There are many bad reviews for this product, and the information provided in those reviews led me to seriously considering whether I should buy one or not. The most important question I had was whether you needed a mobile device with phone service (like an actual smartphone with a phone number) to setup the device, or if you can simply use a WiFi enabled tablet or PC. Many people claim that you must have mobile phone service, and a few even said they had to buy a cheap prepaid phone or borrow a relatives phone just for the initial setup. These posts are also from a year ago when the device was new. Even the Amazon documentation can be a little unclear on the requirement. The little booklet that comes with the Connect even says, "Step 1. Set up calling and messaging in the Alexa app". On the side of the box it says "Required for setup: Mobile phone (iOS or Android)".
I just finished setup and testing of the Connect, and at no time did I activate "Alexa Calling and Messaging". I didn't provide a phone number other than my landline phone number. First I tried to setup the device on my PC by navigating to https://alexa.amazon.com with a browser, and this would have worked if my PC had a Wi-Fi adapter, but it doesn't. Next I used my WiFi only tablet and the Alexa app and everything went flawlessly, except for a couple minutes of 3 flashing lights (all but power). I assume this was a firmware update or something. I just waited and eventually all the light lit up solid. I also noticed the lights on my phone that indicate a line in use blinked momentarily.
So to sum it up you need a WiFi equipped device with an Android app, an iOS app, or a web browser (so you can use Windows, Mac, Linux, etc). You do not need a mobile phone number. You can ignore directions to activate Alexa calling and messaging to sync your contacts if you want to and just go to alexa.amazon.com to setup your contacts manually, or you can just not use contacts and dial by number.
I'll update the review when I have more information about performance and call quality.
Most of the negative reviews that I have read are complaints that the device did not do something the buyer wanted. But the tasks they wanted were not in the description of the Echo Connect abilities. Do these reviewers yell at their dog for not doing the dishes? Do they ride their car into the lake and then complain that it is a lousy boat?
The device does what it says, and very well. I got it mostly to add safety for my disabled family member, but it has been useful, and amusing, well beyond that. Turning an Echo Dot into a hands-free intercom and caregiver monitor has been worth every penny. The following exchange was worth the cost:
Alexa, drop in on So-and-so......(connection made)....Hey, dude, I have a migraine. Please take care of the dogs?
Whoa, that sucks. Of course I will. Can I get you anything?
Thanks, yeah. Two ibuprofen and strong black coffee.
Comin' up. Let me put on the kettle and release the hounds.
So-and-so, you are an angel.....Alexa, drop out....(intercom off).
The Echo connect was very easy to setup to work with my wife's Echo Dot,
My wife is permanently disabled and spends much time in bed. Her trusty Echo Dot is right on her pillow and she has used it regularly to call out to my cell phone and to talk with her friends. The calls are reliable and go through the built in service on the Echo.
After adding the Echo Connect, the outgoing calls go through our home system and, therefore, show our home residence number on the caller ID's of recipients. She can now answer calls to our home phone simply by telling Alexa to answer the incoming call and the call quality is perfect.
If you want the ease of use and power of Alexa on your Echo devices to integrate easily with your home phone system, the Echo Connect is for you!
I’m not sure what the negative reviews are about, but this is a great product that significantly extends the functionality of Amazon Echo for those who still have a home or office landline. In my experience, Connect is easy to set up (similar to adding an Echo) and works flawlessly. Every Echo in my home is now a high quality, far field, voice activated speakerphone, which is fantastic.
Granted, my home is heavily automated, incorporating eight Amazon Echoes, and I have a gigabit fiber optic internet connection. However, I can’t imagine such throughput is necessary to facilitate the Connect. What is important, I think, is placing the connect close to your Wi-Fi router or access point. It doesn’t matter how close the Connect is to the Echo(es), since communication between the Echo(es) and the Connect is through the router. My Connect sits beside my WiFi access point, and I have noticed no delay or lag in phone calls made or answered using any of my Echoes, even those furthest from the Connect. I do think a hardwire internet option for the Connect would be helpful, since it can only be set up through WiFi as implemented, but that would add cost.
If you have an Amazon Echo and a landline, you want the Connect. At such a low cost, this is a no brainer.
In short, I recommend this (Echo Connect + Echo Dot ) for those that need or desire a voice-dialed land-line phone.
And to re-iterate my post subject: The Echo Connect DOES NOT REQUIRE A SMART PHONE ANYMORE!
