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    Alexa gets room to room intercom support

    Just came across this.

    https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/26/1...vices-dot-show

    #2
    Originally posted by rmiles7721 View Post


    This sounds great. I will definitely try this.

    Steve Q


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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      #3
      I tried it. It was ok. I can hear the echo from the other room, so it literally "echos" what I said.

      I think could be improved, but I think it will be more than usable. My only wish would be to set a different volume for "calls".

      Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

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        #4
        Originally posted by sirmeili View Post
        I tried it. It was ok. I can hear the echo from the other room, so it literally "echos" what I said.

        I think could be improved, but I think it will be more than usable. My only wish would be to set a different volume for "calls".

        Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
        Room to room on the same floor is irritating but for calling my daughter upstairs, who never answers the phone?... I enabled drop in for her and I've found it very useful.

        Also I like being able to call the Echo Show from my phone at work. My dog hates it though. Can't figure out how I got in that tiny box.

        Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

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          #5
          So, not the expert, but the "drop" in feature is cool but also would concerning for a data privacy/security perspective as it appears (based on my reading) that there is no way to configure the person to "approve" the incoming audio session. Yeah, one can authorize certain persons, but I bet that this could be exposed to vulnerabilities that could be exploited by the right people.

          So, my question for those that have played with this. Can it be configured such that the person in that room has to authorize and accept the incoming session?

          I think that in terms of person to person calling the answer is yes. But what about the intercom feature?

          Now, if the intercom used non routable network technologies that forced the connectivity a to local network (for intercom only), then this would be totally awesome.... Or maybe if it used Bluetooth to connect the intercom... But Bluetooth would have distance issues....

          I am interested in intercom, but not willing to give up data privacy....
          HomeSeer 2, HomeSeer 3, Allonis myServer, Amazon Alexa Dots, ELK M1G, ISY 994i, HomeKit, BlueIris, and 6 "4k" Cameras using NVR, and integration between all of these systems. Home Automation since 1980.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Krumpy View Post
            So, not the expert, but the "drop" in feature is cool but also would concerning for a data privacy/security perspective as it appears (based on my reading) that there is no way to configure the person to "approve" the incoming audio session. Yeah, one can authorize certain persons, but I bet that this could be exposed to vulnerabilities that could be exploited by the right people.

            So, my question for those that have played with this. Can it be configured such that the person in that room has to authorize and accept the incoming session?

            I think that in terms of person to person calling the answer is yes. But what about the intercom feature?

            Now, if the intercom used non routable network technologies that forced the connectivity a to local network (for intercom only), then this would be totally awesome.... Or maybe if it used Bluetooth to connect the intercom... But Bluetooth would have distance issues....

            I am interested in intercom, but not willing to give up data privacy....
            If that's an issue, don't enable drop in. You still have Alexa calling and messaging and calling like that requires you to tell Alexa to answer. Sounds like that's what you are interested in.

            Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

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              #7
              Originally posted by Krumpy View Post
              So, not the expert, but the "drop" in feature is cool but also would concerning for a data privacy/security perspective as it appears (based on my reading) that there is no way to configure the person to "approve" the incoming audio session. Yeah, one can authorize certain persons, but I bet that this could be exposed to vulnerabilities that could be exploited by the right people.

              So, my question for those that have played with this. Can it be configured such that the person in that room has to authorize and accept the incoming session?

              I think that in terms of person to person calling the answer is yes. But what about the intercom feature?

              Now, if the intercom used non routable network technologies that forced the connectivity a to local network (for intercom only), then this would be totally awesome.... Or maybe if it used Bluetooth to connect the intercom... But Bluetooth would have distance issues....

              I am interested in intercom, but not willing to give up data privacy....
              Unlike the Nucleus intercoms which do use an internal LAN IP if possible (WebRTC if not), the Echos use an external STUN server to identify each Echo devices IP address (ie no internet, no intercom) I haven't done an exhaustive wireshark search yet to track the actual communications (encrypted) between devices yet, so not positive if they may fall back to internal IP's if on the same LAN, but at first glance all I see are external IP's (and a gazillion duplicate DNS queries).
              The STUN protocol requires your router to support RFC 5389 (most do nowadays) or an ACL UDP hole for high port numbers for when the STUN server responds back.

              The Echo's are getting updated almost daily now with the changes they're making so hopefully they're working through the bugs.

              Drop In now blurs the video for a short while to allow the receiver to decline (not very useful and only on Echo Show). Call is the best way if you want some privacy.

              We use it for communications between the office and shelter as well as remotely from our iphone or ipads. Pretty nifty.

              Z

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                #8
                Looks like Amazon is enabling Alexa support in their Amazon app this week as well. Currently I use an app called Reverb but it'll be nice to get rid of another app. Video and audio calling are part of it as well

                Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Krumpy View Post
                  So, not the expert, but the "drop" in feature is cool but also would concerning for a data privacy/security perspective as it appears (based on my reading) that there is no way to configure the person to "approve" the incoming audio session. Yeah, one can authorize certain persons, but I bet that this could be exposed to vulnerabilities that could be exploited by the right people.

                  So, my question for those that have played with this. Can it be configured such that the person in that room has to authorize and accept the incoming session?

                  I think that in terms of person to person calling the answer is yes. But what about the intercom feature?

                  Now, if the intercom used non routable network technologies that forced the connectivity a to local network (for intercom only), then this would be totally awesome.... Or maybe if it used Bluetooth to connect the intercom... But Bluetooth would have distance issues....

                  I am interested in intercom, but not willing to give up data privacy....

                  I agree. I am interested in the intercom feature, but I do not want to enable the calling feature. I especially don't like how the Alexa app will upload all your contact info to Amazon. As much as I would like to use my Echo's for intercom, there's no way I would want to upload my contact info to Amazon.

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