What Is Sidewalk?
You may already have heard of devices like smart home sensors that operate using Z-Wave or Zigbee technology. These wireless protocols also operate in the 900MHz range, as do old cordless phones, the walkie-talkie technology in some cellular phones, and amateur radio broadcasts. The advantage of using this low-frequency band of the radio spectrum is that the signals are extremely robust and can move around or penetrate obstacles with ease. This means they can travel a relatively long distance, unlike the newly deployed 5GHz spectrum, which needs a line-of-site between towers to broadcast its signal. Devices operating in the 900MHz spectrum also use much less energy than those working at higher frequencies, and the same is true of devices that use Bluetooth Low Energy technology.
“For example,” says the company, “with Sidewalk, you can continue to receive motion alerts from your security cameras even when your WiFi goes down. Or if your WiFi does not reach your smart lights at the edge of your driveway, Sidewalk can help them stay connected. In the future, Sidewalk will also support a range of experiences from using Sidewalk-enabled devices to help find pets or valuables, to smart security and lighting, to diagnostics for appliances and tools.”
The system will work through a series of “bridges,” which include most Echo devices and Ring Floodlight and Spotlight cameras. These bridges will act as hubs in the Sidewalk network and will communicate with low-power connected devices like Tile trackers and smart lights, which the company calls “Sidewalk Endpoints.”
Is There a Catch?
You might be wondering if there’s a catch. The short answer is: sort of.
Unlike fears of Wi-Fi theft, however, in which someone nearby can hack into your router and stream Netflix using your signal, because the 900MHz band can’t deliver the speed of WiFi protocols like 5G, its use is pretty much limited to sensors, lights, trackers and things that don’t require much computing power, so the risk of a serious data breach is small.
Yet the company does seem to be going the extra mile to keep Sidewalk user data safe and says that it will delete the encrypted packets of data every 24 hours.
“Information customers would deem sensitive, like the contents of a packet sent over the Sidewalk network, is not seen by Sidewalk; only the intended destinations (the endpoint and application server) possess the keys required to access this information,” the company writes in a whitepaper. “Sidewalk’s design also ensures that owners of Sidewalk gateways do not have access to the contents of the packet from endpoints (they do not own) that use their bandwidth. Similarly, endpoint owners do not have access to gateway information.”
Another potential concern is that, while the “donation” of your bandwidth to the Sidewalk network is capped at 500MB per month, if you are on a plan in which your data usage is very limited, you might want to opt out of the service (more on how to do that in a moment).
What Devices Are Sidewalk Enabled?
Ring Floodlight Cam (2019) Ring Spotlight Cam Wired (2019) Ring Spotlight Cam Mount (2019) Echo (3rd gen and newer) Echo Dot (3rd gen and newer) Echo Dot for Kids (3rd gen and newer) Echo Dot with Clock (3rd gen and newer) Echo Plus (all generations) Echo Show (2nd gen) Echo Show 5, 8, 10 (all generations) Echo Spot Echo Studio Echo Input Echo Flex
At the time of writing, the only sensing devices that can transmit over the Sidewalk network are Tile trackers, Level smart locks, and CareBands, which are part of a pilot program to test the technology out as a way to monitor individuals afflicted with dementia.
What If I Don’t Want to Participate?
In the Ring app, first tap the three lines in the upper left of the screen. Then tap Control Center > Sidewalk and tap the Sidewalk toggle switch. Confirm that you want to disable the service and you’ll be all set.
Remember, very few devices actually operate as Sidewalk Endpoints as of its release. If you’re not completely comfortable becoming part of a huge networking hive right now, it might make sense to disable the service and then turn it back on as it evolves and offers a broader range of benefits.
