Echo & Alexa Forums
General Category => Amazon Echo Discussion => Topic started by: AlanH on June 27, 2017, 05:53:23 am
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A software update rolling out this week will allow households with multiple Echos to use them as intercoms.
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/06/27/amazon-echo-intercom-feature-update/
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Just the start of more connected features.
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awesome!!! Been waiting for this feature.
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I think this will be more used then the calling.
At least it will be here.
I can't wait to try this add. ;)
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anyone know how it actually works once its enabled as I am struggling to find any instructions online - what steps and commands do you use (via another Echo and the app which I think you can also use).
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anyone know how it actually works once its enabled as I am struggling to find any instructions online - what steps and commands do you use (via another Echo and the app which I think you can also use).
finally found some specific 'instructions' on the Daily Mail site of all places although I cant try it out until I get home tonight and I am still not sure how to do it through the app yet but within the same house it's a simple case of just saying 'Alexa call the sitting room' or 'Alexa drop in on the bedroom'.
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Here's the DM article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4642874/Amazon-s-Echo-doubles-INTERCOM.html
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If you've got multiple Amazon Echo devices throughout your home, you'll soon be able to use them as a connected intercom. Amazon just launched the feature today across the original Echo, Echo Dot and its new screen-toting Echo Show. We heard last month that the intercom capability was in the works, and it seemed like a given once Amazon brought hands-free calling and messaging across the Echo family. The company is rolling out the feature over the next few days, but be sure to update your Alexa app to access it.
We haven't had a chance to test out the intercom feature yet, but it seems pretty straightforward. You just have to name your Echo devices by room and enable the "drop-in" feature in the Alexa App. After that, you can tell Alexa to call or drop in to a specific Echo device. Even better, you can also use the intercom feature when you're away from home through the Alexa app.
While the idea of a home intercom might seem a bit antiquated in our hyperconnected lives, it makes sense for the Echo devices. Many Echo owners end up buying multiple devices, and it's not that difficult for Amazon to add room-to-room communication. And, most importantly, it cements the Echo family as something essential to your daily life.
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This is exciting! I have updated the app, renamed all the echo dots to include only the room that they are in, and the drop-in feature was already on by default.
Tried using the feature and it "calls" the room but I have no idea how to answer it or if it's actually the intercom feature. Has anybody found how to answer a room-to-room call? If all you have to do is talk then it's not working yet... tried that.
Come on Google Home it's time to step up your game and roll out that calling feature to any phone in the u.s. and Canada... And don't forget our buddies across the pond :)
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"Buddies across the pond". :) For us, patience is a virtue.
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And what exactly does this mean...
The new feature increases the number of Echo devices customers have installed in their homes.
I still only have three Dots :o
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Just as a test I told Alexa to make a call. She answered by asking, "which device or contact do you want to call?". So it sounds like the intercom feature is working, yes? I just don't know how to answer it! Guess I'll break down and call technical support (sigh).
I'm feeling really stupid right about now :(
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I said, Amazon... answer.
I was then connected.
So just use the wake word and then answer.
Doesn't work on a Tap though. Even if you enable hands free.
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Well duh! :-[
Just sat down to call technical support and thought I would check here first.
Yep I'm an idiot LOL
Thank you k9kids.
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When Google Home rolled out last year, some folks postulated that it would very quickly catch up to, and then surpass, Alexa. They cited the vast knowledge base built by google over the past decade, along with google's constant work (some stumbles, but lots of success) in such fields as machine intelligence etc.
That's all fine if you want to have a conversation with your device.
But Amazon, despite some stumbles of its own in the past, is very good at one thing: getting you why you want.
And Amazon has correctly identified the smart home as a mostly untapped field. Not that there haven't been plenty of players and plenty of products, but there hasn't been a unifier.
Alexa is that unifier.... and Amazon is correctly hitting the mark in making Alexa, via its Echo device framework, a better smart home unifier as time goes on. Google will clearly be playing catch-up for many years if things keep going this way, and Apple's product - with its severely limited functionality and exorbitant price tag - might never really make it out of the starting blocks. Meanwhile, those $50 Dots will continue to fly off the shelves.
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Just tried the drop in feature but doesn't seem to be working in the UK yet. Hopefully as it's already on the app and can be enabled it soon will be and hopefully will roll out with calling also.
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As a side note, there's an update available to the iOS Alexa app with bug fixes.
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I wonder why the intercom feature won't work on Tap? I see all others such as Echo and Dot have the drop in feature.
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^^^
What he said (again) :)
If GH doesn't hurry up with it's promises of things to come, I'm going to have to swing my preferred AI status back to Alexa. The fact that reminders are yet to be enabled as well as GH's calling feature and Alexa's home run with the intercom feature, the pendulum is swinging!
