Amazon Echo News: Echo Devices Now Offer Free Phone Calls to Non-Alexa Devices in North America and Mexico

By Jessica Ferrera, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Amazon has recently improved the phone call features on their Echo smart speakers that allow users in North America and Mexico to contact people without Alexa-powered devices.

Last week, Amazon made headlines when it expanded their Echo product lineup. However, aside from the newly-unveiled hardware, the company also focused on updating Alexa, especially adding more flexible ways to call friends and family.

Earlier this year, Amazon added the Alexa-to-Alexa calling feature. Recently, the company has also reportedly launched the phone call features between an Amazon Echo device and a non-Alexa gadget.

AFTV News added that existing Amazon Alexa users will not have to purchase extra hardware or subscriptions to make the free phone call to people and establishments located in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

To activate the extended phone call features, users need to open the settings menu on their Alexa app and enable the software to access their contact list by name.

Contacts who also own an Alexa device will automatically be called via that gadget. However, the caller can also give specific orders by saying: "Alexa, call [contact name]'s Echo." The command can be changed to let Alexa dial a contact's home, mobile, or office number. To be even more specific, Echo users can also ask it to dial a phone number without skipping the area code.

If a user shares an Echo speaker with other people inside an office or a home, they need to make sure first that they switch to their own profile before asking Alexa to make a call to avoid any mistakes. This can be done by simply saying "Alexa, switch to [user's name]'s profile" before telling the device to dial a number.

Meanwhile, Alexa can also recognize in-call commands such as turning the volume up or down. Once the conversation is over, the caller can simply tell the artificially intelligent assistant to "hang up."

However, users should keep in mind that all outgoing calls can only be made through any Echo device. The feature is not available via the Alexa app on smartphones or other gadgets.