And actually, maybe it never did. But, when I bought the Connect 3 & 1/2 months ago (late June 2018), I couldn't get it to work at all - even with a smart phone. I even asked a friend to try, and no luck. One of the big things was it wanted a smart phone for a contact list. I don't own, or want, a "smart" phone. I had read reviews that a non-active "smart" phone with the Alexa app installed would work, but I had no luck. Nor did my friend trying on another relatively new, but non-active, "smart" phone.
Anyway, as of a couple days ago (~Oct 15, 2018), I noticed that there is now a "Contacts" tab on the web browser based alexa.amazon.com interface!!! Either it's new, or both I and my friend are blind*, and didn't see it months earlier (*we're not).
Any-anyway, I re-hooked up the Connect, added some contacts, and it now works great! The only real negative is the 1/2 second delay from speaking on one end to being heard on the other end. This can be noticed by calling a nearby cell phone via Echo + Connect:
"Alexa, call Bob" (assuming "Bob" is in your "Contacts")
Alexa: "Calling Bob's mobile..."
Echo Dot: ring ring....ring ring...
Bob (using cell phone in room nearby): "Hello?"
... 1/2 second...
Bob's voice from your Echo device: "Hello?"
It's not perfect, and the slight delay takes a short bit to adjust to, but I find it workable. In my case, I set it up for my (almost) 79 year old mother who is blind, and has bad arthritis in her hands and can not use a normal phone, much less a "smart" phone. But, this she can use!
As for sound quality during calls, I give it a 7/10. The person on the other end will need to make sure and talk directly into their phone's microphone port, and you should be within 10 feet or so of your Echo (closer is better, of course). There is the inevitable "hollow" sound of using a speaker phone, but it's not bad. There is almost no background noise.
A couple of closing notes:
911 is built in. That is, 911 does not need to be added to your contact list. I was getting ready to add 911 to my Contacts, but wanted to explain the whole setup to my mother first, and said "Alexa, call 911". Well, dutifully, Alex said "Calling 911". Fortunatly, she also offered an option to cancel the call before actually dialing 911... :)
Lastly, I'm sure the Connect also works with the "full size" Echo, and not just the Echo Dot, that's just what I have.
Feature Product
- This bundle includes Echo Connect and Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service
- Connect your home phone to your compatible Echo device to call any phone number, using just your voice
- Echo Connect uses your existing home phone service (landline or VoIP) to make and receive calls (carrier charges may apply). Your home phone number will be displayed as a caller ID
- Call contacts and voice dial numbers from across the room
- Easily sync all your contacts. Alexa syncs with your mobile phone contacts, so you never have to look up a number. Just ask and Alexa will make the call
- Simply plug Echo Connect into your home phone jack, complete the setup on a smartphone in the Alexa App, and you're ready to make and receive calls on any of your compatible Echo devices
- Echo Connect will work with all of your registered Echo Devices. Only one Echo Connect needed per phone line.
Description
Very cool. Today I got 6 echo dots, an echo and an echo connect. In order to start the Connect setup, you need to have at least 1 echo device setup first. So that took about 5 minutes from the Alexa app on my iPad. I had read that the Connect needs to be configured from a mobile phone, so I ran Alexa from my Samsung S7 to add the Connect, .
Setup would have been a snap except I kept getting an error message to disable "smart network switch" on my Samsung S7. Since I had never heard of this option on the phone, it took me quite while to find what was needed.
For those with a similar phone, here's where you will find it: SETTINGS | CONNECTIONS | WIFI (select your connected wifi connection -- I know, it's weird) | ADVANCED (in the upper right hand corner in blue) | SWITCH TO MOBILE DATA (on/off ---> turn off) ... Pretty intuitive (huh)
Once I did that and got rid of the error message, it took about 5 minutes to get Connect working. Follow the instructions in ALEXA. The connect is configured like any other Echo device. I connected my iPad to the device first. Like all Echo devices, it generates an SSID that you can connect to wirelessly.You then define the SSID for your wireless network and get connected to your wifi SSID/PASSWORD. Now I make sure my iPad is connected to my wifi SSID, along with the Connect. Follow the instructions in Alexa and in another 10-15 minutes after a firmware update it will reboot a few times. Connect lights will blink on/off serveral times during the startup process. Once all of the lights on the Connect turned white I plugged the phone jack into my OOMA phone jack (my guess is that could be any jack that has a dial tone like an OBIHAI, NETTALK, MAGICJACK or POTS line) (a telephone line duplex jack and a telephone wire are provided to split the phone line with the dialtone jack). I then went to the Echo I setup at the beginning and said "Alexa, call mom". That didn't work, so I said "Alexa, ask connect to call mom" and that worked.
