Actually, it’s the closest device to the SmartThings hub, probably 9 or 10 feet away. And yes, the GE devices are all zwave.
If you have wifi, how close is the zigbee device to your Wi-Fi router? Wi-Fi will interfere with zigbee and can drown it out, which ends up being the same as having it on the edge of the mesh. Ideally you want the smart things hub at least 10 feet from the Wi-Fi router. And the plug more like 15 feet (it has a weaker signal than the hub).
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Good catch! I’ll have to find another place to put the router to reduce it’s relative signal strength. Thanks for your help!
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Since this is a pocket socket, it would be easy to test this by just for now moving the pocket socket farther away, maybe one room over (as long as you don’t have concrete walls), and then see if that fixes the echo problem. If it does, then you can start experimenting with the router position. That is assuming the smart things hub is the right distance from the Wi-Fi router. If not, move the hub first.
Good idea. I’ll try moving that to another room to see if the problem disappears. It may take a day or two to know, since the problem is intermittent. Worst case, I’ll use the SmartThings outlet in an application where I wouldn’t use voice control.
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I have the same issue as Proximity1. The outlet seems to work intermittently, but if I activate it from the smartphones app or press the on off button on the outlet, the echo suddenly works again for a while. The hub is on my second floor, the outlet on my first floor, bith near the center of a 4 bedroom colonial. The Wi-Fi router is in the basement all the way in the corner of the house at the demarcation point. This is a very new install, about 10 days old. So far I have a GE zwave dimmer in the kitchen, the outlet, also in the kitchen, a zwave recessed door sensor on the front door, the Samsung motion detector in a bedroom upstairs, and a hue bulb.
Edit: I have 2 IRIS motion sensors, which I have not yet installed. Would placing one in the foyer, which is half-way between the hub and the outlet, potentially help by providing a zigbee repeater? The IRIS sensor is the one in the purple box, which I think is the 2nd generation.
Battery operated devices do not act as repeaters. Only plug-in or hardwired devices. So the usual repeaters are pocket sockets (plug in outlets), light switches, plug in motion sensors, outlets, and in wall relays. Lightbulbs on power can repeat, but sometimes only for each other, that one gets tricky.
So adding more battery powered devices doesn’t help strengthen the mesh.
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Is_this_device_a_repeater%3F
Thanks JD. So any idea what’s ailing my Samsung outlet? If I was able to shoot a laser through walls from the outlet to the hub, we are probably talking 15 feet of distance. But there are some walls between, etc.
Yeah, it just comes down to the local architecture. There are a lot of things that can interfere with signal, including water pipes.
If you want to test it, move the zigbee outlet closer to the SmartThings hub for a few days and see if you get better results with echo.
If so, you might just find a place to use it that’s closer to the hub and get a Z wave plus pocket socket for use downstairs. Dragontech is a good value brand with excellent range.
Zwaveproducts.com bundles the DragonTec with a minimote for $39.99 for the pair which is a really good deal 
Otherwise, you just have to start troubleshooting your zigbee network, including looking for Wi-Fi interference. (Wifi cAn drown out zigbee, but won’t affect zwave)
Thanks for that tip. Just to reiterate, the problem only seems to be Alexa-related. I never have issues activating the outlet from my app, or when using a motion sensor. If I press the button on the outlet, switch it on via the app, or via a hub smart lighting rule, then Alexa sees it for a bit. An hour later, it may or may not be working with Alexa. Usually, it does not work if the outlet has not been turned on for a while.
Right, if you’re getting the same message as the original poster, the problem is that things are not happening quickly enough to meet echo’s timeout requirement. It doesn’t mean they’re not happening in SmartThings. I could guess as to why it’s more likely to happen when the device hasn’t been used for a while, but it would just be a guess. All I can say is there are possible situations where that might happen.
You can report it to support and see if they see anything.
did anyone ever figure this out?
my ST outlet was working fine all year until the other day. Not sure what changed. This is the only non-light bulb I have synced w/Echo… everything else are bulbs and they work fine with Echo.
I have a lamp attached to the outlet. I can use the Echo to turn the lamp Off if it’s On, but I can never turn it On if it’s Off via Echo… keep’s saying to check network connection and power supply.
I can, however, turn it on/off anytime via the ST app. If I use the ST app to turn it On/Off, Echo still wont turn it On… just works turning Off.
Sounds like you are having the same symptoms others are experiencing with GE outlets.
My entire Alexa setup went tango uniform in the past few hours. I can’t control anything, including GE switches, groups, the harmony, etc. I suspect this will be resolved fairly quickly…
Should be back now. I saw your other post too.
Yup. It’s back.
This worked for me - Thank you
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