Echo Connect Discussion

[Nosugrof]

Okay - maybe I'm missing something but the contact list is one of the issues I'm trying to resolve. How do you manage a phone directory with "Echo Connect" without the contact list from a smart phone? If there's a way to do this then that would be a big step toward making this usable for my mom.

A new issue I've run into with this device is that when I try to call someone from my contact list that has the same area code as me the call fails with the phone company recording, "It's not necessary to dial one plus the area code before this number". Apparently the Echo Connect prefixes all calls with 1+area-code when using the land line. This is kind of a deal breaker as I can't call anyone local (same area code) from my contact list. In the interim I've changed my configuration to use my mobile for all calls until I can resolve this issue. It seems to me that Amazon needs to do one of two things:
1 - Provide a contact list where I can provide the exact number Connect is supposed to use including area codes, country codes or other prefixes.
2 - Configure a local area code in Connect so it knows what area codes to exclude when placing calls.

I get that Connect is new and it's going to evolve with customer usage but this seems like something that needs a quick remediation for this product to succeed.

[Spectre_I]

OK, my .02, fwtw.

I was very excited with the announcement of this product.  As previously discussed:
1. I was looking for a simple speaker phone type setup that worked with my landline.
2. The "Call 911" was a big deal to me.
3. Ease of address book manipulation.  I have a $50 multi-room landline system that allows 250 contacts, and announces who's calling.

I'm glad I didn't preorder.  I'll watch how this one matures.

[Paxton]

It would be nice to be able to remove a particular Echo from the phone announcement without having to use DO NOT DISTURB.  I tried that on my Echo Show, which currently displays pictures of our grandchild as a screensaver.  But DND shuts off the screen saver and just displays a black screen with a clock.

Also, is there any way to test the ability to call 911, without calling 911?  That sounds like an odd question, but calling 911 frivolously shouldn't be done as it disrupts important emergency services.  But the ability to call that number is why we got the Connect.   But if that doesn't work, there's no reason for us to have it.

[coyote]

I bought an Echo Connect for my nearly blind mother so that she could make and receive calls via voice prompts. 

She has no smart phone (cannot even see to use one), so the lack of a web or app interface that would allow me to maintain her contacts makes the Connect useless for her.

How can Amazon assume that everyone has a smartphone?

FAIL

ALL the options related to calling to/from Echo devices have required a smartphone. And that smartphone, if android,  has to be up to a certain level of OS else it does not work.

Yes, Amazon should be much clearer about this. Then perhaps their tech support lines would not be getting such a workout. But then again, their objective right now is market penetration - and if a little inconvenience on the customer side is reflected in some additional corporate expenditure on their support side, it’s a price they are willing to pay.

The business model works. I did, after all, go out and get a ‘burner’ android phone just to configure Alexa. lol

In any event, Connect is a killer app. Just last night, as I was cleaning up Xmas, my brother called. The Dot blinged, said “incoming call from Joe”, I replied “Alexa, answer”, and we talked. And I realized I had not had to rinse my hands and go press the button to put on speakerphone before the answering machine would kick in, and my brother sounded like he was in the room with me, and it was a far more ‘natural’ experience than anything having to do with a typical phone call.

The future is finally arriving.

[coyote]

I bought an Echo Connect for my nearly blind mother so that she could make and receive calls via voice prompts. 

She has no smart phone (cannot even see to use one), so the lack of a web or app interface that would allow me to maintain her contacts makes the Connect useless for her.

How can Amazon assume that everyone has a smartphone?

FAIL

what I see is someone did not do their homework.  amazon did not fail.

They have failed to meet the needs of a market segment (vision impaired) that would benefit greatly from Echo assistive technology.
They have failed by assuming that everyone will agree to give them their entire contacts list, when a simple phone book would suffice. 

based on this post, it proves you did not do your homework.  amazon did not fail, you did.  you do not need a smartphone, you do not need to provide your contact list, there are ways around everything you complained about.

If I could.... yes, Jasg did not “do his/her homework”.
However, Amazon has not exactly made homework easy where this stuff is concerned.

That said, Amazon has not ‘failed’ in this. Too many people have too large an expectation for technologies that, as mass-market entries, are still in their toddlerhood. It was just two years ago that Echo came along. It is just days ago that Connect, in its first iteration, was released.

If history is any guide, the Connect feature set will be honed over the next couple years based on usage patterns and customer feedback. For the moment, once you get past individual frustrations with amazon’s business model I think it’s pretty awesome as-is.

[DalGoda]

My issue with the Connect is a little odd. When I first set it up, it worked like a charm, other than adding a 1 and a prefix for local numbers, but I figured I could set up some numbers in my contacts and call them "local" to leave the extra digits off. Anyway, I am already off track. The problem is, that after I set up a couple of new Alexa devices, calling seemed to stop. However, today I am able to make calls from it, and the caller ID indeed shows it coming from the land line. However, Alexa refuses to acknowledge incoming calls now. The phone rings, Alexa just sits. If I ask her to answer, she lets me know there are no incoming calls. No device has blocking on, all have "drop in" enabled (household). There must be some setting I have incorrect? The connect gets great Wi-Fi signal, shows online, but just doesn't seem to want to behave. Any ideas? I was going to deregister and reregister it in an attempt to get it to work.
You don't suppose it is because the Alexa app is on two smartphones signed into the same Alexa account? Only one phone has access given to sync the contacts. Maybe I need to logoff the second device? Just frustrating.

[jwlv]

Are you using any phone line splitters on your Connect? Try not to use a splitter and connect it directly to the phone outlet (unless you have DSL internet service).

The "ring" voltage on a phone line has to be around 75 to 90-volts AC for a telephone device to know that it's ringing. Also, some telephones tend to hog the voltage to itself. The result of that is other telephone devices will not ring.

One other thing to look for is if you have DSL internet service. You have DSL if your internet service is from a phone company (e.g. AT&T, Verizon, Centurylink), rather than a cable company (e.g. Cox, Comcast, Charter). If you do have DSL, your telephone devices should be connected to the phone side of the DSL filters that they gave you. Your telephone devices should not be connected directly to the phone line. A filter should be between the phone outlet and each of your telephone devices.

DSL filters come in many different shapes and sizes. But they all do the same thing. Here is a diagram showing how a typical filter should be connected.

[Nosugrof]

I've run into a new issue and I wonder if anyone else has hit this snag. If I choose the land line for all calls it automatically prefixes all calls with 1+area-code. For local calls the phone company responds with a recording telling me it isn't necessary to use this prefix and tells me to hang up and call again without the prefix. This basically means the only way I can configure this is to make the mobile the primary and only use the land line for calls that can't be connected using my mobile (e.g. 911). This really makes the service almost unusable as I'm not sure how it will act if I'm not home. If someone calls my mobile while I'm away will the echo in my house ring? If someone at my house makes a call using Alexa will it tie up my mobile? What happens if I'm away somewhere and I'm using my phone and someone at my house tries to use Alexa to make a call? It seems to me the Echo Connect has to be improved to support local calls over land lines without applying the prefix. Without this I don't see this product being viable.

Anyone else run into this issue or identify a solution?