Now I need to figure out the other connect commands (like how to hang up). I just ordered another on that I will setup for mom.
This is a low cost, but useful device for those that still have both a land line and a cell phone. It plugs into a phone jack anywhere in the house. Does not have to be seen or accessible. I have mine in a cabinet in the the home theater. Although others have complained about setup, I had no issues at all setting it up. A few minutes to complete. The device allows you to answer the landline from any Echo device. I find that the devices with a display ( Show, Spot) are the most convenient because a call initiates a display like a cell phone with buttons to answer or hang up. If there is no display then you have to tell Alexa to answer, which is sometimes difficult to do while it is "ringing" . There is a side benefit to this that may not be obvious. Any of your Echo devices can answer the phone, regardless of where they are, including another town or state. I discovered this by accident. I have an Echo ( on the same account) which I use when at our beachfront condo and was surprised that it "rang" when the phone at our primary residence 35 miles away was called. You can answer calls from your home phone, when not at home if you connect any Echo device to WiFi through your account, in the same way you can get notifications anywhere that you connect your device to WiFi. Like many Amazon products, this is one that will evolve and become more useful both as people discover new ways to use it, and as Amazon does continuous updates.
I have Echos in the bedroom and in the kitchen - and it always seems to be those two rooms when I don't have my phone handy. So for 35 bucks, I thought this was worth a shot.
Not a bad call.
Setup was a snap. You DO need to have a smartphone with the Alexa app installed. Obviously, you need to have at least one Echo device.
Ten minutes after unboxing it and following some simple prompts from the app and it was working with Ooma and my landline phone (I use my old phones with the ooma VOIP system). My contacts on my phone synched with the Alexa app and all is well. I called out to my phone and it worked. I called my home number from the cell and it worked.
My wife called her sister and had a nice chat. The only issue was her sister reported that we sounded 'distant' - I guess the microphones aren't as powerful as the speakers because she was pretty loud.
A few more commands but they are simple ones. This is another example of why I am betting that Amazon is going to win the smart home contest. This product works fine - and I have played around with it enough to know it's pretty reliable. Amazon will continue to tweak the connect and make it better. And let's face it - I have a google mini and I like the Assistant just fine, but the Echo system came out of the gate first and they have a commanding lead.
Devices like this make it clear that they are not planning on losing it anytime soon.
So, easy to setup, commands are intuitive, the Alexa contact list syncs with my phone when I make changes, and it's reasonably priced. It works with my existing hardware, so it enhances my investment. And the only strike seems to be a minor one - and most phones don't sound that great on speaker either.
I bought this for my mother- and father-in-law for safety reasons. My father in law had a stroke last summer and couldn’t get to a phone. Luckily my husband dropped by to check on him, otherwise he would have died. We bought him an Echo and this Echo Connect so he can make emergency calls if he ever cannot get to a phone. Since you can make calls using your voice, he can now ask it to calll 911 if he falls or has another health event.
Sound quality is decent, and when testing it, I didn’t notice the lag that others mentioned. It is easy to use - even my technologically impaired father-in-law can make and end calls. It even responds most of the time when he calls it Alexis.
One big drawback - it still requires a cell phone for setup. My mother-in-law has a smart phone, so I was still able to set it up on her phone. Theoretically you could use a family members phone just for set up, but you wouldn’t be able to add your own contacts since it imports them from the phone it uses for set up.
Overall, great product, and a great solution for elderly folks who may need it for safety reasons.
Yes you have to have a smart phone in order to input contacts which is a major design flaw. I got this for my quadriplegic mother who does not have a smart phone. I didn't want to use mine for the calling options because it inputs ALL your contacts (didn't want her to accidentally call my boss or landlord). If you have an older phone that is able to connect to wifi and download the Alexa app then you can simply erase all contacts on that phone and input the contacts you want and then sync the app (it's only used to add contacts) . Unfortunately I didn't have an older, unused phone so I ended up buying her a $50 tracfone and did contacts with that through wifi (once the contacts are in you don't need to use that cell phone anymore unless you wanted to edit them). It's not perfect, but my mom LOVES it. She had a voice activated phone that would randomly call people or pick up the phone. So she is very happy.
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