Kasa Smart HS100 WiFi Smart Plug, Classic 1-Pack, White

OK, my error in not reading the reviews before I ordered this. I needed another DOT and fell the the promotion to purchase a smart plug at the same time for $35. Since the Dot is $30, the plug was only $5 so I thought I would give it a try. Bad move. If you are thinking on purchasing any TP LInk product check out their forums page first and you will see frustrated people trying to get this thing to work on their network. Since I cant post the forum link directly, try searching for tp-link forum and you should find it. Ive tried restarting the setup process several times, clearing things, changing settings, etc. and nothing seems to make this plug work on my network. You must enable remote control for the device in order for Alexa to recognize the plug. The problem is, I cannot turn on the remote control setting. The app keeps telling me the plug has no internet connection. The problem seems to be getting the smart plug to work with my router. I see several messages about people buying a new router to get this plug to work properly. Then I see instructions for fooling around with router settings etc. etc. etc. Im not about to purchase a new router because this device cannot work properly with the one I have (only a couple of years old). Ill probably not return this as it does work with the phone app, but that is not what I wanted (I wanted it to work with Alexa). At this point I am completely turned off on these smart plugs. Ill do some searching to see if there are other devices that work properly, but you would think that something that is marketed by Amazon as working with Alexa would actually work but I guess not. UPDATE OK, I opened the package at 11 am this morning. It is now 7:45 pm and I just got this device to work with Alexa. I figure I have spent at least 5 hours searching for the solution, which I found on the forum website. Maybe you will have better luck with the setup of this so-called smart plug but dont count on it. The problem is definitely related to the router that is in use. If you have the wrong one, then you are going to have problems. Because of the setup issues I still leave the rating as 1 star. UPDATE 2 days later OK, I would now give this device minus 5 stars as it stopped working with Alexa today and back to the old problem. No new equipment installed, I havent changed any settings on Alexa, Router or the device. It just decided to give up on its own. UPDATE 12 days later I pretty much gave up getting Alexa to control this device. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didnt. The problem is, Alexa would frequently not tell you if it was successful or not when asking to turn off the plug. I wanted the plug to control my stereo so I wouldnt have to turn it off manually. It got to the point where I had to go check to see if it turned off. Now, what good is that? As I stated before, it works fine with my phone but having Alexa CONSISTENTLY control this device is impossible as it keeps loosing its integration with Alexa. I did receive a nice email from Amazon with suggestions on how to set it up. Of course, I have already gone through those procedures too many times to bother trying them again. These devices remind me of the bad old days when trying to setup a PC. Seems that companies continue to make the same errors over and over again.

Works smoothly with Alexa. After you install the TP-LINK software / app, Alexa is able to link with the cloud based TP-Link app and discovers the devices registered with TP-Link. Alexa will discover the device name(s) given at the TP-Link site. If you want to change the device name, because some may sound similar and Alexa has trouble to understand correctly, youll have to visit TP-Link to change the name and have Alexa possibly re-discover. I have a few of them smart plugs to switch certain lights on / off that dont have a dedicated light switch. If I remember correctly, the plug is rated at 1800 Watt and can switch heavier loads than light bulbs. There are other switches / plugs on the market that may be a little less expensive, but I didnt want to mess around with there link apps for security reasons. TP-LINK is in the business for network devices some time and I trust (hopefully) they made the app reasonably secure against hacker. I believe it is best to keep any of your skills to a minimum (in particular the free with adds), so I just use TP-Link products since they can be controlled by one app / skill. Each device acquires a seat in your router (with DHCP enabled IP-Addressing) also using the embedded MAC (Media Access Control Number) to keep it reasonably safe from intruders. Most routers can assign 255 IPs hence 255 devices. I havent tried, but one could probably run the devices on MAC. As of the time of this review, all is working as intended! Alexa can hear my commands over a distance of a little more than 10 feet, although I have to admit, she is a little shielded from my voice. (Placement for strong router signal) Since I am somewhat lazy, I purchased a second Echo-Dot with a little bluetooth speaker for my Bedroom. This way I tell Alexa to switch off my bedroom light and play some music for a given time. I also, have some difficult to reach light switches e.g. behind doors and replaced them with TP-LINK WiFi light switches.

