to get them all upgraded. With Arlo, it's just in your app. Even if you have an old gen, it's you can still use the app. And like, there's no home base, like, for blink. My parents have ring, and not that I don't like ring. It just seemed like Arlo was, especially through Connect, on the cheaper side. And there was qualities in Arlo that I just liked better.

Laura Seney
That's awesome. How long have you been using Arlo security cameras?

Haley Donahue
When did we install? About a month ago, I believe. So, about a month of using Arlo.

Laura Seney
And what has your first impression been as you have started using the system?

Haley Donahue
I'm really impressed with the system. I really enjoy, like, the, you can arm it when you're home. So even if you're home, you don't have to put it on standby. You can put arm and home, or if you're away, you can just select arm away. And those notifications still come to your phone. It was taking me a little bit to get used to because I was putting everything on standby and then wondering why it wasn't recording. But you have to select arm home or arm away. Usually I just have it listed. Arm arming and away, even if I am home. It just makes it easier that way. You can also set, like, time limits on those too. So I have those set times. And then there's little, what do they call like, zones? You can put little zones in there. So I live by a street and it's kind of a busy street, so I just block that street out so I don't get constant notifications if there's a car coming or car going. So that's really helpful too.

Laura Seney
That is really helpful that you can like set timers on it and stuff and basically just to automate it all. How is the installation and setup process was Kosciusko Connect?

Haley Donahue
Super easy. I will say the longest thing we waited on which still wasn't even that long, was the camera to update. So once it's on Wi-Fi, it's going to want to update. But other than that, it was super easy. Jason was in and out, probably within 30 minutes, maybe, max. And most of that was us just kind of talking because we are co workers.

Laura Seney
Yeah. That's awesome considering most security cameras, you buy them off the internet and you have to like, read the instruction manual, try to figure out how to install it yourself. Whereas with Kosciusko Connect, you can save a ton of time and just have an expert come out and install it and set it all up for you and walk you through it.

Haley Donahue
Yep.

Laura Seney
Can you describe your favorite feature of the Arlo security camera? And you've mentioned a few that you really like.

Haley Donahue
Yeah. Let me think of any new ones. Oh, I love that I can speak through my camera. So if the kids are outside and I catch them doing something, maybe they're not supposed to be doing or messing around with the trash can or whatever they might be doing, I can speak through the camera and tell them, like, hey, knock it off, or hey, how about you pick that up or whatever it is. I have talked to the cats. I have a lot of cats in the neighborhood and told them to shoo. So that's pretty fun too. Also scared the pizza guy.

Laura Seney
That leads into one of my other questions. Have you captured anything unexpected or funny on camera?

Haley Donahue
Yeah. So when we first installed, it was just before those negative temps. And I caught, it was either Jett or Raina, one of my kids fell in the sidewalk and I caught that on camera. So they were fine. Everything was fine. They just slipped on a little patch face and quickly got up and scurried to the car.

Laura Seney
But now you have it on recording so you can save that memory forever.

Haley Donahue
Absolutely! Be like, remember when you fell and tried to hide it? And I like I said, the cats are rampant in the neighborhood, so I've caught many cats and animals trying to find warm places and, and try to get in the trash can.

Laura Seney
That is a common use for Arlo I have heard recently of people using it to watch wildlife and neighborhood cats and stuff, and that is just a fun use of the cameras.

Haley Donahue
Yeah, why need Discovery Channel? You can just watch your Arlo camera.

Laura Seney
Exactly! How does the app or user interface improve your experience?

Haley Donahue
Arlo has made it super simple, in their app and their settings. There's nothing hidden. It's like basically 3 or 4 screens, that you flip through and you set everything that you want up, or if you want to change it, it's super easy to find, like what you're wanting to change. There's nothing hidden or labeled funny or no really techie. It's really kind of lack of better terms, dumbed down to us who don't know how to use cameras. They make these little tiles and you can set them however big you want, and you just click in it and you can see your recordings, your settings, all that stuff. It's like two, three, maybe four screens.

Laura Seney
That sounds super easy. Have you had any notable experiences where your Arlo camera made a significant impact in your life?

Haley Donahue
I would say not yet. But I can definitely see it having that that impact, especially like maybe when my kid starts getting on and off the bus, I can make sure that he's there, or if I'm ever working from home or anything like that, I'll be able to see without even having to get up out of my home office to know if a package was delivered or if DoorDash was delivered, because I'm sure I'll use that. So not yet, but I can see how it definitely will.

Laura Seney
How has having an Arlo camera changed your daily routine or sense of security?

