Kasa Smart HS100 WiFi Smart Plug, Classic 1-Pack, White

I sincerely regret the heavy investment I made in these (Tp-Link/Kasa) devices. Ive bought a LOT of the wall switches, smart plugs (both with and without energy monitoring) and lightbulbs (both white and color). I am so bloody sick and f****** tired of the steaming pile of dog poo AKA Alexa. Alexa NEVER works, is always going offline, showing the red ring of death while yapping that something is wrong. And its NOT my Wifi, I have THREE AeroHive AP250 mesh WAPs (very high power enterprise class device) covering a two story home of 1,200sqt per floor which is massive, massive overkill. So its NOT my Wifi, at all. Anyway, Alexa is complete and utter GARBAGE and is 100% unreliable. The only thing you can be sure of with Alexa is that it never works. I hate and despise Alexa with a raging passion like nothing ever before in all my 60 years on this rotten rock. Im just about two more “Sorry, I’m having trouble understanding right now. Please try a little later” blathering from taking a hammer to every freaking one of them in my house. I am permanently disabled and wheelchair dependent, I got these things to assist me, supposedly to make my life a little better. Theyve done nothing of the kind. A consequence of Alexa never working is that all these nifty Kasa devices dont work either, when I need them to! Alexa is garbage. Im so done with it. Im now at the point where I need to abandon Alexa and my dependency upon it and replace it with Homekit/Siri. I keep my iPhone attached to me at all times, specifically for fall detection. Siri responds when I request it but it can not control the Kasa app or the Tp-Link devices in my home. The other annoyance is that there is no local control ability at all. I tried hard to find some sort of like, wireless remote that will control things purely by local control, for like when Alexa isnt working, which is 1000 times a day! Im so bloody mad that I spent so much money on all this junk and it ends up being almost worthless to me. I think maybe Ill sell it all and replace everything with bluetooth controlled switches so that its never dependent upon a remote server or connecting to the outside world at all. Let me be clear, my complaint is that these things are locked in to Alexa, Siri isnt allowed access and Alexa is extreme garbage. With Alexa always broken these devices dont work. OPEN THEM UP TO HOMEKIT/SIRI !!!!!!!1 I wish I could send it all back for a refund but its waaaay past that time and Im to deeply invested in it to just trash it without an immediate, drop in replacement system. Bottom line, IF I had a way to do it all over again, I wouldnt even go down this path at all. There must be better ways than this.

REVIEW FOR TP-LINK SMART PLUG (HS100) A FEW FRUSTRATING MOMENTS SETTING UP, BUT WORKS GREAT ONE I FIGURED OUT THE APP. USAGE: Replacement for manual Christmas tree timer. It took me a while to set these up, more than I care to admit. However, once I understood how the android app worked, it was OK. I can’t tell you exactly when it clicked how the interface worked. Once the device is found and connected, you click on the device (nothing seems to happen), but there is a “settings icon” that appears in the upper right corner. That is where you go to rename the device, change the icon, set up the stand alone timer schedule. I assumed it was app settings, not device settings. After that realization everything was fine. PRO’s: - Affordable ~ $20 on sale. - Quick to react to commands - Easy to use after learning curve - No problems with Alexa compatibility at all. - Can set up a schedule (from the phone app) that is stored locally in the unit so it does not require a hub to manage the schedule. - No Hub Required. CON’s: - Big (covers both plugs no way around it) - Only supports 2Ghz WiFi (I had to re-enable it on my router just for these plugs) - Does not Dim, but I knew that going in. SIDE NOTE: - After a power outage it does not automatically figure out the state it is supposed to be in. It waits until the next scheduled event. So if the power was out when it was supposed to turn on the lights, and it missed that event, then they just don’t come on until next time. As Christmas wraps up, I plan to repurpose these for use on some table lamps where I just want on/off and not dimming. One thing to keep in mind is that the manual on/off is on the plug so if you put a lamp on a schedule but you want to override the schedule then you need to use an app or Alexa to turn it back on, or climb around the floor to hit the manual switch. So I won’t widely deploy these for every day usage. For my normal house lights I’ll use Lutron. Why 5 stars ? Well in general, they just seem to work as expected and for the price point they do exactly what I wanted. (A modern replacement for an ancient mechanical light timer). Anything else I can get them to do (such as Alexa integration, etc) is just a bonus in my mind. I will also use the random schedule feature when I travel from home.

