Thanks @ParallelLines
Always happy to help!
Hopefully ThelmaLou was was not caught in a conflict between the dust bunnies and teeny spiders. For they have powerful allies, at least in my house (dust tumbleweeds and monstrously large spiders!).
Hehe.
I finally got all the smart plugs working. Lordy, lordy! It does take patience.
This last device has me flummoxed. It’s this one:
All my smart plugs were by Kasa; this one works with the Smart Life app. When I first got this socket, it paired instantly with the Echo in my bathroom. It’s for the bathroom light over the vanity, which had a pull-chain that got stuck (fortunately, in the “on” position). Apparently, now the instant recognition feature no longer works. Also this socket really wants 2.4 gHz. The Kasa smart plugs did, too, and my Gateway has both bands, but the socket can’t seem to find the right band. I spent about two hours this morning going around and around with Alexa, the Smart Life app, and the Smart Life skill within Alexa. I put it in pairing mode and Alexa refers me to the Smart Life app (which she did not do when I first set up the socket with AT&T wifi), and I find myself on the hamster wheel back and forth between the two apps. I may try again later.
Hmmm. The only thing I could think to do, which may not be possible in this circumstance, is to forcibly cycle the power to the SmartLife plug. You’ve probably already tried that though. In similar circumstances, I’ve had some luck with using whatever manual reset button the plugs had and set it up as a new device.
But based on my prior knowledge of your skills (mad skillz I must say!) you’ve probably already tried that. Still, if you only have to replace one plug, it’s better than the 17 you started with! You may also want to consider going to a smartbulb rather than a socket or plug if you do replace it, so you have less secondary stuff faffing about, but that’s entirely up to you.
Although, on second thought, I’ve had smart bulbs ‘fall off the network’ more frequently than smart plugs, so maybe not. I’d say the bulbs fall off once a month, but the plugs only every 3. Hmmm.
What’s your thinking about how I might do this? I did try to reset the socket a zillion times. Maybe I haven’t tried everything yet. I can’t believe there isn’t some way to make this work!
I could get my landlord to come and fix the pull-chain switch, but I don’t want to. A pull-chain is doomed to break sooner or later. I guess I could look for a socket that has some kind of manual switch on it. (As I said, fortunately, the switch is stuck in the on position.)
One of the things that’s so great about smart plugs is that you don’t have to use the on-off switch on the device itself. I’ve used gooseneck lamps clamped to a shelf over my stove for years and eventually the twisty knob always breaks. But with a smart plug you never even touch the twisty knob.
I did think about a smart bulb, but I’m kind of fussy about style, and I don’t like bare bulbs. I use big white globe bulbs in the bathroom for aesthetic reasons.
You are too kind. 
ETA: Amazon has a bunch of non-fancy remote control sockets. Prolly get one of those and be done with it.
I meant traditional old school resetting, unscrew, leave off for 10 minutes and then test setting it up in a more accessible lamp to see if it’s possible, and if so, then putting back in the original location. Of course, that’s if it’s in a safely reachable region not guarded by the dust bunny airborne legions.
These days there are a LOT of options for smart bulb shapes and styles, including things like this -
(Confirmed alexa compatible)
Which I like because a bathroom or bedroom dimmable smart bulb can be nice, especially for nighttime use. “Alexa, bedroom 10%” is nice if I just want a bit of light to see what the cat is doing (knocking stuff over, natch) without bothering the wife much. (Always important to enable whisper mode though).
Oh yeah, I did that multiple times. I tried the socket in a lamp because I couldn’t manage the exploration with it high up on the bathroom wall.
Re other “smart” options: alexa compatibility notwithstanding, a lot of them want 2.4 gHz, and I don’t have faith that they can find their way to the right frequency like the Kasa plugs did.
I wound up getting this one (actually, two of them because they were cheap and because I’m me 
)
Since you’re now obviously my rabbi, I want to ask you something else. I checked the window on the front of the TM Gateway (three bars seems to be the best I can do), and there were messages. The message was an apology for my “Xfinity service” being out for a while, but now it was restored. I don’t have Xfinity, Comcast, or any cable service. Just streaming and my wimpy indoor antenna. So what was this message all about? Do they just broadcast it to everyone regardless of what service they do or don’t have?
