Amazon Echo Connect is on sale for 30% off

Considering kids come out of the womb knowing how to use an iPhone nowadays, you’ll probably be surprised to hear that a good chunk of society hasn’t cut the landline cord just yet: In 2018, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that one in three American homes rely on both wireless and landline phone services to stay connected. 

Whether you are one of these landline holdouts or you know someone who is (*cough cough* Mom and Dad), it’s easy to bring your home phone situation into the 21st century with the Amazon Echo Connect. The compact device uses your existing service to turn the Amazon Echo into a voice-controlled speakerphone, and for a limited time, it’s on sale for 30% off. 

If you’ve already got a landline and an Echo, Amazon’s signature smart speaker, setup is super simple: Just plug your Echo Connect into your home phone jack, and use the Alexa app (or visit alexa.amazon.com) to get started. 

The Echo Connect uses your home phone service — either an analog landline or VoIP — to make and receive calls. You can tell it whose number to dial using just your voice, and even navigate automated phone systems hands-free. (And yes, your family and friends will always know who’s calling because you’ll keep your existing phone number.)

If you’ve got a contact list already established on your smartphone or tablet, you can sync all of your contacts effortlessly using the Echo Connect. Or, if that list lives elsewhere, you can go to alexa.amazon.com to add the names and numbers you need from any PC or Mac with an internet connection. 

Amazon reviewer S. Bob Banerjee writes:

“My wife is permanently disabled and spends much time in bed. Her trusty Echo Dot is right on her pillow and she has used it regularly to call out to my cell phone and to talk with her friends. … After adding the Echo Connect, the outgoing calls go through our home system and, therefore, show our home residence number on the caller ID’s [sic] of recipients. She can now answer calls to our home phone simply by telling Alexa to answer the incoming call and the call quality is perfect.

“If you want the ease of use and power of Alexa on your Echo devices to integrate easily with your home phone system, the Echo Connect is for you!”

Get the Amazon Echo Connect for just $24.49 — $10.50 off its usual retail price of $34.99.