How do I address a low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)?
What is Signal to Noise Ratio?
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a measure that compares the strength of a Wifi signal to the strength of background noise that can interfere with the signal. Measured in decibels (dB), low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values indicate that there is either a high noise level in the environment or low signal strength coming from the network, or both.
What is a good SNR?
K4Community devices require an SNR of at least 25 dB. Anything above 25 dB is acceptable but the higher the better. SNR values from 25 dB - 40 dB are considered good. Above 40 dB is considered excellent. SNR values below 25 dB are considered degraded and below 18 dB are considered critically low.
Possible causes of low signal strength:
- The controller is too far away from the router or access point.
- Physical interferences like thick walls, floors, or other appliances.
- Too many controllers trying to connect to one access point.
Some possible causes of high noise values:
- Refrigerators
- Microwaves
- Cordless phones
- Wireless video cameras
How to address low SNR
To address a low SNR value, see if you can improve either the noise environment or the network signal strength. In most cases moving the device to a different location closer to the signal source and/or further from interfering devices can help a lot. In some cases it might be necessary to have the IT team review the network settings to ensure optimal signal strength is being provided from the network.
How does Resident Check-in work?
K4Community Resident Check-in leverages K4Community Smart Home devices to enable residents to passively check in with community staff, allowing them to maintain their regular routines without disruption. This innovative solution prioritizes resident safety while respecting their privacy and dignity, as well as optimizing the time and resources of community staff.
Residents simply go about their day and the smart home and/or voice automation features detect resident activity which sends a signal to community staff that the resident is up and about; checking them in for the day.
Definitions:
Check-in Window - The period of time during which the check-in rules engine is looking for activity from the resident’s smart home system. Communities have the freedom to customize their check-in windows and even add additional check-in windows throughout the day if needed.
Check-in Rules Engine - The code in K4Connect’s system that is constantly analyzing data coming from all smart home controllers in a community to determine whether a resident has checked in or needs to be checked on.
🔴 No Activity Detected Alert - This alert appears in red and is generated when there is sufficient data received from the resident’s smart home controller to determine whether there is activity detected in the resident’s home yet no activity has been detected.
⚠️ System Issue Alert - This alert appears in yellow and is generated if the check-in rules engine determines that there is not enough data received from the smart home controller to tell whether the resident is active in their home.
Activity - Activity is considered as detected if one or more of the following occur in a resident’s home during the check-in window
Motion sensor is triggered
Alexa commands are detected (resident asking for the day’s weather or events, etc)
How it works
❤️ The Happy Path
Nancy, a resident at Spring Meadow, wakes up on Saturday morning and makes her way to the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee. On her way, her kitchen motion switch detects her motion and that signal is read by the Resident Check-in system as “Activity Detected”. At the end of that day’s Check-in window Nancy’s RCI profile in the Team Hub is updated to indicate that she has checked in for the day.
Nancy’s happy that she didn’t have to be bothered with a phone call or remembering to press a button to check-in and the staff are happy that they can know Nancy’s okay without having to take time to call her or walk to her apartment (unless they just want to chat).
🔴 The Better-Safe-Than-Sorry No Activity Detected Alert
Nancy, a resident at Spring Meadow, wakes up on Monday morning and goes about her normal routine of brewing a cup of coffee and catching up on the day’s news on her iPad. Unfortunately, her K4Community smart home controller lost its wifi connection that morning around 3am when a lightning storm rolled through. For that reason, the motion activity that her kitchen motion switch picked up isn’t registered by the Resident Check-in system and so, at the end of the check-in window, an alert is generated in the Staff Team Hub indicating “No activity detected” in her home for that morning. This prompts a community staff member to reach out to Nancy and they confirm that she is, indeed, safely up and about and they resolve the alert with a note indicating that they spoke with her by phone.
Later that day, community the maintenance team notices on the K4Ops NOC that Nancy's smart home controller is offline and drop by to fix it, confirming in the NOC that the smart home controller has reconnected.