Okay, did a bit of searching. AFAICT, those are fundamentally text messages being sent to the ‘phone number’ (really the SIM) associated with the device. So, targeted, but to whatever device was associated with previously, same way if you add a line to a cell plan you may get calls and texts sent to whomever may have had it earlier. Alternately, some of the user sites are indicating it may be based on a misrouting of TMUS DIGITS based service which is . . . hmmm . . . virtual secondary numbers and forwarding options that can have the same sort of problems.
The interwebs don’t have a fix on how to block them, so if it continues, and doesn’t appear directly related to your own service (like this one), that would be the time to contact ye olde Team of Experts.
B-b-b-but, that’s YOU! 
Okay, I see. Interesting. Maybe I’ll start getting some really cool messages. Stuff like “Help! I’m being held prisoner in a Chinese cell phone parts factory!” My mother used to put notes in my lunch bag that said, “Help, I"m being held prisoner in a school lunch factory!” God rest her soul. 
BTW, thank you.
If only, my father would have been so proud! (well, maybe, he’s gotten more religious as he’s gotten older)
6-7 years ago, yes, but these days I’m just a knowledgeable layperson, who is used to using the online troubleshooting flows and knows a couple of tricks and tips. Again, I wouldn’t worry about an occasional message, and it is supposed to accept carrier messages, so it’s a useful feature, but if it gets distracting, let the pros fix it!
Anyway, he’s a semi-useful thread about it -
And most of the reported messages in similar threads are spam as well, so likely the same as what you’re getting. And sadly, the reported webgui doesn’t seem to have a block feature. On the tmobile app, you can actually block all (with limited exceptions including service texts from TMO) incoming text messages to a variety of devices, which I use for my cellular enabled tablet, and the phone I’ve repurposed as a wifi hotspot, but I don’t have a gateway line so I can’t see if I can do the same to that device.
If you can it might be a quick fix to kill the spam. But I don’t have the tools to check for you sadly.
Good grief. I guess I should consider myself lucky I only got about five messages. So far.
@ParallelLines These came yesterday about 9:30 pm, but I resisted the impulse to set one up last night. That way lies madness. I needn’t have worried. This morning I screwed in the socket thingie, then the light bulb (or laht bub, as we say in Texas), put batteries in the remote, and it works like a champ. If anyone wants a simple, cheap, un-smart remote control socket, I recommend it. It’s light (hehe) as a feather and made of flimsy plastic, but it works. They have one that words with wifi, but I didn’t want to Go There.
I called to cancel my AT&T internet just now and got a very zealous, aggressive CSR. I confess I did shout her down at one point.
What works is what works! Now (cross fingers) the test for me with cheap electronics is do they last one year? Under a year, I get grumpy, over a year, I am happy. Yes, it’s a sign of America’s obsession with ‘good enough as long as it’s cheap’, but …
Sorry about the CSR - honestly that’s one of the reasons I left T-Mobile, because I was happy as long as I was tech support, but when they blended us with customer service and I was responsible for retention, up-sales, and dealing with the other assorted issues, I just wasn’t happy.
Although a friend of mine utterly shut down an ATT rep thanks to me years ago. I had a free line added to my account (T-Mobile did a few promos company line that if you had 3 or more lines, they offered you another without a monthly fee). Since said friend was on a stand-alone plan, they were paying over $70 per month by themselves. I just ported his phone number to my new account and mailed him the SIM.
The CSR he was trying to cancel with asked if he’d stay if they could match or beat his new price. Said friend reportedly said “Sure! It’s free, so I’ll keep the line if you match that.” Silence ensued, and then the rep apparently laughed a bit and agreed they couldn’t beat it.
I wanted the smart socket to work but it turned out to be either too dumb or too smart for its own good.
Here is the new device in situ over the built-in vanity in my 1925 Craftsman home. An ordinary light bulb would not have been as stylish. (And yes, that’s a cat feeding station up on the counter. I started feeding them up there so the dogs couldn’t get to their food. Now both my doggies have crossed the Rainbow Bridge, and over there they can have all the cat food they want.)
As for the CSR, I stopped her early on and said, “You’re not going to change my mind,” but she kept on.