Hi, For basic Alexa instructions like turning on/off lights, would this be a local instruction or is an internet connection required?
If a local instruction would the command succeed if the internet was disconnected or failed?
Thanks
Alexa is cloud connected, so you need internet to keep the connection between HE and Alexa, but once the command hits the hub, it's local
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Alexa doesn't do speech recognition locally. For the most part, she's just a microphone.
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I was just going through all my echo devices for the periodic permissions check and I noticed that the 4th gen full size has a local setting that none of my other devices have (first gen echo plus, first gen show, 4th gen echo dot, echo studio). I haven't tested but I'm wondering if that full 4th gen does basic voice processing local or if it just refers to smart devices physically used. If that's the case wonder why the echo plus doesn't have that setting, it's a real head scratcher.
Many of the Echo devices support that very limited local control...it may not have always been enabled via a setting. It allows the Echo to control devices that are directly connected to it when it is used as a hub...for all of the "Works with Amazon Alexa" ZigBee devices out there. I believe it does (or at least used to?) work with Hue Bridges as well because there were projects out there that emulated a Hue Bridge to enable local control via Alexa without need to install a skill or do any account linking. It basically only supported on/off/dimming for lights IIRC.
Regardless, for the purpose of this post, anything through Hubitat is going to be cloud-based for Alexa.
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This is not entirely accurate...for example you can still ask Alexa "what time is it" and get a response when the Internet is down. Similarly you can ask "are you connected to the Internet" and she can tell you that no, she isn't. It's extremely limited, but it's not fair IMHO to say she's just a microphone.
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Hence the words "For the most part". Obviously, she can recognize her wake word as well, which is one reason there are so few wake words supported.
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And there's this: Amazon skips the cloud with local Alexa processing: Here's who gets it - SlashGear
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the 4th gen echo devices are able to be zigbee hubs
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as @dadarkgtprince points out - the 4th gens now are zigbee hubs - which really cracks the HA world. HE's most beautiful feature is it's local function and related speed. I started playing with the zigbee features of the echo and its very rudimentary and you immediately want to go back to your HE hub but the performance benefit is narrowing since to be completely forthcoming, I rely heavily on voice control. Since the other members of my household have no desire to become programmers, I've got a feeling that non-local hubs like the Echo's will ultimately win the battle - especially given the plethora of echo devices which gives wide coverage when compared to a single hub - unless you get the antenna mod I hear.