🔴 The Real No Activity Detected Alert
Nancy, a resident at Spring Meadow, has been having some trouble with her hip recently and on Friday morning she was unable to make it out of bed as a result. At the end of the check-in window an alert is generated in the staff Team Hub indicating “No activity detected”. This prompts a community staff member to reach out to Nancy but they’re unable to reach her by phone. A staff member stops by to check on Nancy and helps her get to her wheelchair and gets her the help she needs to address her hip pain.
The staff member resolves the No Activity Detected alert and sets Nancy’s RCI profile as away for the weekend since she’ll be staying at a physical rehabilitation facility to recover from her hip injury and regain her strength.
⚠️ The System Issue Alert
On Friday morning around 10:00 AM, Nancy, a resident at Spring Meadow, unplugged her smart home controller to make room for a new digital picture frame that she received as a gift from her daughter. The following day, she woke up around 8:00 AM and went about her normal routine, heading to the kitchen for her first cup of coffee. Although, since her smart home controller is no longer connected to wifi, the motion that is picked up on her kitchen motion switch is not read by the Resident Check-in system. So, at the end of that day’s check-in window, the community staff see a System Issue alert on Nancy’s profile. This means that there’s not enough data received from her smart home controller to make a determination of whether she has checked in for the day or not. So the RCI system recommends checking on Nancy to be sure.
Later that day, community the maintenance team notices on the K4Ops NOC that Nancy's smart home controller is offline and drop by to fix it, confirming in the NOC that the smart home controller has reconnected.
What's the difference between Posts and Notices?
| Notice | Post | |
| Allows staff to manually publish content to the app | ✅ | ✅ |
| Share Information by Care Setting, Contact Type, & User Groups | ✅ | ✅ |
| Allows push notifications | ✅ | ❌ |
| Can be filtered to show content published to an individual resident's feed | ✅ | ❌ |
| Allows posting content to a single resident's feed | ❌ | ✅ |
| Supports posting to Content Groups/Folders (Dining Info, Resources, etc.) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Shows content published to Plus app via FusionOS integrations (i.e. work order status, meal balances, etc.) | ❌ | ✅ |
Setting a Notice Priority to Urgent triggers a push notification to the Plus app. Low, Medium, & High priorities can be configured to integrations that drive notifications. These can be customized for notifying users of the Plus app as well as K4 Voice devices. At this time Urgent is the only priority with a configured behavior which is triggering push notifications to the Plus app
For a community with many integrations active, the Post view can become very busy-looking. Once you have your admin permissions configured, you may choose to make Posts Read Only for your team and do most of your proactive communication from Notices.
What's the difference between a K4 Alexa and a personal one?
Overview
K4 Alexas are considered enterprise-managed devices which means these devices are centrally managed by K4Connect and configured according to K4's policies and requirements. One of the advantages of enterprise-managed devices is that the community does not need to constantly manage device updates, settings, user assignments, etc. This is all handled by K4 allowing a simple plug-and-play experience. One of the drawbacks however is that residents are unable to add their personal skills to these devices. The skills enabled on the enterprise-managed devices are strictly managed by K4.
This is where the K4Community personal Alexa skills come in. Residents are able to add the K4 skills that are included on an enterprise-managed device onto their personal, consumer device. This allows them to have all the benefit and functionality of the K4 skills along with the flexibility and customizability of a personal Alexa. The drawback to this, however is that if there's an issue with the device, K4 is not able to support or troubleshoot that. Unless the problem is with the skill itself, the troubleshooting and settings configuration will be the responsibility of the resident and/or community staff.
The purpose of this article is to detail the differences in behavior and policy between the K4 Alexas and personal ones.