These things are awesome! I tend to not review as much anymore because...well...it is a time suck and priorities have doing other things. But in this case I feel compelled as I noticed the most helpful critical reviews had scared off a few would be purchases in describing issues when using high wattage. In my home I generally have lamp lighting and these things allow me to will lights on with must my voice (Echo Required) or the Kasa app manually or via the schedule. I also have gone a little overboard with Echos and Dots that allow me to speak just about anywhere and turn up the heat or have lights on and off. I am in the tech business, so this is the kind of thing that happens... But I just want to let people know that I have had no issues at all with these things...well...occasionally Alexa needs to be told twice to turn something on or off...but that is very much the exception. And my experience is with over 17 of these units...I did take advantage of the holiday pricing to ramp up...lol. With regard to wireless connectivity...I use this with my drive lights where the outlet is some 50 ft or so from the access point with no issues I had to purchase oversized outlet covers for the drive lights and the xmas lights I installed...but it is totally cool to have them all come on at the same moment via different outlets.. Their form factor could use some improvement, as you have to have a fairly small plug to use on the other outlet...as larger ones will not fit...about the only bone I have to pick. And what is great about these vs. wireless switches is they are mobile and my investment goes with me if I have to move. Cheers.

This plug is great. The app is very fast to open and locate the device. Easy to setup and use remotely. I bought this for my mothers house because she uses lights on mechanical timers and is always calling me to complain that the lights are coming on too early, too late or turning off at the wrong time. I have a wifi bulb at home from a different manufacturer, which I set to turn on automatically every night at a specified time but the app is slow to locate it when I want to adjust the time. This TP-Link is very fast with the Kasa app. I was driving home after installing it and she called to tell me the light was still on, so I pulled up the app and I was able turn it off from 10 miles away and adjusted the turn off time from the road. I didnt need to change the IP account to static or anything. It just works. I will be buying a few more for my own use and a few light switches as well. You have to setup and an account to use it remotely, but thats just an email address, which you verify by clicking on the tab when you receive the confirmation, and a password. Ill be buying a few smart switches from TP-Link soon to change in her house too. Two more things to note. This has a USB port on the side I believe to charge things with. It was not used in the setup at all. Also, you can see remotely which devices are on or off. Great product TP-Link!!

I bought this TP-link smart plug for a lamp in the corner of my bedroom. I like the location of the soft lighting when I am reading or watching tv in bed but it got annoying to have to get up and switch it off when I got drowsy. I got the TP-link plug before I got the Amazon Echo so I set it up with the Kasa app which I placed on my Android tablets and phone. The app immediately found the device and connected to my wifi network with the option to give the plug a personalized name. When I would log onto the app, I was presented with a power button next to that name, so it was just a tap on that to turn it off or on. I was quite happy with that. Once I got my Echo, I switched over to using the plug with that. Again, the plug was quickly detected and so very simple to use. I was happy using the app but the Echo raised the bar and it is so nice to be able to just voice my request rather than reaching for a phone or tablet app. The plug is large which may be a concern depending on the size of any other plugs that need to be placed next to it. I have it plugged into a surge suppressor where I have outlets that I do not use, so it is not a problem for me. I plan to purchase more TP-Link plugs since I am quickly becoming addicted to having Alexa’s quick response to my requests for turning it on or off.

I have been using this product after experiencing a lot of difficulty with a competitors product. I started with one basic, over sized switch and was impressed with its ease of setup and use as well as the features for the price. I then added a wall switch (great price for a similarity easy to use and function product), and then a mini switch. The mini was where I had issues, but I think they are easily resolved. More on that in a moment. I also tried the over sized energy monitoring switch and it worked great as well. Easy setup and easy to use, with a basic set of features I would expect for the price. So for the minis. I tried one and had the same 24 hour reset issue several people are noting. I thought maybe it was a bad switch, so I tried two more since I have been automating my home anyway. Same issue. I contacted customer support and they provided me a quick tool to upgrade the firmware. After completing that step (and upgrading my router, which was a separate issue that most will not experience if you only have a couple devices on your network), the issue appears to be resolved. I would recommend that if you have an issue with the switch dropping off the network, get the tool to upgrade the firmware to at least 1.0.0 or higher (all my switches that were working originally were 1.0.0 or higher, all the minis were less than 1.0.0). Now I have no issues. I think if you have more than say 15-20 devices on your network and your relying on the standard cable company modem/router, you may need to look into upgrading. I started having a lot of issues with devices on my network with my cable company provided equipment past about 20 devices (cable company said really 16 is the max), but now that I have upgraded (in addition to the firmware fix), everything is running very smoothly. Four stars because I think this switch should have some sort of energy monitoring for the price, but the ease of use and functionality still makes it worth purchasing. I have purchases several more.

