iBlockCube Smart Plug, 10A WiFi Outlet Wifi Plug Works Amazon Alexa Echo Dot, Google Home with Wireless Remote Control, Timer Set Switch Socket & Energy Monitoring Functions No Hub Required (2 Packs)

Ooh it's hot in here, Alexa, turn on the fan". "Ok""It's getting a bit chilly, Alexa turn off the fan". "Ok"I didn't know if I was ever going to join the "smart" revolution, but I picked up an echo dot with a promo code and love it! (I now have 2!)I can play multiplayer quizzes, ask the weather, listen to music... Anyway, what I hadn't used, until now, is the ease of a "smart life". The dot doesn't come with a built in hub and I just assumed I couldn't operate smart technology. I was wrong!These plugs come with the built in capability of connecting to your Alexa device (or Google home, but I don't have that so can't comment) and now set up I don't know how I ever managed before (well, not quite, but almost lol)As this technology is new to me, I'll be honest and say I struggled a little with the initial setup, but after watching a quick YouTube video it became much clearer and set up the plugs in minutes.Think of these products as the remote control to your TV - yes, you could get up and change the channel, but why should you when you can press a button? The beauty of these is that you don't even need to press a button, you just control it with your voice, or if you choose to, do it remotely from the app on your phone - you don't even need to be in the house!So, for those who like me, don't or didn't, have a clue how to set up smart life products, here's a basic instruction guide:1) download the relevant app! You can use the iblockcube app, but I just went for the "smartlife" app on Google play as it seems to be the one that people mention often.2) register your details and WiFi to your app!! I really didn't want *another* account, but this is part of the smart era and you only have to it the once 😉 You will need your WiFi password for this bit but again, you don't need to keep doing it once it's set correctly.3) enable the smartlife skill in your Alexa app - it will ask for your smartlife account details and boom, that part is done!4) Plug your iblockcube in - you should see a small, red and blue, flashing light in the top left of the plug. If this doesn't happen, press and hold the button on the side for approx 5 seconds until it does. You need the fast flashing, there is a slower one for direct WiFi hotspots, but generally it's the quick flash.5) search your product from your smartlife or Alexa skills app , in this case iblockcube, it comes up as "socket". Allow Alexa to link it...6) if you require it, you can rename your "socket", but if not, subsequent setups are socket 1, socket 2 etc. I called my first 1 "fan" and plugged a fan into it 🤦7) check it works! Either by asking Alexa to turn on the fan (or socket, etc, whatever you called it!) or via your app. If you want to, you could leave your chair and press the button manually, but that defeats the object, right?8) find other electricals that you want to control remotely, set them up with their socket and go!What I did find, was through messing about initially "trying" to get it to work, was that I jammed my router and the 2nd socket wouldn't connect, but I rebooted my router and 2nd and subsequent sockets were good to go.I don't know if these hold their memory indefinitely until you remove them from the app, but I moved the "fan" plug to various different places around my home and it still worked as before so no need to set up again.What I like best? I can cool my flat *before* I come home from my working day, without having to leave the fan running all day, turn on my TV and turn off the radio from the sound of my voice without having to move from product to product. Light on? Light off? You can set up routines to do it all at once.... How have I survived without this smart world in my life?!

Great product and good value for money. It's simple to set up and does the job. I ordered the pack of 4 but had trouble with one of them, it kept constantly clicking and wouldn't connect. I contacted the seller and asked if this could be replaced as I had already set up the other three. They were kind enough to send me a single replacement unit. Saved me from the hassle of responding the whole set. Top service and top product.

Almost returned this product because it refused to connect or be registered after the initial failed attempt to connect it to a dual band network. In the end I had to delete all the created accounts, turn house wifi off, turn house wifi back on and set to 2.4 ghz wait for my phone to show the correct band and then create an account and install. It was still a bit fiddly to get the button to actually blink rather than turning on and off, it didn't seem to response to the way the instructions told you to get a blinky light that just turned it straight off. Following on from another review I used the efamilycloud app rather than the one mentioned in the instruction guide, then connected it to the other smart speakers in the house. Now it's set up, really easy to use and I expect other similar brands have just as fiddly a set up but for twice the price.

I purchased 4 of these plugs a couple of years ago. Now the app is no longer available on the App Store so I can no longer access or control any of my plugs. Really frustrating and can’t get any help at all. Not happy!

I already own a couple of Amazon brand smart sockets and this suffers a lot by comparison.The setup involves downloading an app and installing it, then setting a password and getting a PIN code by email or text or... then you can plug it in and start the setup. Had to install the Alexa App for the Amazon ones, so that's no different.The instructions for setup are somewhat vague. For example, different flash patterns on the indicator LED are described - but the installation doesn't deal with the fact that the colour changes - steady blue to flashing red - is that an error condition or....? For me the default setup mode didn't work - I had to use the secondary mode (AP Mode). That DID work eventually but it took a while (not a range problem the device and my phone were both within 3 feet of the Wifi AP).Immediately setup completed, the app said that a software update needed installing on the socket. Okay, go ahead. The update installed, but no completion notification or instruction on what to do next or whether it had failed ....or not.... nothing in the supplied booklet to cover that. After waiting 5 mins with nothing happening, powered off and on and - it all seems okay.Now let's get it to work with Alexa. The supplied booklet provides a link to an online user guide. Thing is that the link has a typo in it ("iblockbube") so tried it with the proer name too - but neither link works!Googled to find their website. Click on "Support" -> User Manual (Ignoring the other menu option - "Warrnaty") A search page invites me to select my product. I enter the product name - as shown on the product menu. Not found. Tried contractions of the product name like "M8" and so on - nothing found.Hmm. Okay back to the product page for the socket. No access to the user manual from there either. So, gotta wonder how all the other reviewers found out how to Alexa-connect this product?Not sure if it's just an Amazon Vine issue or not, but the product blurb says 2 sockets in the pack (and the picture seems to also portray two) but what I got was just a single one.So, I CAN now control this socket via the app, but I really wanted to use it via voice - I guess I will have to do some googling - but that's not how it should be really .... is it?By comparison with the Amazon brand smart sockets which were very easy to setup, this was a painful experience. This will probably work after some more time and trouble, but the Blockbube support services and QA have a long way to go yet. :-)