Alexa Smart Properties in Senior Living Networking Requirements and Best Practices
To help ensure a good user experience for guests at your Alexa Smart Properties in senior living properties, follow the requirements and best practices in this topic.
Firewall and network requirements
To make calls from your Amazon Echo devices, you must configure the following ports and protocols:
| Service | Protocol | Destination port | Transport |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Signaling |
HTTPS |
443 |
TCP |
|
Media port/connectivity negotiation |
ICE/STUN/TURN |
3478 |
TCP/UDP |
|
PSTN calling audio |
SRTP |
49152 – 65535 |
UDP |
Recommended network and security settings
- Use a dedicated SSID that has only Alexa devices connected to it.
- Alexa Smart Properties in senior living doesn't support configuring Alexa devices through captive portals.
- Configure your backend DHCP server to provide only IPv4 addresses. Disable IPv6 addresses.
- Add the following ports and protocols to your firewall allow list:
| Port | Protocol | URL |
|---|---|---|
|
123 |
UDP | |
|
443 |
TCP |
All of the following URLs:
|
|
4070 |
TCP/UDP | |
|
5353 |
UDP | |
|
33434 |
TCP/UDP |
https://pins.amazon.com |
|
40317 |
TCP/UDP |
https://pins.amazon.com |
|
49317 |
TCP/UDP |
https://pins.amazon.com |
Recommended access point configuration
Keep the following guidelines in mind when configuring the access point for your Alexa devices.
- To prevent interference and bandwidth starvation in heavy traffic environments, set up dedicated access points that operate on Wi-Fi channels that are separate from the main property Wi-Fi and guest Wi-Fi.
- To prevent Bluetooth interference, Zigbee interference, and interference from adjacent overlapping Wi-Fi channels in the 2.4 GHz, use the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band and not the 2.4 GHz band for device operation. Also make sure to position devices away from sources of possible interference, such as microwave ovens and baby monitors.
- Alexa devices don't support DFS channels. Avoid using DFS channels on the access point.
- Set up an Access Control List (ACL) on your routers to allow-list the MAC Address of specific Alexa devices to connect to a particular access point. In the event of a temporary access point outage, this setting prevents Alexa devices from connecting to an access point further away.
- Set up the access point to operate on a fixed channel. This prevents the access point from hopping between channels and causing disconnection issues on the Alexa device. In addition, disable channel bonding on the access point, and use 20 MHz channel bandwidth.
- Set up the access point to operate within a specific transmit power range based on the type of room.
- For smaller rooms: To ensure that the access point isn't detectable in adjacent rooms, set the transmit power to between 8 dBm (decibel-milliwatt) and 10 dBm. In addition, try to place the Alexa device at least three feet away from the access point.
- For larger rooms and suites: To ensure that the access point is detectable throughout the suite, set the transmit power to between 15 dBm to 18 dBm. In addition, try to place the Alexa device at least three feet away from the access point. Note: The maximum recommended distance between the Alexa device and the access point is approximately 70 feet.
- Try to find the least-used channels, and set the channels on your access points accordingly. The following table shows an example channel allocation for four channels (802.11a—36, 48, 149, and 161) in a building that contains nine rooms across three floors.
| 149 | 48 | 149 |
| 161 | 36 | 161 |
| 149 | 48 | 149 |
Bandwidth
An intermittent internet connection or low bandwidth can cause streaming issues. To ensure that guests can stream music, audiobooks, and other content through Alexa, your internet connection should be at least 512 Kbps (0.51 Mbps).
Last updated: Mar 21, 2022