Licensing and Privacy | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
The license and privacy policy for a consumer device is between the individual user and Amazon. Amazon collects usage and other data that can be associated with a person. Using the Alexa App on a mobile device, users can access all the data Amazon collected about them.
|
The license and privacy policy for an enterprise-managed device are between the legal entity, the operator, and Amazon. Although Amazon can collect usage and other data, this data is not associated with an individual. Amazon provides generic usage information at a community level. They do not provide usage data about a person or a specific device. The data reported provides an overall sense of the general categories all users are doing on the fleet of devices; for example, playing music, asking about the weather, or other information. No information provided by Amazon will identify a specific device or individual. |
|
Both devices stream audio to Amazon's secure cloud for processing. It only does so after the wake word is spoken and detected by the device which is indicated by the light ring illuminating cyan on blue to indicate Alexa is listening. For more, refer to our article on Enterprise Alexa Privacy | |
Device Setup | |
How is the device set up for use? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
Consumer devices are set up and provisioned one at a time by the individual user at the time the unit is unboxed. Setup is done directly on the device via the Alexa Mobile App. The device is associated with an individual’s Amazon account. The setup includes associating the device to WiFi, specifying the device's location (for features like weather), and other personalization settings. |
Enterprise-managed devices are set up and provisioned for an entire community by K4 before they are shipped to the community. This setup includes setting the location and WiFi information specific to the community. The device will only work when connected to the K4Community SSID. The device is associated with a particular apartment or home in the community as opposed to a specific resident. Upon unboxing the device, the unit is completely functional and does not require any additional setup. |
Can the resident change the device's settings? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes The user can change the settings on the device from the device itself or the Alexa app. |
🚫 No All settings are changed by the community or K4Connect Client Support. |
Can the resident change the device's wake word? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes The user can modify the wake word to any of the built-in options. |
🚫 No All settings are changed by the community or K4Connect Support. |
Can K4 control the settings configuration on the device? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
🚫 No Each user’s device is associated with their Amazon account. In general, users don’t share their Amazon accounts with 3rd parties. |
✅ Yes Configurations can be changed for all devices at once or on a device-by-device basis by K4Connect. Settings that can be changed include wake word, speaking rate, and accessibility features such as captioning. |
Home Screen Content (Echo Show) | |
Can the community display information on the screen of the device when the device is idle? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
🚫 No The device will only show content controlled by Amazon. Users can select what categories of content they want to see, but there is no way for the community to display their information such as events and notices. |
🚫 No The home screen content is managed by K4Connect, which includes displaying local weather information. |
Built-in Alexa RequestsBuilt-in Alexa Requests are top-level questions Alexa can answer without the need for the user to invoke a specific skill. Generally, the user will say the device's wake word and then a question or command. The chart below is not an exhaustive list, but in general, if the request requires the device to know personal information about the user, the enterprise-managed device will not fulfill it. | |
Can the user ask the device about local weather?Example: “Alexa, is it raining” or “Alexa, what’s today’s forecast?” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Can the user ask the device for weather at other locations?Example: “Alexa, what’s the weather like in Seattle” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Can the user ask for general information?Example: “Alexa, how many teaspoons are in a cup?” or “Alexa, who won the Tour de France?” or “Alexa, What is the capital of North Carolina” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Can the user set timers and reminders? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Can the user ask the device for a joke?Example: “Alexa, tell me a joke?” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | 🚫 No |
Can the user put items on a list?Example: “Alexa, add eggs to the shopping list.” or Alexa, put change lightbulb in the kitchen on the to-do list? | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes |
🚫 No No, lists require an Amazon account and enterprise-managed devices are not associated to individual users due to Amazon’s privacy policy |
Can the user ask the device for current news stories?Example: “Alexa, what’s in the news?” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
✅ Yes |
🚫 No |
Can the user silence Alexa’s “okay” after responding to prompts? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | 🚫 No |