*** Edited, after response from TP-Link support, I see the device does support the features I expected *** I was looking for a plug to turn off a noisy fridge near my movie room during hours Im likely to be watching movies (plus let me turn it on/off with a tap if I want to override that schedule). This device lets me do exactly that, though the Kasa app that controls it leaves these features somewhat buried (I initially couldnt figure out how to find the scheduled on/off settings, and left a negative review, which you can read below, but TP-Link support replied to the review with a description of how to find the features I needed, so Ive updated the review). The trick I needed in the Kasa app is, after setting up the switch, in the Devices tab with the list of switches (maybe just the one), tap on the name of the switch (and if that doesnt work, keep tapping other parts of the same row) until a new screen opens up with schedule/away/timer options (and a gear icon which opens a deeper settings screen which lets you enable a remote control mode). I initially got confused because the main screen of the Kasa app has a smart actions tab which leads to a teaser screen for a separate smart home router product which isnt available yet. *** Original review below *** I assume this thing works fine if all you want it to do is turn on and off directly from your phone and have only one Wi-Fi network that both your phone and the plug are connected to. That doesnt work for me because - I put my Internet-of-Things devices on a separate IOT network because I dont trust them, and dont want to allow every vendor with some remote cloud access into my entire home network. This device required my iPhone (where the Kasa app runs) to be on the same layer 2 network as the smart plug device, both for initial setup and thereafter (I tried putting my phone on my IOT network, setting up the smart plug device, then switching my phone back to my main Wi-Fi network, and the Kasa app would no longer control the smart plug, even though direct IP access works fine between those networks). - both the Amazon product page, and the product packaging, say it supports timer features. This isnt true, without a separate smart home router device that not only is a separate purchase, but isnt even shipping yet. So in the Kasa app, I now have 3 tabs: - Devices has the smart plug grayed out because its not on the same network - Scenes has the same story, cant see the smart plug - Smart Actions is just a teaser screen saying Add a Smart Home Router and enjoy smarter control of your devices, with a LEARN MORE button that takes me to a page on tp-links website saying Smart Home Router. COMING SOON. Pretty weak for a device whose Amazon product description is TP-Link Smart Plug, No Hub Required.

Works as advertised. Set up was easy and painless. Usage is pretty straightforward. I do like that I can use Google Assistant with it, too. Being able to tell Google Assistant to turn on the porch/garage light without having to touch my phone as I drive up to the house or to say turn everything off when going to bed is super convenient. That said, I do have a few gripes: 1. The plug is rather large and will block the other outlet in a duplex outlet. I guess the solution is to get the (slightly_more_expensive) mini version of this. 2. These can only be controlled via mobile app. A desktop app or browser plugin would be great. 3. (Android) The app widget takes up a 4x2 space and contains 4 *scenes. While you can resize the widget to be bigger (as big as the screen, if you wish), theres really no point because it doesnt add more scenes despite the extra space. Its limited to 4. No more, no less. This makes no sense. For me, I only really need one scene and currently theres no way to make the widget smaller with less than 4 scenes. 4. Scenes cannot enable an auto-timer (or, for smart bulbs, do complex behaviors such as scrolling through bulb colors. A sleep timer that ends with a gradual dimming would be amazing). You also cannot schedule scenes, if you want scheduling, you need to do it for each plug/bulb individually. Gripes aside, Im actually very pleased with the line of TP-Links smart products. I just hope Ill see issues 2-4 mentioned above resolved in a future update. *Scenes are programmable switches that can turn on/off TP-Link Smart Plugs and/or TP-Link Smart Bulbs for particular situations. For example, if you come home at night, you can have a scene to turn on your garage and patio lights, dim the lights (eg: 15%) for watching a movie, or just turn everything off when you go to bed. You can do any combination of plugs or bulbs. Scenes for smart plugs are limited to on/off actions only. Scenes for smart bulbs can do on/off and brightness level/color temp/color (depending on your bulb model).