Let me start by saying, when I first installed these they worked great. I have four of them. The reason I bought was to help my mother who has a hard time getting around. We loved showing them off to friends and family. Soon the love turned to frustration. They are easy to set up, my Wi-Fi had no problems finding and set up was fast. I put the app. on my phone and Fire tablet. Even setup groups to turn all on and off at same time. I could control while away from the house or using everyones wi-fi or cell tower. The problem is they continue to lose connection to Wi-Fi and then Alexa will not control. App says local only, meaning you have to get your phone to turn on and off, and you have to be in the house on your Wi-Fi. I have strong Wi-Fi signal at my house. You can get 300 plus yards away and still get a signal. I live in a rural area, no neighbors. So there is no other Wi-Fi interference. Other problems, re-setting them all the time. You have to delete one by one and sometimes the app will not let you do that. Why cant there be a simple reset? Then when you go to reinstall it, can not find. You can do it manually, then that is hit or miss. I have had them for over six months. I reset all of them last night 12-2-16 and today when I woke up two were off line. I really want them to work. Talking to Alexa is a fun way to control lights, but im getting tired of hearing Alexa say sorry I cant find table light and so on. Dont waste your money on this. I am curious to know if the people who left good reviews, did it right away or waited a few weeks to try out? I always wait a few months before I do. I am ready to recreate the scene from Office Space with the fax machine. Q, generic response from TP-Link, Ill update if they have any real answer to the problems. UPDATE 12/14/16 I did a reset on all 12/4/16 as of the 14th they are all working fine. So 10 days with no problems. Lets see how long we can go. Also for the people how say plugs are to big and block furniture. Try Power Extension Cord Cable, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CEJW0WQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Works as advertised. Set up was easy and painless. Usage is pretty straightforward. I do like that I can use Google Assistant with it, too. Being able to tell Google Assistant to turn on the porch/garage light without having to touch my phone as I drive up to the house or to say turn everything off when going to bed is super convenient. That said, I do have a few gripes: 1. The plug is rather large and will block the other outlet in a duplex outlet. I guess the solution is to get the (slightly_more_expensive) mini version of this. 2. These can only be controlled via mobile app. A desktop app or browser plugin would be great. 3. (Android) The app widget takes up a 4x2 space and contains 4 *scenes. While you can resize the widget to be bigger (as big as the screen, if you wish), theres really no point because it doesnt add more scenes despite the extra space. Its limited to 4. No more, no less. This makes no sense. For me, I only really need one scene and currently theres no way to make the widget smaller with less than 4 scenes. 4. Scenes cannot enable an auto-timer (or, for smart bulbs, do complex behaviors such as scrolling through bulb colors. A sleep timer that ends with a gradual dimming would be amazing). You also cannot schedule scenes, if you want scheduling, you need to do it for each plug/bulb individually. Gripes aside, Im actually very pleased with the line of TP-Links smart products. I just hope Ill see issues 2-4 mentioned above resolved in a future update. *Scenes are programmable switches that can turn on/off TP-Link Smart Plugs and/or TP-Link Smart Bulbs for particular situations. For example, if you come home at night, you can have a scene to turn on your garage and patio lights, dim the lights (eg: 15%) for watching a movie, or just turn everything off when you go to bed. You can do any combination of plugs or bulbs. Scenes for smart plugs are limited to on/off actions only. Scenes for smart bulbs can do on/off and brightness level/color temp/color (depending on your bulb model).

