We have had the Ultraloq Smart Lock U-Bolt for about a year and it’s been working about 80% of the time. The other 20% is disconnected and there is no way we can access it via the Bridge.
The U-Bold is used for Airbnb so we can change the code remotely and we thought buying this product would make it easy for our guests. Still, I was not impressed finding out that about once or twice a month that I would have to go to the Airbnb (which is an hour away) to just disconnect the bridge, wait 5 minutes, and connect it back.
I’ve worked with support and they just keep pushing updates without a fix, I ask if it’s possible to restart the bridge remotely and they said it’s a security issue and they would not be able to do that. You’d think it would be about the same risk as pushing an update remotely into a device connected throughout network.
I’ve restarted the router/modem remotely but no luck.
If anyone is experiencing this issue, what helped? Open to anything at this point.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you need anything else!
Best Regards,
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I’m going to look into port forwarding and see if that helps. The wifi network is split into 2.4 and 5.0Ghz so I don’t know what else to do from here.
My bridges are connected but I have intermittent and regular issues with remote connectivity. It’s very frustrating. I’m considering buying another product. Our Airbnb apartments are in another state so I can’t just pop over to add codes
The U-tec bridge is a horrible design. See the Amazon reviews for more feedback. In my case, I had to locate the bridge within three feet of the floor, and place a Ubiquiti access point within five feet of the bridge to fix this very problem. Good luck. You will need it.
If you have somewhere else that’s less critical that could benefit from the Ubolt you have (like your normal home or a back/side door rather than your AirBnb rental’s main door), I’d suggest moving it there and replacing the one at the rental with a Ubolt Wifi model that doesn’t need the bridge. Having used both, I found similar issues with the bridge and the original Ubolt but I’ve had the Ubolt Wifi Pro for well over a year now and the connection has been 100% reliable. They have the equivalent Ubolt Wifi (not Pro, which essentially just means no fingerprint access) which costs a little less than the Pro model, but also has the new door sensor. The door sensor is really helpful if you set it up to autolock when it’s closed or even to just monitor if the door is open or closed remotely. I know most people don’t want to hear “buy something else instead” especially from the same company, but the Ubolt Wifi models are easily the most fully featured smart deadbolts out there for the price, and they are much improved from the original ubolt models especially since you don’t need the bridge. Don’t get your hopes too high on them fixing the bridge connection, those have been trouble for a long time now.
Thank you Travis2, it’s caused so much headache and I want to support this company so I continue to work with the support team. I have had the bridge replaced but the problem still exist and it looks like it does so with others. I will consider the u-blt wifi pro as you mentioned. Does it virtually work the same with but just without the bridge?
Yes the install of the lock in the door is the same, but there is a small door sensor (which is basically just a small strong magnet) that you stick onto the frame inside. The app is the same too. No bridge and the wifi connections have worked very well for me. The two ubolt pro Wi-Fis that I have are both about 20-25 feet from my wifi access point and I’ve never had an issue with connection. Occasionally there’s a bit of a lag but on a retry connection it always works. We’re talking like 10 seconds worst case here.
I’m in Canada and it looks like I have to order it from the company site from USA.
What is the purpose of this small door sensor? To indicate of the door is physically closed or open?
Hearing your story makes me want to just get the product and bring the old device to my home. I’m going to play around with some port forwarding and static IPs with separated wifis and see if that helps, otherwise I’ll just buy the Wifi edition. Thank you so much for your help Travis2.
Yup, the door sensor lets the lock know if the door is closed or not, and you can see from the app whether the door is open or not too. I like to use it to autolock my deadbolt as soon as it’s shut, rather than using a timer for that. Then I never forget to lock my door, but it also doesn’t throw the bolt while the door is still open. You can also have it lock the deadbolt after the door has been closed for a certain amount of time if you want. The autolock probably isn’t that useful for a rental as it will confuse your renters, but knowing that the door is closed and locked for sure could be useful from an hour away.
What is the server status on the app for your bridge? Mine just say error and the bridge never worked. Support sent me a new one but still the same issue for me. All connection is good but server status is always in error.
but the bridge already sticks out far enough, to add a smart plug is an extra 1.5 inch LOL. but I might have to.