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Video calls/intercom UK to France

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yarnik

Video calls/intercom UK to France
« on: June 29, 2018, 04:33:00 am »
Hi everyone, my first post on the forum. I'm waiting impatiantly for delivery of 2 Echo Shows (the echo with a screen), mainly so that I can have video calls between my 90 year old mother in the UK, and myself in France. - Having now read some of the posts about Echo in France, I'm not sure but still hoping I can get my echo set up in France. But it isn't clear if I can do any modifications/configuration to my mother's Echo in the UK, over the 'net from my Echo or indeed from my PC, a bit like a remote assistant. If I setup the two on the same Amazon account, I guess I can place photos, create calendars and so on. Or do you need physical access to the actual echo ? Maybe someone could point me to a howto or YT video about this.
The Echo Show seems such a good way to keep in touch and help aging relatives who can't cope with computers or fancy smartphones (originally I just wanted a TV with camera & Whatsapp or similar but theres nothing on the market now).
Many thanks in advance !
 

Jerome

Re: Video calls/intercom UK to France
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2018, 05:39:04 am »
As long as you have the Amazon credentials to which an Echo is attached, you can log on http://alexa.amazon.com/ and manage the device from anywhere in the world.
Some features such as the voice calls/video calls (Appels et messages) go through the smartphone's address book though and need to be configured on the Alexa app on the phone itself (not available on the web app)
Moreover I'm not sure 2 Echos on the same Amazon account can call each other while sharing the same smartphone's address book :-/

What would probably work is having 2 Amazon accounts : 1 UK-based, 1 FR-based (both you can create yourself and therefore know the credentials for remote management)
Associate your mother's phone to the UK account and your phone to your FR account.
You would need to have your mother's phone physically with you in the UK to do the first setup once and for all (the address book sharing I mean).
Maybe some other users will have more concrete experience to share.

MartinB999

Re: Video calls/intercom UK to France
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2018, 06:47:45 am »
Hi there
My experience is of setting up the two in the UK with my elderly mother up in Yorkshire and me in Kent. She doesn't have a smartphone and so I set BOTH of the devices up on my system, then took one up to her and linked it to her wifi network (I needed to be there with my phone to get her device to be seen on her wifi network). I used the "Drop-In" feature to call her and it worked really well. I couldn't use the call feature as both devices were registered to the same device (as Jerome alludes) but as I say, the drop in feature worked well.
We've recently bought her a cheap tablet (£68) and put Skype on it. She's NOT computer literate (by even the biggest stretch of imagination!) and cannot use a mobile at all, but, I wrote down how to use the skype (and that's all she uses on it), and she loved it after just over a week of using it. Another thought for you....... and MUCH cheaper/less hassle.
Hope this helps.
Hi everyone, my first post on the forum. I'm waiting impatiantly for delivery of 2 Echo Shows (the echo with a screen), mainly so that I can have video calls between my 90 year old mother in the UK, and myself in France. - Having now read some of the posts about Echo in France, I'm not sure but still hoping I can get my echo set up in France. But it isn't clear if I can do any modifications/configuration to my mother's Echo in the UK, over the 'net from my Echo or indeed from my PC, a bit like a remote assistant. If I setup the two on the same Amazon account, I guess I can place photos, create calendars and so on. Or do you need physical access to the actual echo ? Maybe someone could point me to a howto or YT video about this.
The Echo Show seems such a good way to keep in touch and help aging relatives who can't cope with computers or fancy smartphones (originally I just wanted a TV with camera & Whatsapp or similar but theres nothing on the market now).
Many thanks in advance !
 
« Last Edit: June 29, 2018, 06:54:22 am by MartinB999 »

yarnik

Re: Video calls/intercom UK to France
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2018, 08:55:49 am »
Thanks guys for your help and suggestions.
Just one last question: Does the smartphone used for the alexa app/address book have to have a working sim card ? Can it just be a "passive" phone without a sim?
Cheers

MartinB999

Re: Video calls/intercom UK to France
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2018, 11:30:50 am »
Thanks guys for your help and suggestions.
Just one last question: Does the smartphone used for the alexa app/address book have to have a working sim card ? Can it just be a "passive" phone without a sim?
Cheers

Alexa needs a mobile phone number when set up - and you wouldn't have a phone number if you didn't have a sim in the phone......... so not sure about that........

NikkiRoxi

Re: Video calls/intercom UK to France
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2018, 02:17:56 pm »
Thanks guys for your help and suggestions.
Just one last question: Does the smartphone used for the alexa app/address book have to have a working sim card ? Can it just be a "passive" phone without a sim?
Cheers

If the phone doesn’t have an active SIM card use a Google Voice Number. Not sure if people outside of the US can get one but it is worth a try.