UPDATE: I left my original review as written below, but the issue described there that caused my initial 1-star rating has been corrected. I now have 5 of these and they work very well with my Echo, without the annoying middle man. I can now glad,y recommend them. Bought this in order to control my TV and streaming stick with Echo, and now I am returning it. It did not function well with Alexa, and I do not want a bunch of devices I have to control independently with 3rd party apps. This device turns Alexa into an extraneous middle-man. Here is the breakdown of how this product performed for me: Pro: - Unit appears to be decent quality and arrived well packaged. - Unit set up easily enough; instructions were simple to follow Con: - Unit requires the 3rd party Kasa app - Because the device is run by the Kasa app, not Echo directly, it turns Alexa into a middle-man; Echo becomes a silly extra step. - Echo could find the device to turn it on, but then could not recognize the name to turn it off: The whole process felt passive-aggressive. You cant say, Alexa, turn on the TV. You have to say, Alexa, ask Kasa to turn on the TV. Its like sitting around the table and saying, Sweetie, ask your father to pass the salt... Honey, ask your mother why she couldnt ask for the salt herself. It was ridiculous. In fairness, most of the extra skills for Echo currently work this way. Alexa ask for this, Alexa ask for that. For this very reason I find myself not using many of those extra functions. It takes away from the conversational, direct-control feel of the Echo, and Im hoping that this is corrected with future software updates. The problem seems to be that Echo has trouble recognizing the word Kasa. When you give Alexa a command, she searches around your profile for a device or group with the name she heard you say. She is no doubt looking for the word Casa in your lists, but its not there because the manufacturer named this Kasa with a K, which is not actually a word. Oddly enough, Alexa could turn the device on about 1 out of 5 tries. She could never turn it off. Alexa, ask Kasa to turn the TV on, (and tell dad to pass mom the salt)....The TV comes on, sometimes. Immediately after that, Alexa, ask Kasa to turn the TV off,.... Im sorry. I cannot find a device or group with that name in your profile. Every. Single. Time. Sure I can keep the Smart Plug and control my TV/streaming stick with my phone, but that defeats the purpose. The point is voice command control through 1 master device (Echo). If I have to pick up my phone and use a 3rd-party app to turn on the TV, I might as well just use the TV remote.

I liked the fact that the price of this Smart Plug was about $10 cheaper than the other big brand one and seeing as how I really just wanted to plug in 1 floor lamp, I didnt need the fancy energy readings, etc. Does it work as stated? YES! Was it easy to install? Not really. Right out of the box, I downloaded the app, plugged in the Smart Plug and started following the directions. I hit a road block when I got to the part asking for WIFI password which would link the Smart Plug with my WIFI. I entered my password, and received an error message stating the password is not in the correct format for WEP. I am not a super techie person, so this is where I scratched my head and tried the password again. After numerous phone calls with my service provider and then TP-LINK which patched me through to what sounds like an overseas tech support person who ended up just saying the same thing to me password is not in correct format for WEP, I did more research and this is what happened: if you have WEP security on your WIFI, your password has to be either 5 or 13 characters long for this to work. If you have any other number of characters, it will not commute for some reason. My solution was to call my service provider and I had the security changed to WPA2 which did the trick. After it authenticated my password, the app indicated I was Almost Done and stayed on that screen for a good 2 minutes after which it stated it could not find my network. I looked at the Smart Plug and the power indicator is solid green and the WIFI indicator was also solid green - based off of the indicator chart that was provided, this mean the power was on and it was connected with my home WIFI network. I tried to turn on and off the floor lamp connected to the plug and it worked! So basically, the app itself is not the best, but the actual plug works well enough for me. I connected it to my Echo Dot and everything is a go!

