# What should I do with my Echo that I'm not? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466 "2021-11-16T20:22:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/41 "2021-11-18T02:03:30Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > When you see the yellow ring circling the top, ask, “Alexa, what is my notification?” and she’ll tell you when a delivery is expected. Alexa notifies me that my package has been delivered, but always 5 or more hours _after_ the delivery was made. I want to be alerted _at the time_ the delivery is made, so I can grab it before the porch pirates see it. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/42 "2021-11-18T03:12:53Z")
The vast majority of the time we use it for cooking timers. But we also have smart bulbs so we use them to turn on and off the lights. Music gets played every once in a while, but I agree that telling it to play an album prevents issues in understanding. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/43 "2021-11-18T03:24:50Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Alexa notifies me that my package has been delivered, but always 5 or more hours _after_ the delivery was made. I want to be alerted _at the time_ the delivery is made, so I can grab it before the porch pirates see it. That’s aggravating. My understanding is that the notification happens when your driver inputs the delivery. I get notifications by text and email, too, and usually all three happen moments after the delivery. I wonder if you are getting drivers who wait until they’re back at home base hours later before updating? * * * I have set up quite a few playlists in Amazon music. I subscribe to it, and you can add music to a playlist without buying albums or songs or anything. Then I go into the Alexa app on my phone or kindle and tell her to play the playlist on all three of my Echoes at once. You have to do this in the app; a voice command doesn’t do it. Very cool. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/44 "2021-11-18T16:14:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > That’s aggravating. My understanding is that the notification happens when your driver inputs the delivery. I get notifications by text and email, too, and usually all three happen moments after the delivery. I wonder if you are getting drivers who wait until they’re back at home base hours later before updating? @needscoffee is my neighbor, so I doubt her drivers are different from mine. And I get the notifications fairly promptly, though on my phone. (I disabled Alexa’s notifications.) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/45 "2021-11-18T17:01:14Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > @needscoffee is my neighbor, so I doubt her drivers are different from mine. And I get the notifications fairly promptly, though on my phone. That’s really strange. I get both the phone notifications and the Alexa notifications. (Last time, I asked Alexa “why do you give me notifications 5 hours after delivery?” She had no response. She was probably embarrassed.) And it’s 100% consistent - I’ve never gotten a notification until hours later. I use the Amazon Locker whenever it’s an option. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/46 "2021-11-18T17:16:48Z")
I don’t even really have a theory at this point. I literally tested the rapid notification just an hour ago. Watched the truck drive by, the guy dropped something at my doorstep, took a photo, and seconds later, my phone lit up with the notification. You might try selecting one of your recent orders and just posting a question directly to customer service. It’s weird. There’s no reason it shouldn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/47 "2021-11-18T17:44:46Z")
Aha, I just looked up the most recent order where this happened, and the Amazon package was actually delivered via UPS. So UPS must not have notified Amazon quickly. I guess I can’t blame Alexa anymore. I owe her an apology. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/48 "2021-11-18T19:27:45Z")
It’s probably UPS’s fault, but they _should_ still notify promptly. USPS is the only service where I don’t seem to get the prompt notifications, but to be fair, I don’t necessarily notice who did the delivery \>80% of the time. So unless it’s specifically in my mailbox, I’m not really going to know. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/49 "2021-11-19T14:30:42Z")
While I have all you Echo owners in one place, I thought I’d mention an issue and fix I recently experienced. We have the big Echo 2nd generation in our living room, we bought it in March '18 and it’s become our go-to music/news/information source during the day. A couple of months ago it started experiencing gaps in music play (it would just stop, then pick up where it left off), long delays in responding to commands (the blue light would come on, but nobody would be home), and simply dropping activities in the middle. It was getting worse and worse, and I did factory reset it a couple of times, but nothing worked, so I started shopping for a replacement last week. A few days ago though it occurred to me to try switching it from 5GHz on the router to 2.4GHz. The router is literally maybe four feet from the Echo so it hadn’t occurred to me that it would make a difference (I’d always heard that 5 was for more speed, but that it had a shorter range, and vice-versa for 2.4), but I’ll be damned if that didn’t fix it. I don’t know enough about wifi bands to opine on _why_ that worked, but it did. Anyway. In case that helps someone. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/50 "2021-11-19T16:00:18Z")
I have same issue, and thanks for the tip. I don’t think I can dial back my Starlink router connection to 2.4Ghz though. I could do it on the [Hughes.net](http://Hughes.net) router, but I’m only hanging on to that in case Starlink gets weird. And I’ve changed my data plan to as low as it will go on Hughes. Just enough to keep my account open really. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466/51 "2021-12-03T19:53:45Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > I sometimes use mine for “Rain Sounds” for white noise while sleeping. I tease the dog by asking her to “Open the box of cats.” My five-year old granddaughter cackles with glee with “Open the box of farts.”… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-my-echo-that-im-not/954466.md?page=2)