K4Community Voice SkillThe K4Community Voice Skill offers residents access to important information from community staff, including updates on events, notices, dining options, and more. While this article does not include an exhaustive list of the skill's capabilities, the table below outlines the various ways users can engage with the skill on both consumer and enterprise-managed devices. For a comprehensive overview of the skill's features, please refer to the Community Content section in Supported Alexa Commands. The K4Community Skill provides similar functionality on both consumer and enterprise-managed devices, with the exceptions outlined below. | |
Can the user request information from the K4 skill without the need to preface the request with the skill name?Example: “Alexa, what is for dinner tonight?” or “Alexa, what are the community notices?” or “Alexa, when is Yoga?” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes* *Personal Alexas do a good job of intuiting which skill to use to answer certain questions, but, in some cases, the user may need to specify, "Ask K4..." or "Alexa, open K4..." |
✅ Yes Because the enterprise-managed Alexas are configured specifically for community-based information, they automatically engage the K4Community Voice skill to answer them. |
Can the home screen of the skill be opened via a voice request?Example: “Alexa, open K4” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
For Echo Show, can the user interact with the screen interface once the skill is opened? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Third Party Content SkillsThird Party Content Skills extend the capabilities of personal Alexa devices via independent, non-Amazon skill developers. Skills can be found on Amazon’s website or in the Alexa mobile app. | |
Can the user have the K4Community Voice skill on their device? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes The K4Community Voice skill is available in the Skill Store. The user must enable the skill themselves using the credentials used to access K4Community on the web or mobile app. Refer to Enabling K4Community Public Skills on a Personal Alexa for more details |
✅ Yes The device is pre-configured with the K4Community Skill and it is associated with the user’s room when the device is unboxed and turned on. |
Can the user enable any skill from the skill store? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes Since it is their device the user can enable both paid and unpaid skills. |
🚫 No Users can not enable third party skills since the device is not associated with their Amazon account. |
Can the community enable skills on the users device? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
🚫 No The device is associated to the User’s Amazon accountant the community does not have access the account associated with the device. |
🚫 No While K4, in the past, enableed third party skills on devices, we found this to be problematic and we discontinued the practice. |
Third Party Smart Home SkillsSmart Home is another area where third parties can extend the capabilities of Alexa devices including smart appliances, entertainment devices, and home comfort and security devices like lights, cameras, and thermostats. | |
Can the user have the K4Community Smart Home skill on their device? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes The K4Community Smart Home skill is available in the Skill stores. The user must enable the skill themselves using the credentials used to access K4Community on the web or mobile app. Refer to How to Enable Alexa Public Skills on a Personal Alexa Device for more details |
✅ Yes The device is pre-configured with the K4Community Smart Home Skill and it is associated to the user’s room when the device is unboxed and turned on. |
Can the user incorporate K4Community Smart Home devices into device groups? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
| ✅ Yes |
✅ Yes Groups can be created by sending a request to K4Connect Support. |
Can the user enable other third party Smart Home skills on the device? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes Since it is their device the user can enable both paid and unpaid Smart Home skills. |
🚫 No Only the K4Community Smart Home Skill and devices are available. |
EntertainmentEntertainment includes music and videos directly from Amazon or via third party providers like iHeart Radio, Netflix, Apple Music, and many other content providers. The table below highlights the general differences between the entertainment options available on the two devices, and it does not focus on any particular content provider unless specified. | |
What music services can the device play music from? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
The device can play music from any of the available music services Amazon Alexa offers including Apple, Amazon, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Pandora, and others. The features available for playing music vary depending on the service used. The majority of music services require a paid subscription that is associated with the user. |
The device is capable of streaming music from the iHeart Radio service, which is provided at no additional cost to the user. |
Can the user ask to play a certain genre?Example: “Alexa, play country music” or “Alexa, play Jazz music." | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
|
It depends on the music services configured on the user’s Alexa account. If there is no service configured Amazon Music will fulfill the request. If the user is not an Amazon Music subscriber, a few songs will play and they will be prompted to subscribe. |
iHeart Radio will play a station that matches the genre requested. |
Can the user ask to play music by a certain artist?Example: “Alexa, play songs by Alan Jackson” or “Alexa, play music by the Beatles.” | |
Consumer Device |
Enterprise-managed Device |
|