Haley Donahue
Having Arlo, it's changed just my daily routine by, just knowing what's going on at home even if I'm not there. Which is obviously increased my sense of security. Being a single mom and having children in the home, I want to know what's going on when I'm not there. Especially if it's, you know, a time where eventually my kids might be home alone. It'll definitely feel better to know that I have eyes everywhere from our challenge. But I'll just be able to know, like, when? What's going on? Eventually I'll probably add another couple more cameras. Maybe one inside and one on the back side of the house, too. So I have a 360 view of everything in the home.

Laura Seney
Have you found a purpose for Arlo cameras beyond home security, like watching for packages and delivery?

Haley Donahue
Oh, yeah. For sure. That's probably the most I use it for right now. Just because my kids are so young, they don't stay home. So right now it's watching kitties and watching for deliveries, which deliveries, doesn't happen often, but they definitely do happen.

Laura Seney
Yeah. We all want to know exactly when our Amazon package is there so we can go out and get it.

Haley Donahue
Oh, yeah.

Laura Seney
Yeah. Has Arlo lived up to your expectations?

Haley Donahue
Absolutely. I didn't really have, like, high expectations. I kind of figured every camera system was going to behave like blink and be kind of a pain in the rear. But Arlo has definitely exceeded those expectations. It's so easy, especially when I'm not installing them and having Kosciusko Connect do it. It was just a matter of meeting Jason at my house and him installing them and walking me through a few app settings, and that's about it. And it was super simple.

Laura Seney
What advice would you give to someone in considering investing in an Arlo security camera system?

Haley Donahue
Definitely look into having someone else install them. Especially like through us where you get an internet and a security system package. That way your internet is covered. So, you know, these cameras are going to be able to connect to good Wi-Fi. They're going to have that two gigahertz band that they need. And having someone do it entirely for you. I can't imagine especially the time of year that I installed these cameras, being outside, drilling into my siding, getting everything set up, pairing them to my phone, waiting for that update. I can't imagine doing that on my own. I'm already strapped for time, so just having someone else do it was well worth the investment into the internet and Arlo package.

Laura Seney
Is there a particular set up or tip that you'd recommend to new users?

Haley Donahue
Yeah. Download the app probably, before you have your cameras installed. That way when the installer gets there, it's just a matter of opening the app. Maybe even open the app and set up a new account. That way when they're there to install the cameras, then you have half the work done already. Because then it's just a matter of scanning that barcode that's on the camera and pairing it, and then it's really simple. You start that update because they're going to want to update. And from there it's really cake.

Laura Seney
In one sentence, how would you describe your experience with the Arlo security cameras?

Haley Donahue
One sentence. It is made my life incredibly easy.

Laura Seney
That is awesome. We all want things that make our lives easier.

Haley Donahue
Like, does that make sense?

Laura Seney
And have you found the AI motion detection feature helpful as well?

Haley Donahue
Yeah. For sure. That's what picks up. Like if it's a pet or if it's a person or if it's a car, it's been super helpful because when the notifications come through, it doesn't just say motion detected, which I'm pretty sure, like other systems they do, they just says motion. But with Arlo, your notification says like pet detected or vehicle detected, or it even detects like the difference between a package being delivered and somebody actually at your door. So that's really helpful, especially when you're if you're busy like I am and you just need to glance at that notification, it's helpful to know that that notification is coming through very specific instead of broad. And then you have a slight panic attack because, oh, there's motion. Why is there motion? So it's nice to know that Arlo kind of has honed in on that, hectic lifestyle and just made it easy with the AI and coming up with these notifications to make it simple. And, and the information's there very quickly.

Laura Seney
That is very helpful as we all have a million notifications on our phones every day.

Haley Donahue
Yeah, yeah.

Laura Seney
We want to be able to look and get information quickly from them.

Haley Donahue
Yeah.

Laura Seney
Is there anything else you would like to share about your journey with Arlo so far?

Haley Donahue
It's just been really nice to know that my home is secure when I'm there and when I'm not there, and eventually, you know, it'll be even more of a need once my kids get older. Or they start having friends over that way. You know, I'm, I'm entrusted with other children as well that they're all protected in the home is just secured.

Laura Seney
That's awesome. Thank you for joining us today, Haley, and sharing your experience with Arlo. I hope you have a good rest of your day.

Haley Donahue
Thank you Laura. You too.

Laura Seney
If you would like to learn more about Arlo security cameras or have Arlo cameras installed by Kosciusko Connect, call (574) 269-0327 and our Kosciusko Connect team will be happy to assist you. You have been listening to Connected Conversations, the official podcast of Kosciusko Connect. From all of us at Kosciusko Connect, thank you for connecting with us today.