Amazon Sidewalk
11I opted out of Amazon Sidewalk because I’m paranoid. While I see it could have value under certain conditions, I’m not sure I want Alexa to have that much power – or more control than she already has. What say you?
"Amazon is launching its Wi-Fi sharing system, called Sidewalk, nationwide in the U.S. on June 8. That means if you own a Ring doorbell or Amazon Echo the company will share a small portion of your internet bandwidth with other devices nearby. It’s aimed at making sure Amazon’s devices are able to be online even if, say, your broadband goes down as well as allowing access to devices outside of the normal range of your Wi-Fi.
- 13 comments, 14 replies
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I don’t have the setting in my Alexa app…I guess maybe because I don’t have a ring doorbell and my full Echo isn’t activated at this time, only Dots. But I tried to opt out.
@djslack I don’t have a Ring doorbell either. I only have an old Amazon Tap and a new Dot (free from SiriusXM Radio). I found Sidewalk in the app by going to Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Sidewalk.
@heartny yep, that’s where I looked. I only have recognized voices, guest connect, voice purchasing, and workouts as choices there.
@djslack @heartny Same. No sidewalk option.
Hard pass. If Bezos wants wifi everywhere for his company’s devices, he can spend his money subsidizing community wifi and making it a utility, like streetlights or fire hydrants.
@mike808 Echo devices already use WiFi in your house. Sidewalk uses BLE 900 MHz to link enabled devices.
@mike808 Bezos is stepping down as CEO so not sure how much his opinions will matter in the future. He may focus more on Blue Origin. https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/26/tech/jeff-bezos-andy-jassy-amazon-ceo/index.html
I left it on for now. I’ll wait to see how badly it gets hacked before making a decision.
@2many2no Sounds like a terrible idea.
I have yet to purchase any type of smart speaker. I have also disabled all phone applications that listen/spy. I would absolutely disable “Sidewalk”. The technology is nice and convenient but I have no reason to use such devices.
@EvilTuna
Which ones are on your phone. I’m very phone stupid.
@EvilTuna I don’t have a cell phone or tracking watch either…ssshhhh…don’t tell anyone…
@Star2236 Alexa, Cortana (Old Windows Phones), Bixby (Samsung), the Book of Faces (of which I dont even have installed), and whatever Google apps that allow to to uninstall. I should just back to a dumb phone.
One channel on my current access point is named AmazonSurveillanceVan, and the other is Nyetwork. Does this tell you just how enthusiastic I’d be about letting Ring be poly with strange devices whose history we know nothing about?
@werehatrack
Oh… I like that! I may need to revisit my ‘guest’ wifi name! Maybe “Ransomware port 13” ?
Hmm I wonder how using a portion of your bandwidth will slow down your own internet if you have a low end plan or use your data allocation. At least when comcast uses your internet to have hot spots they own both and can take that into account. Be interesting to find out what the hidden costs are to people (beyond privacy, personal data collection with more access…).
Nope, nope, nopity, nope!
Don’t have an Alexa, echo or dot
Don’t use Siri
Nor Bixby, or Cortana etc.
but my Trackr pixel from meh… that I’ll ‘crowdsource’ the locator on…
@chienfou You will listen to Ivanova!
@chienfou Dito. Although my pixels all died and I have yet to replace the batteries. Because I just don’t care.
@EvilTuna
Use mine most to find my phone since i can generally find my keys…
I have a 1st Gen Echo which I like, so I ignore Amazon’s nagging about an “upgrade” Echo/Dot. Now I get it. None of my devices will support Sidewalk, so it isn’t listed on my Alexa apps. Now I have another good reason not to get a new Echo or invest in a Ring doorbell. Or buy Sidewalk-enabled trackers, since Amazon says you can’t use the Sidewalk system if you opt-out of it on the app.
@rockblossom Mine is a generation 2 and they say that is not compatible (only 3 and above) with the amazon sidewalk so no problem here.
I’ve had an echo or dot sitting in the original box for about a year. As you can tell I’m in a real rush to set it up lol
Just no.
Of course there will never be any bugs or security breaches.
The reporting, and even Amazon’s press release, have been horrible about this.
Nobody gets Internet access from Sidewalk. It’s a separate network for IoT devices. It uses the Internet for communication between gateways (Echoes) and servers, but end point devices use Bluetooth or 900MHz radio, and all they can do is pass a little data amongst themselves.
Nobody will connect to anyone else’s wifi network. Devices will connect to gateways via Bluetooth or 900 MHz radio.
Bandwidth usage by gateways is capped at 80 Kbps. It’s going to be short little messages, like “your keys are here” or “someone just opened your window”, not YouTube videos (also because it doesn’t provide access to the Internet).
It’s basically LoRaWAN, except Amazon is going it, which has caused a little friction at the org.
It is not about Internet access; it’s about increased connectivity among IoT devices.
i’ve thrown caution to the
winewind and installed a bagful of echo’s around the house.i feel lost when i visit a home where i can’t ask alexa what time it is.
my smart kids say i’m stupid.
no connection intended amongst the above…
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/youtube no connection amongst the intended