You Can Use Your Verizon Phone Number for Alexa, But it Costs Money
Allows Verizon customers to connect their phone number to an Alexa-enabled speaker via the “Number Share – Home” feature. Calls placed will show up on the recipient’s caller ID with a Verizon number, which the carrier claims is like a home phone reboot.
If you want to call a specific person, you can use Alexa to do so. “Maria would like to speak with Chris,” Alexa will tell you when a call is about to arrive. Calls can be placed and received even if your smartphone isn’t connected.
For those who are curious, Alexa will receive and announce all incoming phone calls to the specified number loudly and in the room. It is necessary, however, that an Alexa Routine be created in order to turn off Verizon calls when certain triggers, such as “I’m leaving home,” or a scheduled time, are encountered.
To make an emergency call, you’ll need to have your emergency home address set up properly in Number Share – Home, which differs from using an Amazon Echo or a Google Nest Home to make a phone call (an address is also required to use the service). It will also cost you $5/month per Verizon line to activate this service, and you’ll also need to set up the Alexa app with your Verizon phone number to use this service.
Three months of Number Share – Home are free with the purchase of an Alexa device from Verizon.com when you sign up for Verizon’s service and subscribe to it. Customers who sign up and enable the feature, on the other hand, will receive a complimentary month of service.
Honestly, this feature should be free (making and receiving calls Alexa-to-Alexa is free). Receiving personal calls via Alexa appears to be too complicated for the average user. Only regular phone calls and not Facetime, WhatsApp or Google Duo voice calls would be affected by this, which is why you’d need to set up Routines in the Alexa App to keep Alexa from constantly announcing your incoming calls.
If you’re an elderly person who lives alone and forgets to charge your cell phone, having the ability to call your phone number using only your voice sounds like a great feature.