Very upset that this will not work with my 5.2 router. Why was the product info not clearer that it will only work with 2.4??? Is there one available that WILL work with my router. After 3 kindles and my echo this is the first Amazon product I haver been upset about. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. , This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for. I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. ,I am not smart enough to know how to change my router and am hesitant to do so since I dont want to mess up my computer, my Kindles, my cell phone and two smart tvs. I also have two Dots on order will they work with my current router?? Gosh - I hope so!!!!! Since I am disabled I was really looking forward to telling Alexa to turn on my lamp. Is there another device that will work with my router? How do I go about returning the tp-link. I have the original box but I will have to pay someone to take it to the UPS office. This is the only product from Amazon that I have ever been disappointed in. I have had 3 Kindles and words cannot express how much I LOVE my ECHO. Since I live alone and have no friends or family anywhere near, it is nice to hear another voice. I learn something new every day to use it for.

<Update 6.20.2016> I love these units & cannot wait (though Im going to have to anyway) for the HS200 TP Link Smart Switch (In-wall light switch) to come to the market per their latest software update note under the Whats New. Ive had my first TP Link Smart Plug (see the original post below) for about 6 weeks now, my second for about 4 weeks & they are working flawlessly. As mentioned in my OP, I wanted a unit for my entertainment center & have since received & installed it. Drove my college student (whos home for the summer) nuts as the power was not on in the mornings. For the 4 weeks since having the second unit (I called it the TV power), she could not figure out how to get power to the TV. She finally unplugged the power strip from the smart plug & plugged it directly into the wall below the HS100. So I finally showed the family how to work them (mainly just so they wouldnt keep unplugging & plugging in the power chords). On another note, I finally received my Amazon Echo (just in time for Fathers day, wahoo!) and so I now have the Smart Plugs hooked up to the World Wide Web, the Internet super highway, the Internet of Things, etc., etc. I understand the frustrations some people have posted regarding the connection to the Echo & I believe I have figured out why. Amazons Alexa App is in need of some serious TLC. TP Links Kasa App is doing what its suppose to do. In my original post, I had a small issue with connectivity of the software to the units which still exists but not near as rough since the latest software update. Still, when youre not connected to your LAN (because youve been away or simply have the WiFi / Data off) & want to adjust something in the schedules or simply turn the lamp on, connecting wirelessly sometimes has a hiccup. Each unit has to ping constantly (every 1.5 to 2 seconds as it was explained to me) to your LAN to let the router know the unit is there. When you connect your phone to the LAN, you may just connect in between those pings in which case the software on the phone may come back & say There are no connected devices. It does offer a pre-configured devices ribbon which you can select to initiate the units connectivity through the smart phone (see the uploaded pics). After selecting the ribbon, you have to select the little plus button on the right of each device until you have the no unsaved devices screen, then your units are active for you (5 stars now that I understand the software & realize that most of the frustrations are not the fault of TP Link). After I finally created an account with TP Link (all you need is an email address & a password, no personal information is required) I went back into the Kasa App & set the first unit to remote. In the Alexa App, I had to select the Skills in the menu & do a search for Kasa (there are over 123 PAGES of skills & no file management system in the Alexa App). After getting Kasa as a skill & initiating it, I then had to go to the Smart Home in the menu & select the Kasa skill to find the HS100 Smart Plug. This is where the frustrations started for me. The skill was not there. I know I had found it & selected the skill & initiated it but it was not listed. So I went back to the list & did another search for the Kasa (its on like page 71 & each time you go into the list, it starts on page 1). After the third time & about an hour plus, I discovered a search box where I could type the name Kasa & search & it