As part of a new partnership, you can now link your AT&T phone number to your Amazon Echo. As reported by The Verge this allows you to turn your Echo into a phone.
AT&T has recently made its low-band 5G network available nationwide across America after it met FCC standards. The Amazon Echo is also currently heavily discounted to under $75 dollars making it a much more attractive prospect.
This partnership should allow users to link their phone numbers to an Alexa account. Thus making it possible to make and receive calls via Alexa connected devices.
Alexa partnership links your AT&T phone number to devices
This move is an expansion of the existing Alexa calling feature. This first launched back in 2017 but now is a more useful and efficient prospect.
Back then it allowed users to use their Echo devices to call mobiles and landlines for free. The difference now is that Amazon is working much more closely with AT&T to use its Echo devices much more similar to how they would use their mobile phones.
This is not the first time we have seen this feature. It rolled out overseas in the UK and Germany for Vodafone OneNumber customers. If you live in the UK you can also use this feature if you are a customer of EE.
This, however, marks the first time the feature has become available in the United States. The reason for the slightly haphazard rollout is that it requires a close partnership with a mobile phone carrier to work properly.
Linking your AT&T number is a very simple move
Amazon claims that linking your AT&T phone number to an Echo device is a very simple process. To make it happen you have to go onto the Alexa App on your phone. Then head to settings, select the communication sub-menu, hit the AT&T button, and then just follow the instructions.
After you have linked your account you can dial numbers through voice commands. They would take the form of instructions like “Alexa, call Mom”. Alternatively, you can specifically dictate a phone number.
When you have an incoming call on your Alexa it will come complete with caller ID. To receive you can use voice commands like “Alexa, answer”.
Calls can also be snoozed with by activating Amazon’s Away Mode. This is an existing feature the Echo already possesses. Using Alexa routines you can also toggle specific times calls can be made and received.
Overall, this looks like an exciting move for AT&T customers. Whether this partnership is exclusive is currently unknown. So at this stage we cannot say whether this feature will come to any other carriers at any stage.