Amazon adding Eero to the Echo series is a play to get Alexa into every room of your house

With the recent announcement of the Amazon Echo Dot 5th generation came a pair of surprise announcements: Eero is coming to new Echo devices, and it’s being backported to the last generation as well. If you’re not familiar with Eero, it’s a home Wi-Fi system that’s owned by Amazon. You can build mesh networks with it primarily, and previously, you would need to buy extenders to expand your mesh network further in your home. Now, though, you can just use your Echo devices to do the same thing, starting with the Echo 4th Gen, Echo Dot 4th Gen, and Echo Dot 5th Gen.

While on the surface this is undoubtedly a great move for consumers, there are a few reasons why Amazon is doing this. The first is pretty obvious: it’s a great way to get an Alexa-powered device into every corner of your home. Mesh networks require extenders, and why would you buy a device that just extends your Wi-Fi connection, rather than an Echo Dot or an Echo that provides so much more functionality for in and around the same price? It obviously won’t be as good for signal as a dedicated extender (and may not support the latest technologies either — Amazon isn’t clear on this yet), but it will offer way more value to the consumer.

The second is that this is a great way to try and outcompete Google, one of the other major mesh network providers. Google has a Nest Wi-Fi access point that doubles up as an extender, but the audio is incomparable to an Echo. It was basically a mesh extender with a speaker built in. In the case of an Echo device, it’s a speaker with Eero built in; an important distinction.

What’s weird though is that it doesn’t seem that Amazon’s Eero expansion is coming to Echo devices outside of the U.S — even on the 5th generation Echo Dot. The U.K. Amazon listing for the device makes no mention of Eero, even though Eero devices are available there. Other European storefronts for the multinational conglomerate don’t mention it either, which raises another question: will it be an international addition? Is the hardware present in international Echo devices, or is it regulatory? Not much has been given to work with here.

Why Eero makes sense in the Echo series

If you have any Wi-Fi extenders in your home, think about where you place them. Assumedly, you place them in places that are hidden away, as, after all, it’s not as if they have any other function aside from repeating a signal in your house. What’s more, the cables can be unsightly, so there’s no real reason for your Wi-Fi extenders to be visible.

Eero 6+

In contrast, an Echo device obviously makes sense for it to be accessible and visible at all times, and they’re generally made to look good as well. Your Echo devices are already in places where you’ve decided that they fit, and where they can both be heard and hear you. The added functionality of making them an Eero extender makes sense and works well in whatever place you already have them.

Finally, it may make you place them in more useful positions. I have a Wi-Fi extender hidden in the corner of a room when I know that it would work better in a more visible place. However, I prefer the neatness of having it hidden away behind a door. An Echo would make sense in its place, and I’d be a lot happier to work that into my living space.

I feel that this is, in a way, built on top of Amazon’s Sidewalk functionality. Sidewalk extends the working range of your connected devices beyond your home Wi-Fi, and can also help you to locate your pets and valuables. Sidewalk employs Bluetooth Low Energy, the 900Hz band, and other frequencies to enable Echo speakers, Tile trackers, Ring security cameras, and other supported Amazon devices to communicate over a low-bandwidth network. This is also a U.S.-only feature.

Other devices that could get Eero functionality

There are a ton of other devices that it would make sense for to get Eero functionality, and pretty much any of those that are already in Amazon’s ecosystem makes sense in some way. A Ring camera? That’d extend your Wi-Fi connection to the front garden. An Echo Show 15? Better connectivity in your kitchen or living room. There are a lot of reasons that users may want this functionality expanded to other products, and while the company hasn’t said anything yet about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more in the future.

For now, though, Amazon has already made an enticing offer to anyone who wants to build a home mesh network. You can go with any other competitor and get standard extenders that work, though with no other functionality… or you can make your home a smart home at the same time. That’s complete with a voice assistant as well. If you’re already ingrained in the Amazon ecosystem or think that you would benefit from it, then Alexa may be in every room of your home very soon.