would find about half a dozen skills to choose from, duh! What an idiot. Lucky we have the skills name otherwise its a page by page search until you find what your looking for. Anyway, I digress. The skill was not showing up in the Alexas Smart Home directory. I was about to put the phone down & walk away before something got seriously injured when I realized I had a couple updates to finish on my phone. One of these updates was a 34 megabyte update. Ive read that if you have a decent size (dont ask me what decent size means, I figured 20 meg or better) update, you should reboot your system after updating. So after my update I rebooted my phone & figured ok, Im cooled down a bit, Ill try the Alexa App one more time. Opening the App, I went straight to the Smart Home directory & whadyaknow, the Kasa skill was there. Finally, a step forward. Opening the skill, I can now (finally) have the Kasa skill find the HS100 Smart Plug. Picking the find devices gave me an immediate you have no internet connection message. Then I walked away! This is a long story but I promise it has a happy ending (well, sort of). A few hours of thinking about it I came back to try again. I figured perhaps because the HS100s connect via 2.4 GHz & the Echo connects to the more active 5 GHz, the two are not communicating. So I purposely connected my phone to the 2.4 GHz, opened the Kasa app & verified I could connect to each of my Smart Plugs. Then while leaving the Kasa app open, I went back into the Amazon Alexa app, into the Smart Home directory, & picked the find devices once again. The you have no internet connection message immediately popped up. So I figured the only way I could find the skill to begin with was to reboot the phone so I rebooted once again. I forgot to connect to the 2.4 GHz & open the Kasa app to verify my units were accessible, I just went straight to the Alexa app and after picking the find devices button it came back with a message, searching for devices. This can take up to 20 seconds. Wahoo! It worked, I found my HS100 named the Lamp. Now there are three ways of turning the Lamp on. I can say Alexa, turn on the lamp and Alexa says, ok and the lamp comes on. I can push the power button on the front of the unit and the lamp comes on. And I can wait for the scheduled time and the lamp comes on. These units are AWESOME!!! Of course I had set only the Lamp to remote in the Kasa app so I had to go back to the Kasa app & change the TV power to remote so I could find it in the Alexa app. I had to go through rebooting the phone a couple more times to get my second unit connected with the Echo but I am now connected & my college kid is happy to say Alexa, turn on the TV power so she can watch a movie instead of getting a summer job, ggrrr! ____Original Post____ This is a true product review & I paid full price for the TP Link Smart Plug (HS100, no Energy Monitoring) unit. So with that said, let me tell you my current thoughts on this product after playing with it a mere four days. I dont yet have an echo (its on order) but am preparing for its arrival. So in the mean time I figured Id try this on my local LAN before submitting my so called Smart house to the wiles of the internet. The unit itself is easy enough to work with. You can use it as a single outlet power switch & simply push the button to turn it on and off, much like a six outlet power strip with a switch, but this would be a single outlet. But I want a timer control switch that will automatically turn on at a certain time & off at a certain time & I want to (in the future) have that timer & simply override it with a phrase, Alexa, turn on the lamp. So I needed to connect it to the LAN for starters. After following the instructions for downloading the software (Kasa for Mobile) from Google play I began my assault. My phone automatically connects to my 5 GHz WiFi so I had to manually change it to the 2.4 GHz as this frequency is the only one this Smart plug will work with currently. Reasons are listed on the website (tp-link.us) Now there are two buttons on this unit; a small button on the very top with a light grey gear icon on it is for its configuration (visibility) when connecting to your phone via the local LAN and the other button in the front just above the outlet is a two tone LED light/power button. This is the button you push to simply turn the power strip on/off. This button flashes orange/green when you first plug it in which tells you its ready to begin the connection phase. The app found the plug pretty quickly & began asking me the questions needed to control this plug like what to call it (important to name it something unique to the situation). I called it the