Don't leave me, Alexaaaaaaaaaa!
March 23, 2021 8:24 AM Subscribe
Playing radio or TV stations on our Echo and Dots from either radio.com or tunein has become an exercise in frustration, starting about three months ago. It will play for a few minutes, then stop. It might resume in a few seconds or minutes, or it might not. This occurs at various times throughout the day, without warning, although the wifi to our computers is unaffected. I have officially run out of ideas for how to stop them from cutting out on us. Please help?
We have wifi from Xfinity, delivered through their standard modem/router combination (Arris TG1682G, in case it matters), that appears to be working fine. Our wifi plan is called Extreme Internet, with download speeds of at least 400Mbps. The modem/router is in the NE corner of the 2nd floor, with Dots in the SE and NW corners of the 2nd floor and an Echo in the SW corner of the 1st floor. They are all second generation units. (We tried replacing them with current generation units and it made no difference.)
You can assume we tried all the usual troubleshooting steps like rebooting everything and following all the instructions Xfinity offered. Although the modem/router is only ~2 years old, I'm willing to replace it either by insisting Xfinity switch it out for a new one or purchasing my own unit, if I could be sure that would fix the problem.
So what am I missing here?
We have wifi from Xfinity, delivered through their standard modem/router combination (Arris TG1682G, in case it matters), that appears to be working fine. Our wifi plan is called Extreme Internet, with download speeds of at least 400Mbps. The modem/router is in the NE corner of the 2nd floor, with Dots in the SE and NW corners of the 2nd floor and an Echo in the SW corner of the 1st floor. They are all second generation units. (We tried replacing them with current generation units and it made no difference.)
You can assume we tried all the usual troubleshooting steps like rebooting everything and following all the instructions Xfinity offered. Although the modem/router is only ~2 years old, I'm willing to replace it either by insisting Xfinity switch it out for a new one or purchasing my own unit, if I could be sure that would fix the problem.
So what am I missing here?
I have similar frustrations with my Google Homes and iHeartRadio vs TuneIn. Some radio stations cut out on iHeartRadio, and so I explicitly have to ask Google to play them on TuneIn. If you have a radio station available from multiple sources, maybe try asking Alexa to play them from the non-default source?
posted by cgg at 9:18 AM on March 23, 2021
posted by cgg at 9:18 AM on March 23, 2021
We had the same issue with our Google Home - a similar setup with a relatively modern wifi router and solid Xfinity service. But the radio and music feeds (variously TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and Spotify) would drop out randomly.
We upgraded our router to a Google Nest mesh wifi to improve connectivity in my home office in the far corner of the house, and it magically cured our radio/music problem. Now, it only drops if we turn the microwave on.
posted by writermcwriterson at 10:09 AM on March 23, 2021
We upgraded our router to a Google Nest mesh wifi to improve connectivity in my home office in the far corner of the house, and it magically cured our radio/music problem. Now, it only drops if we turn the microwave on.
posted by writermcwriterson at 10:09 AM on March 23, 2021
I have sporadic outages like this with my Alexa dot's using tunein. I always thought it was commercials not being aired.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 11:45 AM on March 23, 2021
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 11:45 AM on March 23, 2021
I had a similar prob with one ststion, WFMT. I contacted the station and they told me a trick that worked, something about Alexa skils, I think. Try talking to someone at a station you want.
posted by charlesminus at 6:12 PM on March 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by charlesminus at 6:12 PM on March 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by GuyZero at 9:12 AM on March 23, 2021