Radio streaming on Amazon Alexa cuts out

[BrettVyon]

Hi - I have a ZTE MC801A 5G router on the second floor, connected via powerline to an Amazon Echo in the basement. Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz are operational - the Echo is connected via 5GHz.

Listening to radio stations via Alexa, the playback will often cut out after just a few minutes. Usually, a new voice command will restart the stream. (Occasionally Alexa will say she has lost connection.) I think this is an Alexa issue rather than an issue with the station we're listening to, as we use different streaming services (BBC Sounds, Wireless and Planet Radio, I think.)

I found this page on the Amazon website https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html%3FnodeId%3DGK5HG5WLZZ94G7AV which talks about ensuring certain ports on the firewall are open. However, I can't see how to do this on the router's web page.

I'd be interested to hear a) whether people think this is worth trying and b) if so, how to do it.

Many thanks in anticipation.

[JonathanB]

Hey @BrettVyon,

I'm not aware of any current issues with using Alexa on Three, we actually used to supply a router with inbuilt Alexa so I don't think you need to set up port forwarding rules.

It may be worth testing if you have similar issues without the powerline and connecting the echo directly to the router to see if the same issue occurs? 

Are any other devices experiencing these intermittent drops in connection?

Thanks,
JonathanB

[BrettVyon]

Hi @JonathanB 

Thank you for your reply. Good idea to test without the powerline - I'll give that a go.

TV streaming - also via powerline - buffers occasionally but it doesn't happen anything like as frequently as these Alexa issues.

[BrettVyon]

Hi @JonathanB 

The router lost connection completely this morning, requiring a reboot. (I generally do this by removing the power lead for a couple of seconds.)

I suppose this occurs around once per day on average. Can anything be done about it? (Oddly, my neighbours across the street have the same model of router and don't experience these dropouts, even though their router is not near a window.)

[JonathanB]

Hi @BrettVyon,

We've received reports of these dropouts on the community before, but there's no clear pattern, and it's never been replicated in internal testing. It does seem likely that 5G signal fluctuations are contributing though. You might be briefly losing signal, or your router may be trying to switch between 2 different nearby masts.

Hopefully at some point we'll narrow down exactly what's causing this and be able to apply some sort of software patch. As you've mentioned that your neighbour has this router and doesn't have the issue, it may be worth experimenting with where the router is positioned. Generally somewhere high and near a window is good, but this can be subjective to your property and the local coverage, so some trial and error may be the best approach with that.

Thanks,
Jonathan