lamp. What, Its the only lamp in my family room & I dont intend on connecting any other lamps in the house to the Echo so ... Alexa, turn on the lamp will work very nicely. I can go back & change the name of the plug if I need to. The app then asked for the password to my LAN so my phone can connect to the plug. This is where I screwed everything up cause I couldnt remember what the password was. After resetting the plug a couple times (I now know the reset button works) I got the unit setup & the lamp was on. The software, while easy enough to understand is a bit too simplistic in its presentation which leads to a little frustration in finding what you are searching for. Lemme esplain. I wanted the plug as a timer so I needed to get a schedule setup. You need to tap on the lamp on the left side of the apps screen as the right side is the power switch for controlling the plug via phone. Then you have to pic the three little dots to open a menu so you can pic the schedule selection button. I suppose this is necessary cause if you have several plugs, you will need to determine which one you are working with and there are a few options in menu as well. So I set the schedule for an early morning on & mid morning off, Monday thru Friday. Then created a second schedule for Sunset on & late evening off, Monday thru Sunday. Now mind you this is connected to the local LAN which means if you want a current Sunset time, you have to have your phone connected to the unit to get it as the current Sunset changes daily & the unit needs a connection to the Internet to get that time. Duh! No wonder the lamp was coming on early, the Sunset time was current when I programmed it but is now later than when the lamp comes on as my phone is not connected to the LAN to feed the unit the current Sunset time. :-P A bit of a frustration is when you have a cloudy or stormy afternoon & it gets dark well before sunset. So I wanted to override the current setting & turn the lamp on. Well low & behold when I opened the app, it said there were no current devices configured, would you like to configure one now? Then a little popup display said You have had a previous unit configured which you can access after setting up a new device. After several minutes of getting out of the app, going back in, getting out, disconnecting the phone from the LAN, reconnecting, disconnecting, rebooting the phone, reconnecting, I was ready to unplug the unit & plug the lamp into the wall socket. I thought, All I want to do is turn on the lamp. How lazy am I that I cant reach up and turn the knob, I have to have a Smart Plug. BUT, I wanted the Smart Plug for the timer function. So I was going to Add Device for the fourth time. After picking the Smart Plug icon & giving it a name (the lamp, how original) the app found my previous device & the schedule I was able to turn on the lamp (losing 1 star for this). Havent had an issue with it since but its been a mere four days. On another note, I want to comment on others posts regarding this unit. There is a question/post about why it will not turn on a TV. Unless you have one of those old tube style TVs with a manual toggle switch that you can keep in the ON position, this will not turn on a TV. This Smart Plug is designed to simply deliver power to the TV. As I mentioned earlier, in its most basic form this unit is a one outlet power strip, that is all. The specifications of this unit are for a 100-120 Volt AC outlet with a 15amp load maximum. I have not overloaded this unit to see what would happen but my current wiring for my entertainment system (TV, DVD Player, Wii, etc) are all on one six outlet power strip on a 15amp breaker & they have not tripped the breaker yet. With that said, there is a lot of residual power being leaked by these devices while in a dormant state. I plan to order another TP-Link Smart Plug and schedule a time for these devices to receive power so they can be used. They will be off during the night & when Im away from the home, powered when I am home so I can use them. Another post or two or four mentions this unit is large & covers both wall outlets. While technically this is true, this is also technically not true. This unit has a lip on the back side where the prongs plug into the wall. A standard two prong plug can fit nicely under this unit & both seat perfectly (see the pics I loaded) while anything larger will not. You just have to plug the two prong plug into the bottom outlet first, then plug this unit into the top outlet. In the pics, I have my iClever 6 port charging station plugged into the bottom outlet (need constant power to a charging station) & the lamp via the Smart Plug in the top outlet.

