Fire TV Cube and Zigbee – Everything You Need To Know

As we all know, technology is advancing at an incredible rate, and almost every gadget in the home, whether it be a thermostat, television, speaker system, or even light switches is now a smart device. Of course, this has made our lives exponentially more convenient, but the tech geniuses aren’t stopping yet! The current push in the smart device market is to make each of these amazing appliances communicate with each other so that the entire house is essentially run on one smart system.

The Fire TV Cube does not have and cannot work the Zigbee mesh networking system. The Fire TV Cube essentially runs its own network through the Alexa feature which can connect to the majority of smart devices in your home, but if you have several appliances that use the Zigbee system, they will not be able to communicate.

So, now that you know that the Fire TV Cube is not compatible with Zigbee, you may still have a few questions. Such as can I use my Cube to work as a smart home device without Zigbee? Which Fire TV devices will connect with Zigbee? We are going to dig a little deeper and find out the differences between these two systems and why one or the other might be right for your home.

Can I use the Fire TV Cube as a Smart Home System Without Zigbee?

The Amazon Fire TV Cube is a smart home system that not only provides your television with over a million options for TV shows, movies, games, and more, but it also comes equipped with a microphone and speaker system that allows you to access the Alexa feature. Which in turn can connect to and control almost all your other smart devices in the home.

In order to do so, you simply need to access the Alexa app on your phone and follow the instructions provided here to add each of the other smart appliances in your home to the same system.

While this isn’t an incredibly difficult project, the one big downside compared to using the Zigbee platform is that all of your devices will only be controlled through the one hub on your wireless network instead of the several different nodes that the Zigbee provides (which we will talk about in the next section.)

If technology isn’t your strong suit, this may be a little confusing. But the basic idea is that the Cube is a one-hub connection device, but the Zigbee system is an entire mesh network.

What is the Zigbee System and How Does it Work?

Zigbee is not new to the smart home industry, however, finally the smart devices are catching up with the decade-old system and now you can control every lightbulb in your home as well as your television, thermostat, sound system, and so much more with just one mesh network.

Here’s how the Zigbee system works: Zigbee does not work on a WiFi network, but instead through radio transmitters on the same frequency that allows your appliances to communicate with far less energy. The mesh networking system allows for several different nodes, or little communication centers, throughout the home so that the one main hub does not have to do all the work.

Basically, the devices can communicate with each other (which as you now know is slightly different from Alexa who is the main communicator within the Cube that sends out directions directly to each appliance).

Many of the major smart and even home appliance companies have started creating Zigbee compatible light bulbs, machines, switches, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

So, if you think a Zigbess system might be the right choice for your home, you may want to know if there are any Amazon Fire TV streaming devices that are compatible.

Which Amazon Fire TV Devices Work with Zigbee?

Although Amazon has become part of the Zigbee family, only a few of their Alexa-enabled streaming devices are actually compatible with the system. Here are your options:

• Echo
• Echo Plus
• Echo Show
• Echo Dot

If you have one of these devices or are trying to decide which FireTV option is best for your home, you may be excited to learn that they each come equipped and ready to connect to the Zigbee network.

Final Thoughts

Smart home systems are here, and it is becoming easier every day to have an incredibly technologically advanced home without even understanding how it all works. So if you are not tech-savvy, but want the devices on your home to communicate with each other and make your life just a little easier, the Zigbee system may be the way to go.

However, the Fire TV Cube is a pretty impressive tool as well, and if you already have it, make sure you use it to its full potential by connecting as many of your smart devices as you can through the Alexa app.

Just to review, although they are both some of the market’s leading smart home options, the Fire TV Cube will not work with the Zigbee network.