271–280 of 687 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And then the tv bricks when it can’t access the network for 10 days.
Is this true? The GUI on my smart TV is so slow and laggy, that I planned on getting a Roku and disconnecting it from my network. Makes me want to sniff the traffic and see what kind of replies it's getting. Maybe just spoof it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The latest Firestick software update is a great example of this. The new UI/UX aggressively de-prioritizes apps from content producers in favor of a "feed" that lets them push their own content and intermediate content producers from their customers. They even go as far as to deliberately hide your saved items/watch next items three levels deep in a menu.
Amazon is doing the right thing to ensure a healthy piracy ecosystem
Here in the UK I know that at least BT broadband modems set up a public Wifi, which is segregated from you own but uses you VDSL link for backhaul. It looks like this is the same thing.
Sadly not the same thing. This is using bandwidth from YOUR network. And besides, you can disable the BT 'sharing' capability. May not be so easy with an Echo in the house...
Ah yes, this is from the Echo so the traffic will go over your own Wifi.
BT also uses your bandwidth but it is the one over VDSL.
> The maximum bandwidth of a Sidewalk Bridge to the Sidewalk server is 80Kbps, which is about 1/40th of the bandwidth used to stream a typical high definition video. Today, when you share your Bridge’s connection with Sidewalk, total monthly data used by Sidewalk, per account, is capped at 500MB, which is equivalent to streaming about 10 minutes of high definition video. Seems this is not about guest hotspots or the…
That is cool. My upload is capped at 768kbps, and with overhead it seems to be around 600kbps. So, 13% of my upload bandwidth would be consumed. This is a bit disingenuous on their part, equivocating uploading with downloading. Does each Echo device consume 80kbps, or is that total? If I had 10 Echo devices, would my internet connection no longer function and become saturated?
After that, the flagship Unlimited 5G Verizon hotspot is limited to 600 kbps up or down. (Granted, 600 kbps would have been amazing in 1997 so it’s a good reminder of the mess we web devs have made of bandwidth.)
Presumably they’re figuring people with limited bandwidth don’t use Echo/Alexa? Because it doesn’t seem like they figure that from the materials.
* For anyone running a formerly wired household off a physical hotspot device, I suggest enabling (a) Mac Mini or Macbook to cache and reshare Apple updates to the household, or Windows Update Delivery Optimization, (b) turning off Windows, MacOS/iOS and Xbox updates and running the initial update downloads through a T-Mobile Magenta Max plan on family phones (each phone gets 50GB or 150GB per phone for $10 more), then use the cache or local Network Transfer to propogate to other devices. This keeps the physical hotspot dedicated to normal traffic, not slammed by unexpected OS, app, or game updates.
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/what-is-content-cac...
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-content-cach...
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-d...
All I can do is sigh, and hope for a brighter future.
The FAQ says you can disable it - If I disable Amazon Sidewalk, will my Sidewalk Bridges still work? Yes. All of your Sidewalk Bridges will continue to have their original functionality even if you decide to disable Amazon Sidewalk. However, disabling means missing out on Sidewalk’s connectivity and location related benefits. You also will no longer contribute your internet bandwidth to support community extended cov…
I'm using my neighbor's wifi (with his consent). It feels silly that every apartment in a building has its own wifi, I can receive at least 8 wifi networks from my laptop
There are very legitimate reasons for not sharing networks, eg: security, not having latency/throughput issues when others are using the network. And personally I would need a wired connection anyway, so having a wifi network built in to the network switch isn't really a big deal, since the fiber is to the apartment.
Two community-owned wifi connections are more reliable than one individually-owned cabled connection.
ISPs have lobbied for everyone to stop sharing their own connections by over-stating the risks (rather than mitigating them), enabling password protection by default, and allowing risk to the owner to be encoded in law.
And yet, ISPs are now taking some part of each connection for themselves. That's a problem.
We could instead share our connections in a community-owned way.
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But then give it a network.. just no public internet access :)
I tried that on my LG tv. The result was a 60 second timeout before I could use the tv when turning it on. I ended up figuring out how to factory reset it and then never set up the wifi. No firmware update, but I don’t care since I only want a dumb monitor.
Apple's version adds every iPhone to part of their network. It uses battery AND expensive mobile data even when the owner has no eligible devices, and that isn't considered controversial. But Amazon wants to use data on non-battery/non-pay per transfer lines and this is considered controversial (and an "abuse of their market position").
I'm not really defending Amazon here, but rather pointing out the huge difference in response to exactly the same kind of "hijack your device for our benefit" network. Why is one seemingly ok and the other not?
Is there anyway to opt out of this?