I wanted to let visitors just use a couple of ECHO as an intercom between rooms but it seems as if by default, all users get full access to the Contact list. Any way to limit this?

I think I found it and it was because there was a group named Office which makes no sense as it was in there before. I deleted group and could rename device to Office.
Peter

Glad you got it worked out.   Similar names can be a problem with alexa.   Sometimes updates will mess things up even though it worked before.   I had similar problmes with a couple of names myself a while back.     You might have been okay if you were able to get it going without a reset.   

"Alexa doesn't support that" (Smart plug) connected to light. Lost power and had to re-add the device to App, ideas?

 

Strange but I am sure not new. Lost power. One plug did not come back online and blinked red. I reset it. It came up in Alexa App as "4th Plug". I renamed it to the old name I used before which was "Office". "Office" disappeared from the device list.

SO when I said "Alexa Office on"So Alexa, she rudely and in an aggressive demeaning holier than thou outburst stated defiantly: " Alexa doesn't support that".

 

Ok,I have nothing else in terms of a device named "Office" in Alexa app.

I do have a few scheduled (click) time routines that had "Office" device name in them which became blank (as they should) after plug was reset.

So I had to go in to each routine and add the action to: Office light on or off. Then received from echo same response "Alexa doesn't support that".

 

I did not want to erase all the routines since they did not have "Office" as a real device name but they had things like "Office on morning 1" in the routine name section which imo should not matter, it is a name.

Workaround:

So I then changed device name of "Office" to "Bonus". So then I had to create 2 actual phrase routines which I never had to before called "Alexa Office On" and on for "Off". Those would turn "Bonus device Smart Plug-On and Off. And changed all routines to reference the device "Bonus" instead of my "Office" which worked for years.

 

But I really want the office name.. Boo Hoo...

 

I used like we all do be able to say Alexa (plug, or light name) and power state (on or off) "Alexa Living Room On (or office).

 

Thoughts for getting Office device name back and eliminating the " Alexa doesn't support that" message from Echo?

 

Thank you very much for your time.

Sincerely

Peter

Alexa to Alexa calls or drop-ins do not require a phone number.

Unless you actually want to have Alexa make and receive phone calls, you don't need a phone number at all. You do need a smartphone to set up the Alexa initially and also to change certain settings afterwards.

Be careful if you do set up an Echo device and allow it to use your smartphone's phone number. Anyone that calls your phone number will also ring on the Echo device. I'm pretty sure you don't want your 94 year old mother answering all your calls. Also if you give it permission to read your contact list from your smartphone, all those contacts will be known to the Echo device.

Hi forum!
I’m a new y to this forum and to the Alexa world. I recently purchased a new echo show 8 for my 94 yr old, totally non-tech savvy mom, hoping to engage her with the extended family using video calls, allow her to enjoy some streaming audio shows she enjoys but are no longer on radio, and adding some aids for her increasing dementia.
I’m having difficulty setting up the calling capabilities (both video and audio). Since she doesn’t have a cell phone (only a landline), I’m trying to get her a phone number unique to her device so that the family can call her. Does she even need a phone number?  If calls are made Alexa- alexa, can the family call her device simply by using their Alexa app on their phone and telling it to call her device by name? 
Sorry for my ivnirznce in the Alexa world! 
Thanks for your help!
Rick Drake