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^^^
What he said (again) :)
If GH doesn't hurry up with it's promises of things to come, I'm going to have to swing my preferred AI status back to Alexa. The fact that reminders are yet to be enabled as well as GH's calling feature and Alexa's home run with the intercom feature, the pendulum is swinging!
And you can bet Amazon knows that. Cheeky bastards!
Bollocks... I'm watching way too much British TV.
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OK, I tried without renaming things (yet) My Echo is named Mike's Echo by default, and called it from a Dot, and said, "Echo, call Mike's Echo" and the test trial happened.
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OK, I tried without renaming things (yet) My Echo is named Mike's Echo by default, and called it from a Dot, and said, "Echo, call Mike's Echo" and the test trial happened.
...and? Is there more to the story?
I set it up here earlier today and then went to mom and dad's to set theirs up for calling and messaging and intercom use. They think this is all very "spooky" ::) but mom used it (unsolicited) a few times while I was there. My granddaughter said she could hear an echo. Turned out not to be an echo, rather our voices traveling thru out the open floor plan, excuse me, CONCEPT, house with all hardwood floors! Same thing here tonight with stone floors when I called the (carpeted) bedroom to tell my husband dinner was ready. He said, "you know I can hear you without the Dot, right? LOL Also, there is a lag. Guess it's due to the slower satellite connection out here.
Then I used the calling feature from my house to my mother's house. The lag time probably is a deal breaker. There were times we were talking over each other. There was some distortion too. Another one of those things that work better if you're "in town". I can see the novelty wearing off but nice to have in a pinch. I guess GH will have the same latency issues :(
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>>> ...and? Is there more to the story?
Nope, I thought it was enuff to say it worked out of the box, so to speak; no setting up required to test it out. I will rename some, but not all, the Dots. One Dot is a "room floater" and for travel, so I guess Floater is a good name for it. This will be like naming pets.
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OK, I tried without renaming things (yet) My Echo is named Mike's Echo by default, and called it from a Dot, and said, "Echo, call Mike's Echo" and the test trial happened.
I renamed all my devices based on this. They all had "Echo Dot" in the name; now they are just "'living room", 'kitchen' etc. In my home it would only matter if the doors are closed, which is almost never. But it's works,man's the feature is nice to have.
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I have all the features in my app but mine wouldn't work yet. Alexa tells me to "drop-in" on another device the name has to be the room name and drop in has to be enabled blah blah blah... Still doesn't work.. assuming the devices aren't updated yet to allow it to work.
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I have all the features in my app but mine wouldn't work yet. Alexa tells me to "drop-in" on another device the name has to be the room name and drop in has to be enabled blah blah blah... Still doesn't work.. assuming the devices aren't updated yet to allow it to work.
Mine didn't work when I first tried it, but a few hours later last night and this morning, they did. It's a very helpful feature, considering my wife can yell down at me to the basement from the bedroom or living room. Wait, is that a good thing? Haha.
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Just tried the drop in feature but doesn't seem to be working in the UK yet. Hopefully as it's already on the app and can be enabled it soon will be and hopefully will roll out with calling also.
Same here, I just get "I'm not quite sure how to help you with that" if I try anything like "Alexa, drop in on device name" or "Alexa, call device name". It's strange that the option to enable Drop In for a device is available here but not the ability to actually use it.
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Just tried the drop in feature but doesn't seem to be working in the UK yet. Hopefully as it's already on the app and can be enabled it soon will be and hopefully will roll out with calling also.
Same here, I just get "I'm not quite sure how to help you with that" if I try anything like "Alexa, drop in on device name" or "Alexa, call device name". It's strange that the option to enable Drop In for a device is available here but not the ability to actually use it.
agreed and I am sure us 'second class' citizens have whinged about this many times before but the Amazon policy of being as vague as possible with their non-US releases is getting a little frustrating - we either get a 'we dont know' or as with the named timers 'we have no timeline available", which seems ridiculous for such a simple piece of localisation, or slightly worryingly with the 'Show' they have been advising that its "designed for use in the US only" which I hope refers to the current software and not the hardware.
I know we cant get specific dates but a yes its coming and we expect it in weeks, months, end of summer etc would be helpful.
Call me cynical but Music Unlimited was alot quicker to localise than most things, and I doubt it was a simple piece of work, but then again maybe thats becuase it was an additional revenue stream so they were more incentivised to roll that one out.
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All my Dots and Echo are now renamed by room except one which is the only white Dot, it is a floater, so it is named White Dot since it can be anywhere, including on a trip with us. Only problem was (1st gen) Dot in Master Bedroom would not answer a call. Solution: unplug and plug it back in.