Twenty years ago, before we had Alexa and Siri, we had Pat. Millennials might remember Smart House, the 1999 Disney Channel original movie that tells the story of the Cooper family and their next-generation computerized home run by an AI system named Pat. Pat makes coffee, controls the temperature in the house, turns on and off the lights, streams music and videos and syncs with Mr. Cooper’s work computer — that is, until she takes on a mind of her own.

And, while the latter scenario is far-fetched, the rest of Pat “smart house” capabilities actually are not. Today, we have smart gadgets and smart voice assistants that perform many of these tasks. Often referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), these connected devices allow us to run our homes more seamlessly and efficiently. Importantly, all of these capabilities are made possible by Wi-Fi networks. 

Today’s Wi-Fi-enabled devices help us in ways we never could have imagined. Connected video cameras, security systems and flood sensors keep our homes safe. Smart thermostats, lightbulbs and shades save energy and cut down on the cost of heating and cooling our homes. And gadgets like this Wi-Fi-enabled grill and connected Crockpots let us monitor dinner from anywhere — even the office. 

Voice assistants in our homes take the IoT to the next level by allowing us to ask questions about the weather, stream music and the news and speak commands to our many devices. Echos, Google Assistants and other smart speakers can also serve as a smart home hub, syncing multiple devices in one centralized place. And they have become increasingly popular: TechCrunch reports that more than a quarter of adults in the U.S. have a smart speaker.  

Our smart homes are using Wi-Fi to make our lives simpler and better and our appetite for connected devices will only continue to grow. Unfortunately, our airwaves are crowded. Despite exponential growth in popularity and use of Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi devices, the FCC has not allocated any new spectrum for this purpose in more than twenty years. To fuel the IoT and to keep our homes “smart,” we require more Wi-Fi spectrum. Alexa and Siri — and possibly even Pat — need those airwaves.