Why are ISPs ok with Amazon Sidewalk on by default?

Question

I'm familiar with peering, and some of the strange deals ISPs make with each other like that. However, most ISP ToS prevent you from re-selling your bandwidth (e.g. charge next door neighbors $5/mo and give them some sort of access through your own access point).Amazon Sidewalk on by default seems a lot like that. However, your compensation is zero along with the ISP, and the beneficiary is mostly Amazon.For that matter, Apple's Find My service seems similar to Sidewalk with a key difference. Find My is not always on, a location ping at sporadic intervals is not the same as video streaming of a doorbell camera.What is the idea here that by default Amazon can use bandwidth it doesn't pay for? Do startups and other businesses get free bandwidth from ISPs now too? What happens when Amazon decides to increase use of your bandwidth for their services because 8k doorbell video, or 10x more connected Amazon devices? Is there a "one way peering" agreement with ISPs?EDIT: Clarity, and what I mean by "one way peering" is that Amazon does not grant anyone else access to the Sidewalk network.

rektide · Accepted Answer

We'll see.It is however a LoRa connection. It's maximum transmission rate is 27kbps. Typically though most devices use a lower speed longer range transmission mode. If we assume the absolute worst case scenario, that somehow the gateway is being fully 100% used, at absolute maximum speed for an entire month, that is 1109 MB of data.Which is, like, a TV show or two of throughput. It's a drop in the bucket.I would be shocked to hear of a user who sees even 1/10th that much traffic. Most communications will use slower transmit rates. I can't imagine any scenario where even 20% of the available airtime is used: this is for some infrequent device telemetry & sensor reporting. I'd be shocked to hear of anyone seeing 100MB of bandwidth usage from Sidewalk.People are super up in arms & pissy about this, & frankly, I think they can go fly a kite. Making mountains out of mole hills. It's a boring brouhaha over next to nothing. People have no sense of scope or scale, and are just freaking out. ISPs will not notice this drop in the bucket. Apple already makes similar use of your bandwidth without telling you, as does Tile, as do probably many. But we really really are being ultra-hyped up to get super angry at Amazon, and it's just stupid.

kkirsche · Answer

It&rsquo;s only a problem if they&rsquo;re doing something malicious, otherwise the customer &ldquo;chose&rdquo; the product and thus the feature. It becomes a problem for ISPs if it&rsquo;s facilitating botnets or other malware.