Amazon Echo Connect is on sale for under $25

Given that kids nowadays know how to use an iPhone right out of the womb, you might be surprised to hear that a good portion of society hasn’t cut the landline cord yet: In a 2018, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that one in three American households rely on both wireless and landline phone services to stay connected.

Whether you’re one of these landline holdouts or you know someone who is (*cough cough* mom and dad), it’s easy to bring your home phone status 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 already have a landline and an Echo, Amazon’s signature smart speaker, setup is very simple: Just plug your Echo Connect into your home phone jack, and use the Alexa app (or Alexa) to get started. go to .amazon.com). ,

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

If you already have a contact list set up on your smartphone or tablet, you can seamlessly sync all of your contacts using Echo Connect. Or, if that list exists 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 of her time in bed. Her trusty Echo Dot is on her pillow and she has regularly used it to call my cell phone and talk with her friends. .. After adding Echo Connect, outgoing calls go through our home system and hence, show our home residence number on caller ID [sic] of recipients. She can now answer calls on our home phone by asking Alexa to answer an incoming call, and the call quality is perfect.

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

Get the Amazon Echo Connect for only $24.49 – $10.50 off its normal retail price of $34.99.