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Bluetooth speaker with no wifi

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Swindmiller

Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« on: July 10, 2016, 11:37:12 am »
We are getting ready to go on vacation and will taking the Echo with us to use for music and other things. The house has wifi but we may use it by the pool with no wifi access just as a speaker.
Will the echo pair and play from a phone with no wifi?

I tried searching around but never found a straight answer.
Thanks,
Scott

DParker

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2016, 12:08:44 pm »
I haven't tried it, but it should...so long as you've previously paired the Echo with the phone in question.  An important distinction to make here is that with Bluetooth, "pairing" and "connecting" are two different things.  Pairing is the process of establishing a sort of relationship between the two devices that authorizes communication between them.  This need only be done once (provided you don't later take steps to delete the pairing information the devices store about one another).  After that what you do is periodically establish a "connection" between them, which is an active communications channel that is used to exchange information (like music data).  This is important because the pairing action will require a Wi-Fi connection, whether you initiate pairing via the phone app or voice command.  But once that is accomplished, subsequent connections may be established using only the two device's Bluetooth radios.

So, make sure your Echo and your phone are already paired before you leave on vacation and what you want to do should work.

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2016, 03:06:18 pm »
you will not get a straight answer because you provided absolutely no information to make it specific for you.  What phone model do you have and does your phone plan allow creation of a hot spot?  For example, I have the note 5 and use at$t.  The phone can do hotspots with no problem but cannot because of the phone plan I subscribe to.  I guess I could if I root the phone but...I would lose some nfc features like samsung pay. 

also see the following from the love my echo website.  It is not me using the shorten url. 

http://ht.ly/bTLy301ZuSK
« Last Edit: July 10, 2016, 03:29:42 pm by renegade600 »

DParker

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2016, 04:40:18 pm »
you will not get a straight answer...

Uh, he already got one.


Quote
because you provided absolutely no information to make it specific for you.  What phone model do you have and does your phone plan allow creation of a hot spot?

Read his post again.  All he wanted to know was whether or not he could use his Echo as a Bluetooth speaker for his phone if there was no Wi-Fi available.  The answer is "yes", so long as he pairs the phone with the Echo beforehand while he still has access to Wi-Fi.

mike27oct

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2016, 07:05:31 pm »
I have never tried this with an Echo, but I have with the portable Tap and it did not work, unless the Tap (or Echo) had a Wi-Fi connection.  If it did not have a Wi-Fi signal to connect to, the Tap basically could not work. 
My suggestion is if you want BT, then bring along a BT speaker if you have one; you don't need Wi-Fi for that. Or, bring your Echo and be prepared to go out and buy a BT speaker if the plan fails with the Echo.

Yoda_One

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2016, 07:36:06 pm »
Sorry I cannot help at all since I haven't tried using it as a standalone speaker. I already have a great mobile BT unit from HK which has great dynamic range. But you have given me another task to try during this week. [emoji38]
😆
« Last Edit: July 10, 2016, 07:44:13 pm by Yoda_One »

Yoda_One

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2016, 08:39:10 pm »
Here is a Reddit discussion and the poster said yes you can use the Echo as a stand alone BT speaker.

https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/4md7rj/echodottap_clarification/

Swindmiller

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2016, 10:07:30 pm »
Thanks for everyone's replies, I appreciate it. We are bringing another BT speaker and will have WIFI in some places so I think I am covered overall.
Tomorrow I may test it out just to see how it all works because I am curious now, I just didn't know if anyone had tried already. It may wind up being the Echo stays in the house and the BT speaker goes outside but nice to know if it "would" work or not.

Thanks,
Scott

mike27oct

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2016, 10:26:19 pm »
WHen I travel I bring a Tap, but I also will tote the BT speaker for when there is no Wi-Fi to "nudge" the Tap into working.  BTW, you missed a great sale on the Tap at Amazon this past week @ $50 off and we announced it here at the forum. --
« Last Edit: July 11, 2016, 12:40:47 pm by mike27oct »

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2016, 05:18:59 am »
you will not get a straight answer...

Uh, he already got one.


Quote
because you provided absolutely no information to make it specific for you.  What phone model do you have and does your phone plan allow creation of a hot spot?

Read his post again.  All he wanted to know was whether or not he could use his Echo as a Bluetooth speaker for his phone if there was no Wi-Fi available.  The answer is "yes", so long as he pairs the phone with the Echo beforehand while he still has access to Wi-Fi.

actually you just proved my point so thanks.  because he was NOT specific, I read the question differently than you did. 

Swindmiller

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2016, 07:34:40 am »
Wow! I didn't think my question would cause all of that. I had no interest in using my phone as a hotspot to connect to it that's why I did not mention my phone but just simply as I said, can I use it as a BT speaker without WiFI. I didn't think any more info was needed.
Either way I have my answer, thanks for all that helped!

DParker

Re: Bluetooth speaker with no wifi
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2016, 07:42:25 am »
actually you just proved my point so thanks.  because he was NOT specific, I read the question differently than you did.

 ::)