Let me start by saying, when I first installed these they worked great. I have four of them. The reason I bought was to help my mother who has a hard time getting around. We loved showing them off to friends and family. Soon the love turned to frustration. They are easy to set up, my Wi-Fi had no problems finding and set up was fast. I put the app. on my phone and Fire tablet. Even setup groups to turn all on and off at same time. I could control while away from the house or using everyones wi-fi or cell tower. The problem is they continue to lose connection to Wi-Fi and then Alexa will not control. App says local only, meaning you have to get your phone to turn on and off, and you have to be in the house on your Wi-Fi. I have strong Wi-Fi signal at my house. You can get 300 plus yards away and still get a signal. I live in a rural area, no neighbors. So there is no other Wi-Fi interference. Other problems, re-setting them all the time. You have to delete one by one and sometimes the app will not let you do that. Why cant there be a simple reset? Then when you go to reinstall it, can not find. You can do it manually, then that is hit or miss. I have had them for over six months. I reset all of them last night 12-2-16 and today when I woke up two were off line. I really want them to work. Talking to Alexa is a fun way to control lights, but im getting tired of hearing Alexa say sorry I cant find table light and so on. Dont waste your money on this. I am curious to know if the people who left good reviews, did it right away or waited a few weeks to try out? I always wait a few months before I do. I am ready to recreate the scene from Office Space with the fax machine. Q, generic response from TP-Link, Ill update if they have any real answer to the problems. UPDATE 12/14/16 I did a reset on all 12/4/16 as of the 14th they are all working fine. So 10 days with no problems. Lets see how long we can go. Also for the people how say plugs are to big and block furniture. Try Power Extension Cord Cable, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CEJW0WQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I agree with all of the positive reviews on here, so I am writing for a more specific purpose. First, I am currently using 4 of these plugs to control Christmas lights as a group via Kasa and Alexa. It works every time. Alexa, turn on Christmas. More importantly, I am able to use this plug to power on/off an amp, which powers external speakers. Here is the setup: Echo Dot, wired bookshelf speakers, speaker wire, 3.5mm cable, small lepai amp and this plug. I already had all of these items except the plug. I will admit that there are cheaper alternatives to my setup for bluetooth speakers or the dots internal speaker that may work better for most people who just want a little background music in the kitchen rather than wired speakers. When the 3.5mm cable is connected to the Dot, the Dots internal speaker does not work. You can use external speakers, but they must be powered by another source. So, I was stuck turning on and off and amp by hand. This defeats the purpose of voice command until I bought this plug. Now I always leave the amps on/off switch to ON and connect the amps power supply to this plug. I keep the amps volume relatively low to avoid speaker popping when the amp receives power. I control the remaining volume with my voice with Alexa once I turn the amp on. Now, from anywhere on the first floor, I can say Alexa, turn on speaker and the plug will switch the amp on and the speakers are 10 times better than Alexas internal speaker. Alexa, volume 10! A few extra notes: *Even if the speakers are off, I can still use Alexa, but I will not hear her response because the speakers are off and the Dot is still connected to the 3.5mm cable. Hence, the Dots internal speaker is inactive. Its easy to turn the speakers on if I really need to hear Alexa, but my light commands still work very well without the need to always have the external speakers on. *I named the plug Speaker in the Kasa app *The plug normally covers both openings in the outlet. The outlet pictured has a little more space in between because there is a reset button in between the two openings. Fair warning if you are thinking about buying smart devices for the first time: Yes, they are awesome. They are awesome, most are very expensive and adding to your set up is addictive. I cant wait to see what other work-arounds people come up with....