Amazon Echo FAQ

loughrey · 22-10-2016 06:00PM

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

It's not due to postcode it just won't accept any address outside the areas supported.

The way people were getting around it before was by changing the address values and making direct calls to Amazon outside the app to avoid the validation but that method hasn't been working since the start of October.

Best you can do from what I see is set the address as you did to the closest available to get the correct time and specify the location when asking something. ie. "Whats the weather like in Dubline, Ireland" etc

It does accept Dublin. Dublin is officially accepted and they even offer suggestions like Dublin 1 and Dublin 4, with the abbreviation IE after them.

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 06:03PM

loughrey wrote: »

It does accept Dublin. Dublin is officially accepted and they even offer suggestions like Dublin 1 and Dublin 4, with the abbreviation IE after them.

Didn't realize that, been trying everything to set the address.

Edit: Seems to achieve about as much as setting a UK address. You get the correct timezone but nothing else. Doesn't recognize it as a location.

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 06:39PM

loughrey wrote: »

There doesn't need to be a workaround, you can just set it to Dublin. Just type in Dublin into the app and they give suggestions like Dublin 1. Even though mine is officially set to Dublin via the app you can't just ask for the weather and it gives you the weather in Dublin. Setting the address to Dublin doesn't seem to give traffic or weather. Some Irish users say theirs does but mine doesn't. That's probably because I'm using a UK server to avail of Amazon Prime Video.

Where did you hear of or see that other Irish people had it working ? Because from what I see location is tied to the zip code which is why the weather and traffic don't work. Even though it accepts Dublin it's not recognized as a location.

If you ask what your location is it will say it cant answer it. You set it to a US zip it will tell you your exact location.

So I'm not sure how anyone could have gotten it working based on the available zip codes.

loughrey · 22-10-2016 06:49PM

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

Where did you hear of or see that other Irish people had it working ? Because from what I see location is tied to the zip code which is why the weather and traffic don't work. Even though it accepts Dublin it's not recognized as a location.

If you ask what your location is it will say it cant answer it. You set it to a US zip it will tell you your exact location.

So I'm not sure how anyone could have gotten it working based on the available zip codes.

I think it was on this thread someone said it's possible, though it hasn't worked for me. I don't think it's a big deal anyway as all you have to say is, "Alexa, what is the weather in Dublin, Ireland" and she'll tell you. So you just have to add an extra three words which isn't a deal breaker for me. I just accept that and haven't bothered playing around with it. Right now I'm on the America Alexa to get a
Pandora, IFTTT, and tweaked it to give me Irish time etc. That's good enough for me.

jay0109 · 22-10-2016 08:04PM

Cabaal wrote: »

Why would they though?
It's not advertised towards Ireland and they specifically set it so they won't deliver it to the Irish market. Of course they didnt focus on Ireland, it would be a waste of their time.

Anyone buying these expecting a device that will work perfectly in Ireland has failed to do research

I have been doing my research, hence my conclusion! If you want this mainly for TuneIn, it's far from perfect using it from Ireland.
If you want to set Ireland as your location and get some level of 'localisation', it's hard work to get there and hit and miss after.

I would expect Amazon to have an ireland tailored version. Or that the devices would easily allow for the purchase of these in Ireland and that they then would accpt Irish addresses for locations etc.
I don't think thats an outlandish expectation

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 08:04PM

loughrey wrote: »

I think it was on this thread someone said it's possible, though it hasn't worked for me. I don't think it's a big deal anyway as all you have to say is, "Alexa, what is the weather in Dublin, Ireland" and she'll tell you. So you just have to add an extra three words which isn't a deal breaker for me. I just accept that and haven't bothered playing around with it. Right now I'm on the America Alexa to get a
Pandora, IFTTT, and tweaked it to give me Irish time etc. That's good enough for me.

It's not a big deal really but it'd be nice to have it if it was possible. Maybe it'll be updated to work in future.

Stoner · 22-10-2016 08:08PM

loughrey wrote:

There doesn't need to be a workaround, you can just set it to Dublin. Just type in Dublin into the app and they give suggestions like Dublin 1. Even though mine is officially set to Dublin via the app you can't just ask for the weather and it gives you the weather in Dublin. Setting the address to Dublin doesn't seem to give traffic or weather. Some Irish users say theirs does but mine doesn't. That's probably because I'm using a UK server to avail of Amazon Prime Video.

Mines the very same. But i can ask it for the temperature in Dublin and it works "what's the temperature" doesn't work

adox · 22-10-2016 08:16PM

Can you manually change the time? Mine is an hour behind for some reason.

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 08:37PM

adox wrote: »

Can you manually change the time? Mine is an hour behind for some reason.

Think mine was an hour behind until I set the address in the settings. Or was it an hour forward.. Off by an hour anyway I think

loughrey · 22-10-2016 08:53PM

jay0109 wrote: »

I have been doing my research, hence my conclusion! If you want this mainly for TuneIn, it's far from perfect using it from Ireland.
If you want to set Ireland as your location and get some level of 'localisation', it's hard work to get there and hit and miss after.

