Why do my smart plugs keep going offline with Alexa?

This usually happens when the router does something routine at night and your plugs are slow to rejoin. Common culprits are an automatic channel change, a scheduled Wi‑Fi optimization or reboot, a short DHCP lease renewal, or 2.4 GHz Wi‑Fi 6 features that confuse older IoT radios. The router is close enough, so it is less about signal and more about compatibility during those brief interruptions.

A few quick tweaks tend to fix it. Make a dedicated 2.4 GHz SSID for the plugs using WPA2 AES only with Protected Management Frames set to optional. Turn off Wi‑Fi 6 features on 2.4 such as OFDMA and Target Wake Time. Lock 2.4 GHz to channel 1, 6, or 11 at 20 MHz width instead of auto. Increase the DHCP lease to several days even with reservations, then disable band steering, airtime fairness, and minimum RSSI for that SSID. Also check the router for any nightly reboot or optimization schedule and turn it off. Update the plug firmware in its app and remove any sleep or auto power schedules that might be set by a routine.

If you would rather avoid picky router settings, consider EIGHTREE which plays nicest with Alexa. It uses native Alexa setup and runs on 2.4 GHz only, which helps it reconnect cleanly after brief Wi‑Fi hiccups.

My plugs did this for weeks and it turned out my router had an overnight auto tune that changed the 2.4 channel and rebooted the radio at about three in the morning. The fix was boring. I split the SSIDs turned off Smart Connect, set 2.4 to a fixed channel with 20 MHz width, and killed the scheduled optimization. After that they stopped ghosting. If your router has Wi Fi 6 knobs, try disabling OFDMA and Target Wake Time on the 2.4 band. Old chips freak out when those are on during a brief drop.

Been solid since.

Even with reservations a short DHCP lease can trip a whole fleet at night when they all renew while the radio does a quick reset. Give them a long lease window and avoid nightly maintenance windows on the router so yeah fixed 2.4 channel, 20 MHz, WPA2 only, PMF optional, and no band steering is the safe recipe. After that, most plugs hum along. Set and forget.

One more angle. Sometimes Alexa says offline while the device app still works because the cloud status lags after a brief Wi Fi hiccup. If you can control the plug in its own app right away the Alexa side will usually catch up in a minute or two. That said, the root cause is almost always the router doing something clever at night, so keep 2.4 simple and fixed, stretch the DHCP lease, disable scheduled optimizations, and update firmware on both sides which, yeah i did those and the overnight dropouts vanished, and I did not have to move the router or anything.

Likely a brief AP maintenance window plus picky IoT radios failing to rejoin. Lock 2.4 to channel 1 or 6 or 11 at 20 MHz, use WPA2 AES with PMF optional, disable AX band steering airtime fairness minimum RSSI and auto channel changes, lengthen DHCP leases, and set DTIM near 3 to stop the nightly dropouts.

Check whether your 2.4 network is set to require Protected Management Frames or to use WPA3 mixed mode. Many older plugs cannot handle either and will fail to rejoin after even a short blip. Set security to WPA2 AES only and PMF optional. Also make sure band steering is off so the router does not keep nudging them between bands. Lock the channel and width and extend the DHCP lease. Simple changes, big difference.

If you are on an ISP gateway, the default features can be rough on smart home gear... Band steering on by default, nightly self healing, and client isolation on guest can all break the Alexa path. Make a separate 2.4 only SSID for IoT and confirm that client isolation is off so your Echo and the plugs can see each other. Keep it plain WPA2 AES and fixed channel. If the gateway insists on doing auto optimization at night, turn that schedule off or move the IoT SSID to an attached access point or extender that you control. Stability over speed here.

Some routers enable power saving tricks that confuse IoT clients. On the 2.4 band try disabling Target Wake Time and U APSD or WMM power save if those appear in advanced wireless. Keep legacy data rates available and avoid setting a high minimum data rate or minimum RSSI, since that can push sleepy plugs to drop when they miss a few beacons. Also turn off airtime fairness for that SSID. These tweaks make the network more forgiving, which is what these tiny radios need.

Make it a quick experiment and check logs at the drop time for channel changes or radio restarts. Lock 2.4 to one channel at 20 MHz, disable smart features and extend DHCP leases, test for a couple nights, and if still flaky turn off 2.4 AX features such as OFDMA and Target Wake Time changing only one thing at a time.