**UPDATE** Sorry, I didnt know this review had gotten this much attention, but I will clear a few of my points up. I have been using the smart home devices for over 2 years now. I started with the Wemo (now have 4 outlets 3 this size and 1 insight and 2 wall switches) 3 TP-Link outlets, and 10 Philips Hue bulbs. All controlled with My Echo and 2 Dots. For the first year or so the Wemo outlets were a pain every time the power went out. Through firmware updates this is no longer the case and they work just fine now. I also was not using IFTTT at the time so it not having IFTTT support wasnt an issue for me. I have since been using IFTTT which is why Ive personally gone back to using Wemos over these, but still use these on devices I dont use IFTTT triggers with. Ill also clear up the intergrated questions. Before February or March of 2016, when using these you had to say Alexa, tell KASA to turn on XXXX you still technically have to use a skill, just it only now needs to be enabled and linked and Alexa will recognize these devices individually when searching for devices like Wemo and other integrated devices. Sorry I didnt reply to questions/issues earlier, I didnt know anyone had replied to my review. Any questions my email is in my profile. **Original review** I have been using Wemo outlets and switches for over a year now and love the ability to have Alexa turn things on and off by voice. I decided to order a few more smart home devices when Amazon released the Dot since between my Echo, its remote, and now the Dot I have voice control throughout most of my apartment. It just so happened these were on sale as a deal of the day at the right time, so I ordered 2. You will see some reviews that state these only work with Echo using a skill, that changed in February or March and they are now fully integrated with Alexa. Over the past year Ive had issues with my Wemo outlets dropping connection, and anytime I lose power Id have to set them up again. This isnt the issue with these outlets. They were very easy to setup and link to Alexa, the app walks you easily through step by step in setting them up, renaming them for Alexa and getting them online if youd like remote access. After setting mine up I decided to move them to another room. With the Wemo outlets one I unplugged them Id have to set them up again, not with these. One I plugged them in at their new location they reconnected with no issue. I highly recommend these over the more expensive Wemo outlets. I saw another reviewer complain these cover both plugs on an outlet, this is true of all of the smart outlets currently on the market, if this is an issue for you I recommend doing what I did in a couple locations and get a cheap pack of 1 extension cords. Most of my outlets are hidden from view anyway so using the extension cords wasnt an issue for me. Now off to bed Alexa, turn off lights (yeah, its been over a year and I still giggle like a little schoolboy once in awhile over this)

Update 03.27.17 From 5 stars to 1 star and now at 4stars. After the fix provided by Customer Service all seems well but time will tell. The Fix: You can download the upgrade tool here: http://static.tp-link.com/iotUpgradeTool_V1.0.zip Please note the upgrade tool is currently compatible with Windows systems only, and the computer must be on the same network as the smart device(s). After downloading the tool, extract the compressed folder using a decompression utility such as 7zip or WinRAR, and run the main executable file. Please allow firewall access if prompted by Windows. Once the program is open, click Scan, then select the smart device you want to update, and click Upgrade. If you have more than one smart device that needs updating, simply repeat these steps for each one. Once the update is completed, your smart device may need to be re-configured. If so, please use the Kasa app to re-configure the smart device. Update 03.20.17 Worst purchase ever from Tp-Link besides the new smart bulls. They are both horrible if you lose service for more than a few hours. I had to have my modem/router replaced and once all was said and done all of my original smart plugs were back online and communicating with Echo. However, after several resets, following Tp-Links instructions, my three (3) smart bulbs and my one (1) mini smart plug are still not responsive. Well, not entirely true, they are responsive after the initial reset but if I turn my phone off or leave the house, nothing. Of course they are visible on the app but unreachable. The smaller size of the new smart plugs is great but they are not worth the hassle. If this was a one-time thing maybe but I happened to live in an area that losing power for hours if not days during storms and I can’t see going through this frustration after each incident. For now I am only out a little over $100 and I am thankful this happened now before invested any more money in these products. The convenience of the smaller sized of the mini plugs and the no plug needed bulbs was sop great I naturally wanted more of them. Now, if youre wondering why my others devices worked with my new router instantly, the cable guy replaced the name or something on the new router with the name and password of my old router so I wouldnt have to reset everything. He did mention if I had a hub I would only have to redo the hub but that would still leave all of other devices, i.e. echoes, dot, thermostat, Kuna lights and everything else that runs off Wi-Fi. I know this review has crossed over between the mini plugs and the smart bulbs but since they responded the same way to my outage I thought it appropriate. However, I will be updating my review for the bulbs as well if I left one if not, I will be leaving one. I love these plugs. Set up was easy. I ordered one, then two, and now I am on my third. Having the app is great and the ability to work around my scheduled settings has proven to be a much needed asset. Im sure there may be at least one more in my future, maybe two :). And how could I forget to mention these plugs work with my Echo, even better. My house may be old but she is smart!