I would expect Amazon to have an ireland tailored version. Or that the devices would easily allow for the purchase of these in Ireland and that they then would accpt Irish addresses for locations etc.
I don't think thats an outlandish expectation

I believe Cabaal was referring to Thelomen Toblackai. The reason this is not sold in Ireland and will never be is because Amazon don't produce these products the way Apple produces their products. Apple's Apple TV is sold here, Amazon's Fire TV isn't. Why is this? Well, it's because these devices are sold at a subsidised price and are made as a way to tie customers into the Amazon Prime ecosystem, so that they choose Amazon Video instead of Netflix (hence the Amazon-centric interface) and so long as you're using its service you're more likely to spend money on other things from the Amazon store, such as movie purchases or the purchase things on Amazon's store by telling Alexa you're out of such a product. That convenience convinces British people to choose Amazon for products instead of Tesco or Argos. Amazon's music and video content is not licenced in Ireland and the reason Amazon keeps it that way is because it allows them to get licence for this content much cheaper than if they extended that licence to Ireland. Ireland's small market would not justify that extra cost and they need to keep the prices for these down because otherwise it would cost Amazon more than what they get from Prime subscriptions. Amazon's music and video service is not where it makes money, these services are just a way to tie customers into the Amazon ecosystem so that they choose Amazon for all their product purchases, that's why it has never done like Netflix and extended their video and music service to as many countries as possible.

loughrey · 22-10-2016 09:01PM

adox wrote: »

Can you manually change the time? Mine is an hour behind for some reason.

Set the address as London and you'll have the correct time.

adox · 22-10-2016 09:02PM

Thanks guys. It wouldn't let me edit the address in the app but set it as Dublin 1 on the web page and its corrected itself.

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 09:20PM

loughrey wrote: »

I believe Cabaal was referring to Thelomen Toblackai. The reason this is not sold in Ireland and will never be is because Amazon don't produce these products the way Apple produces their products. Apple's Apple TV is sold here, Amazon's Fire TV isn't. Why is this? Well, it's because these devices are sold at a subsidised price and are made as a way to tie customers into the Amazon Prime ecosystem, so that they choose Amazon Video instead of Netflix (hence the Amazon-centric interface) and so long as you're using its service you're more likely to spend money on other things from the Amazon store, such as movie purchases or the purchase things on Amazon's store by telling Alexa you're out of such a product. That convenience convinces British people to choose Amazon for products instead of Tesco or Argos. Amazon's music and video content is not licenced in Ireland and the reason Amazon keeps it that way is because it allows them to get licence for this content much cheaper than if they extended that licence to Ireland. Ireland's small market would not justify that extra cost and they need to keep the prices for these down because otherwise it would cost Amazon more than what they get from Prime subscriptions. Amazon's music and video service is not where it makes money, these services are just a way to tie customers into the Amazon ecosystem so that they choose Amazon for all their product purchases, that's why it has never done like Netflix and extended their video and music service to as many countries as possible.

No he was replying to Jay. I said nothing about Amazon catering to the Irish market.

adox · 22-10-2016 10:03PM

So with Tunein Newstalk seems to work fairly consistently for me with the command"Alexa play radio Newstalk Ireland" although she does ask for conformation before playing it.

Phillips Hue lights working ok. Can turn on/off, increase/decrease brightness but cannot change colour or activate scenes.

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 10:42PM

adox wrote: »

So with Tunein Newstalk seems to work fairly consistently for me with the command"Alexa play radio Newstalk Ireland" although she does ask for conformation before playing it.

Phillips Hue lights working ok. Can turn on/off, increase/decrease brightness but cannot change colour or activate scenes.

I can't get it to play Newstalk at all. Half the time it can't find it, half the time it plays young turks.

Arbie · 22-10-2016 10:55PM

I have a US Alexa with a .com account. Location is set to my street address in Dublin 15.

If I ask where I am, she says "X miles from Dublin City Centre" and will give my commute to work as Y minutes via Route Z.

I don't know why this works for me but not for others.

When I ask "What's the weather?" she says she doesn't recognise the location. If I just say "Alexa, Dublin weather" she gives the weather for Dublin, Ireland. That is new as before the UK launch if I asked "What's the weather in Dublin?" she would give Dublin, Maryland, USA.

Prior to the UK launch I could access TuneIn and could get most Irish stations except Newstalk. Since the UK launch I can't access TuneIn by voice at all.

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 11:07PM

Arbie wrote: »

I have a US Alexa with a .com account. Location is set to my street address in Dublin 15.

If I ask where I am, she says "X miles from Dublin City Centre" and will give my commute to work as Y minutes via Route Z.

I don't know why this works for me but not for others.

