Amazon Alexa service deteriorating?

Jul 11, 2021 15 Comments

2 years back when I bought a house, I changed all switches to smart switches, bought smart devices and did some extensive automations. Between Google and #Amazon Alexa, I chose Alexa (partly because of Cortana's potential integration at that time) and now have an echo show and a bunch of echo dot devices strategically placed throughout the house. Initially, things were good, and I had a well-functioning automated home.

Over the last year, things have gradually started turning bad to worse. Alexa has stopped recognizing my family's voice even for simple commands like turning on light so much so that all we use Alexa for is to setup timers (even that is a hit and miss). It appears accent recognition in Alexa is a widespread problem. https://medium.com/swlh/alexas-struggle-with-accents-6bc10da58dd0. Recently, my Alexa routines (automations) started vanishing at random and I am having to set things up again.

On the other hand, the #Google on our phones have no issues understanding us from far away (I have observed the same experience on my neighbor's Google home devices). I am at the verge of giving up trying to see how to trade in the Alexa devices for Google devices.

Are others using Alexa seeing the same issues? Is the issue with accents an outliner? In the context of Blind, I have been reading about the issues and culture in Alexa org and was wondering if it is finally taking a toll on the #Alexa ecosystem?

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