I'm Having A Lot of Drop-Outs; Sometimes, it's Alexa and Sometimes it's a Smart Device. What Now?

 

The more devices you add to a network, the more robust that network needs to be.  All routers have limits to the number of devices they can control. Combined modem/routers are often not robust enough to handle the demands of a Smart Home, as well as all of the PCs, phones, and tablets fighting for bandwidth.  This is especially true if you are still using the equipment your ISP provided you with five years ago.

 

Your router may randomly begin to drop devices when too many things try to connect at once.  And it will generally drop the one it senses is not actively using the connection. It may not pick those devices back up when other, more demanding devices cease their bandwidth hogging.  When you reboot the router, it now has bits and bytes for your smart Device again, and connectivity is restored. (This is way over-simplified, for purposes of this discussion.

Sometimes, upgrading your equipment can put an end to random device dropping.  If you have a combined router/modem, you can basically configure it to act as a modem only, and add a more robust router into the equation.  Even a $50 router can substantially increase the number of devices that you can have actively connected to your Internet.  

The more devices you connect, the more likely it is that your set-up has exceeded your ISP-issued box's capabilities.  Think how much longer it would take to drain a pound of spaghetti using a funnel than it would be using a colander. A funnel has a single pipe through which all that water must flow, while a colander has dozens.  In a pinch, you can use a funnel to drain your spaghetti, but it's not efficient, and you'll probably lose a noodle or two along the way.  A colander disperses the water much more efficiently. Likewise, a more robust router has more than one pipe through which data can flow, and it disperses the bits and bytes much more efficiently.  The many pipes help to ensure that data flows better and nothing clogs the pipes or gets lost in the process.

A Smart Home should be trouble-free more often than it is in need of troubleshooting.  If you are constantly needing to troubleshoot your Smart Devices, chances are there is an equipment issue somewhere.  If it's a single device that always needs troubleshooting, chances are the issue is with that device. But if the wonky device tends to vary on a day to day basis, your weak link is most likely your router.