It may not be that way for much longer. Take a look at Amazon Sidewalk. They're using low power, long range mesh technology so Ring Doorbells and Echos can communicate without access to the internet. That may not sound like a big deal, but the potential is huge.

If companies like Amazon/Google are able to create a "side network" they could use it to provide low bandwidth backhaul for other companies that want to get telemetry from their airgapped devices.

So, for example, you get a new Roku smart TV and don't connect it to your Wi-Fi, but your neighbour has a Ring doorbell so it just uses that.

Mesh tech is awesome, and so is tech in general, but we are so slow at regulating it. This stuff needs to be opt in at the absolute minimum.