Echo Dot alternatives with RJ45 Ethernet port?

[msy88]

I'd like to add an Echo Dot-type device (Alexa-based, so it can be integrated with our Echo in the living room) to our master bedroom. I love the Echo Dot form factor because it can be mounted flush into the ceiling. But my bedroom is kind of a Wifi-free/weak zone. By design actually. I don't like the idea of being bombarded with strong 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz signals all night, every night. It just doesn't seem reasonable to me (I know this could make for a whole different kind of discussion, but let's just say that's not the way I'd like to go).  Therefore every networked device near our bedroom (I'm not living in the stone ages, so we DO have a Roku in the bedroom and a Smart TV in our master bath) is hardwired with Ethernet cables. I'd like to find an Alexa device with a similar form factor as the Echo Dot, but that does come with an RJ45 Ethernet port. Does anyone know if that exists? And no, I'm not interested in a cute robot or a nightstand radio or another Bluetooth speaker - I'd like it to be tucked away in the ceiling... :-) An audio port for external speakers (not Bluetooth) would be a bonus.
Thanks!

[mike27oct]

"bombarded with strong 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz signals all night,"

Not a reality.  As far as strength goes, they are very weak compared to other radio waves ) that surround us.(both man-made and natural). A common misconception of people who know very little about radio energy.

[asianrocker]

What do you want it for? The only Alexa device I can think of is the fire tv. At least I would assume you can connect it to Ethernet like all smart TVs.

I was also gonna say their tablets but I don't think they have Ethernet port.

But if you want dot on your room just use wifi repeater but that is against your rules. Oh well.

If you have a laptop I guess you can settle for Cortana.

[jwlv]

msy88, I understand why you want to limit your exposure to radio waves. Although I see and experience no adverse effects from being near my WiFi routers (I have 3 in a mesh configuration), I believe that prolonged exposure could have a detrimental effect. After all, I sit 4 feet from a WiFi router nearly 12-14 hours a day. And my smartphone is almost always inches away 24 hours a day.
 
mike27oct, I know you are a techie with many years of experience, I'm certain you also know that radio wave path attenuation increases exponentially to distance. Therefore having a desire to increase the distance from any RF source would be logical, whether any negative effect exists.

Then there's the issue with electro-hypersensitivity (EHS). Is it real? There is a small percentage of the population who claim that they feel better when they are in an area with limited radio waves. There is such a place called the National Radio Quiet Zone in a 13,000 square mile area in W Virginia that people with EHS have reported significant relief from their symptoms. And when they return home, their symptoms reappear as well.

If you are interested reading more, here are a couple of links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity
http://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/fs296/en/

[mike27oct]

I have heard about the place in Virginia with very low radio emissions from earthly, man-made radio energy.  It's not for the benefit of those who think any man made RF energy is harmful, no matter how minuscule it is.  it is because there are very sensitive radio telescopes placed there as scientists scan the sky for very weak signals from space.  So. the less man-made noise/interferrence, the better.

Our man made radio signals are at the very bottom of harmful radiation that ranks as insignificant.  , and the most harmful is a gamma ray burst from exploding neutron stars and such that can focus a death star beam of energy that can blast a heavenly body from existence if directly in the path of The beam. We never want one of those to even be many light years from our galaxy. or we could all be toast, instantly.

The point is, there are degrees of harmfulness, and our home electronics man made RF energy is not even close. (Nevertheless,  never put a little dog in a microwave oven to dry it; too much concentrated RF energy!)

[iolinux333]

You can get a WiFi repeater, flash it with OpenWRT, and adjust the radio output to minimum power necessary to just barely reach the Echo device reliably.

[kevb]

Could you put an echo dot in another room, close enough to use a paired remote or perhaps access via wired intercom, and use wired speakers in the bedroom?

[dragon123]

The only alexa hardware I can think of where you could use UTP would be a Fire Tablet 10 (or a latest gen fire TV if you use the remote and connect it to other hardware for sound), with an adapter to split the usb micro port.

[NocKnock]

msy88, I am working to get a similar solution. My family is working to minimize our nighttime EMF exposure. I'm not here to read the arguments for/against the move, but to find a solution to hardwire my Echo's to my LAN.

My Google Home's can jack-in via an adapter sold for the Chromecast, and it works great! Unfortunately there's a few of us that are Amazon Echo die-hard's. lol

If I don't find a wired solution, then I will have to encase the Echo in a faraday cage and provide a wired hotspot within as well. Don't want to use such an analog solution, but I will, if I must!

has anyone tried connecting an Echo to a Fire Ethernet/power adapter?

[jwlv]

Even when you use Ethernet, how can you be sure that the WiFi radio is turned off? WiFi radios are always broadcasting its presence to other devices whether it is being used or not, unless you can actually turn off the radio.

[Phillfair]

Hi, I’ve been looking at solutions for a while as we have a large house with poor WiFi coverage, and I don’t sleep properly when the WiFi is on near me.
The solution for me is a Sonos One with Alexa speaker. It has an Ethernet port on the back and it’s possible  to turn off the WiFi radio so it just uses the wired port. Hope this helps, think it’s literally the only solution at the moment.

[dbea3059]

Sure in 2019 you see pretty much everyone using wifi in their homes and phones. They used it last night and they are still alive today. But all you have to do is take a blood sample of you sitting next to a phone, wifi router or smart meter and show it to a doctor. if it doesnt show someone with such poor blood quality like they have cancer let me know.

Also if you are obsessed with gadgets and dont care about your health. Fine its your right but dont lose your temper if other people care about their health or have different priorities to you.

The question was about ethernet cables and i was hoping for an answer but unfortunately this question was hijacked by people with an anti-ethernet agenda who appear to want to brainwash people to think they MUST have wifi in their house otherwise they cant function.

If someone is obsessed with having wifi 24/7 you can say they are probably spending most of the time staring at a screen and arent the most sociable type of person.

Also we all know cell phone manuals state in small print 'do not hold the phone too close to your head'. They wont tell you the reason. Probably because they have done their own research and are just preparing for future lawsuits.

[Emery]

msy88, I am working to get a similar solution. My family is working to minimize our nighttime EMF exposure. I'm not here to read the arguments for/against the move, but to find a solution to hardwire my Echo's to my LAN.

My Google Home's can jack-in via an adapter sold for the Chromecast, and it works great! Unfortunately there's a few of us that are Amazon Echo die-hard's. lol

If I don't find a wired solution, then I will have to encase the Echo in a faraday cage and provide a wired hotspot within as well. Don't want to use such an analog solution, but I will, if I must!

has anyone tried connecting an Echo to a Fire Ethernet/power adapter?

Could you please tell me the name of the google home Ethernet adapter or give me a link to one? This interests me.

[PaulFancher]

Noob note: I hope I don't disrupt the veterans here by posting on an old thread, I'm just here because this popped up at the top of a Google search I ran today.

Option 1: Poor man's solution: Don't use ethernet, use a speaker system: Put a microphone in your room feeding an audio receiver in your closet with a headphone jack output down a 50'-500' speaker cable to a speaker sitting on/near an Alexa. Est cost new: $1000 (parts+labor)
This will work like a charm but it won't give you visual feedback.

Option 2, if you crave visual feedback: Put a Josh.ai in your ceiling, it runs over ethernet cable instead of WiFi. Tie the Josh.ai to a Crestron CP4 processor via a network switch. Have a programmer make a program that feed's the speech-to-text output from Josh into the Alexa console for the echo dot on the same network. Est cost new: $20,000 (parts+labor)

Hope that helps any future Googlers who stumble across this post like I did.

Best Regards,
Paul Fancher - AV Design Engineer