It depends on the music services configured on the user’s Alexa account. If there is no service configured Amazon Music will fulfill the request. If the user is not an Amazon Music subscriber, a few songs will play and they will be prompted to subscribe. |
iHeart Radio will play a song by the requested artist then continue playing a station that matches the genre of the artist. |
Can the user ask to play a certain song?Example: “Alexa, play Freebird” | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
It depends on the music services configured on the user’s Alexa account. If there is no service configured Amazon Music will fulfill the request. If the user is not an Amazon Music subscriber, a few songs will play and they will be prompted to subscribe. |
iHeart Radio will play songs in the same genre of the artist of the requested song. |
CommunicationsIncluding video and voice calling. | |
Can the user set up personal contacts to communicate with? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes The device uses the contacts from the user's phone where the Alexa mobile app is located. |
✅ Yes Residents can enter personal contacts and friends in the K4Community Plus app and Alexa will recognize those as contacts she can call provided that the friend has a telephone number associated or an email address associated that is also connected to an Alexa account. Additionally, staff members can also enter a resident’s personal contacts via the Team Hub. |
Can the community enter community contacts for the resident, for example, security, the front desk, or restaurants? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
🚫No Since the device is associated with the user’s Alexa account, each resident will need to enter these contact numbers independently. |
✅ Yes The community can provide a community contact list in the Team Hub. All numbers entered here are available on all enterprise-managed devices. |
Can residents make voice calls to one another on their devices? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes Provided that the other resident is set up as a contact on their phone. |
✅ Yes All residents in the Directory are added to the contact list automatically and can be called by asking Alexa to call [resident name]. However, residents can opt-out of being called via the K4Community Plus app. In those cases, Alexa will not call the resident. |
Can residents make video calls with friends? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes Provided that the resident has an Echo Show and the friend is set up as a contact on their phone and the friend has a personal Alexa account. |
✅ Yes Provided that the resident has an Echo Show and the friend has a video-enabled device with Alexa and an email address associated that is also connected to an Alexa account. |
Can Skype video calls be sent and received on the device? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes Provided that the Skype skill is installed and the user authenticates the skill with their Skype account. |
🚫 No Only the built-in Alexa video calling feature is available. |
Shopping | |
Can the device be used for Amazon shopping features? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes Since the device is associated to an Amazon account, the user can use Amazon shopping services like product ordering and order status. |
🚫 No Shopping requires an Amazon account and enterprise-managed devices are not associated to individual users due to Amazon’s privacy policy. |
Will users be asked to add on subscriptions and other costs? | |
| Consumer Device | Enterprise-managed Device |
|
✅ Yes Since it is a consumer device the users will have an opportunity to purchase and add additional services, such as music, paid skills, and more. |
🚫 No Since the device is associated with a room and not a user, no charges or paid services should be suggested or purchasable. |
Can I move an Alexa from one room to another?
Yes. Our Alexa devices can be moved from room-to-room. You'll need to plug the device in and reach out to our Support team. We'll confirm the device is online and move the device for you. We recommend updating any labels on the device to mark it as belonging to the new location.
Can I publish videos or GIFs to Digital Signage?
No. Digital Signage players are not equipped to handle video or GIFs.
Can I move a Digital Signage player to a new location?
Yes. Digital Signage players can be moved to other locations throughout the community. You'll need to modify the Destination name for that player under the Destination section. Additionally, you'll need to contact our Support team to let us know what the new name of the player is. We'll make the necessary configuration updates on our end to keep everything consistent.
Why is YouTube blocking our public IP?
If you have noticed that YouTube is blocking your public IP resulting in an inability for residents to view videos in the K4Community Plus app and Direct Broadcast, this means that your public IP has been associated in YouTube's system with "malicious activity." That doesn't mean that it's anyone at your community being flagged. It could be someone nearby. But either way, the solution remains the same
Solution
Our recommended fix is to ask your internet service provider (ISP) for a new IP from a different "clean IP block”. Another options is to reach out to YouTube Support to request that they whitelist your IP. You can pursue both of the options in parallel if you like.
Why is my content group folder no longer visible in K4Community Plus?
Content group folders only show up in K4Community Plus if there is content published in that folder. If you notice the folder isn't appearing in Plus app, verify that there's content published there. If so and you're still not seeing the folder, reach out to our Support team.
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