When I ask "What's the weather?" she says she doesn't recognise the location. If I just say "Alexa, Dublin weather" she gives the weather for Dublin, Ireland. That is new as before the UK launch if I asked "What's the weather in Dublin?" she would give Dublin, Maryland, USA.

Prior to the UK launch I could access TuneIn and could get most Irish stations except Newstalk. Since the UK launch I can't access TuneIn by voice at all.

Whats the format of the address you used ?

v10 · 22-10-2016 11:08PM

For those with their address set in the UK, I've found that a skill called 'Big Sky' is a reasonable solution as it lets you set the location when installing the skill, so once installed you say 'Alexa Open Big Sky' and you'll get your local weather.

v10 · 22-10-2016 11:09PM

PreCocious wrote: »

I've a lightify E14 connected to the Hue. Works fine. When pairing you need to turn it on at the same time as searching from the Hue app. (The firmware was updated via the lightify gateway)

Thanks, I'll give the lightify bulbs a try so. Do you know if anyone here stocks them or are the an online purchase only ?

adox · 22-10-2016 11:21PM

Cabaal wrote: »

Alexa now supports scenes for the Philips Hue and certain other smart devices

I can't for the life of me get her to change any scenes.

PreCocious · 23-10-2016 12:11AM

v10 wrote: »

Thanks, I'll give the lightify bulbs a try so. Do you know if anyone here stocks them or are the an online purchase only ?

I got mine on Amazon (worth checking .de as well as .co.uk as the prices fluctuate ). No idea if any stores here sell them.

mrcheez · 23-10-2016 12:18AM

Anyone tried connecting their Echo (Dot) to a Fire TV stick yet? Apparently U can control kodi with it

Stoner · 23-10-2016 12:28AM

mrcheez wrote:

Anyone tried connecting their Echo (Dot) to a Fire TV stick yet? Apparently U can control kodi with it

Interesting. I hooked fire TV up to the app. I'll give it a go tomorrow

paulbok · 23-10-2016 09:34AM

Have an Echo bought from the UK. So far,
Set NI address and postcode but time still American - not a major issue for me.
Tunein working fine for me, no linked Spotify account or other music service.
Works fine to turn on/off/dim hue lights but haven't been able to set scenes.
Havent been able to enable the Evohome Total Connect comfort skill, it just won't accept my valid and working login details.

A question for those with multiple devices. Can you set a particular light or group of lights for a room to a specific dot/echo so you can say "turn on the lights" and Alexa knows which room you are in by the nearest device that hears you?

Cabaal · 23-10-2016 09:42AM

jay0109 wrote: »

I would expect Amazon to have an ireland tailored version. Or that the devices would easily allow for the purchase of these in Ireland and that they then would accpt Irish addresses for locations etc.
I don't think thats an outlandish expectation

Your expectations are way off,
Amazon has never focused much on Ireland, just look how long it took before you could purchase a kindle from the UK site. For years it had to be ordered from Amazon.com and all purchases were also restricted to. Com.

The fact you're expecting amazon to focus on Ireland at all at this early stage shows you've done no research imho

loughrey · 23-10-2016 09:52AM

adox wrote: »

So with Tunein Newstalk seems to work fairly consistently for me with the command"Alexa play radio Newstalk Ireland" although she does ask for conformation before playing it.

Phillips Hue lights working ok. Can turn on/off, increase/decrease brightness but cannot change colour or activate scenes.

That's awesome, you solved the problem! My Echo is intentionally set to the US Amazon and now she recognizes Newstalk by inputting your command. She'd never play Newstalk before.

loughrey · 23-10-2016 09:54AM

Amazon will only consider the Irish market for these products if they begin to consider Ireland for Amazon Prime. Cureently they do so far as the geo block the Prime content from Ireland

loughrey · 23-10-2016 09:56AM

paulbok wrote: »

Have an Echo bought from the UK. So far,
Set NI address and postcode but time still American - not a major issue for me.
Tunein working fine for me, no linked Spotify account or other music service.
Works fine to turn on/off/dim hue lights but haven't been able to set scenes.
Havent been able to enable the Evohome Total Connect comfort skill, it just won't accept my valid and working login details.

A question for those with multiple devices. Can you set a particular light or group of lights for a room to a specific dot/echo so you can say "turn on the lights" and Alexa knows which room you are in by the nearest device that hears you?

Your time is set to American most likely because your Kindle account is set to the US. Go to the amazon website, go to account, and go to 'manage content and devices, go to settings and see which country it's set to. It needs to be set to the UK.

paulbok · 23-10-2016 10:06AM

loughrey wrote: »

Your time is set to American most likely because your Kindle account is set to the US. Go to the amazon website, go to account, and go to 'manage content and devices, go to settings and see which country it's set to. It needs to be set to the UK.

I was going to do that but from reading previous posts here, that may screw up Tunein for me. For now I far prefer the radio working than the clock

loughrey · 23-10-2016 10:09AM

paulbok wrote: »

I was going to do that but from reading previous posts here, that may screw up Tunein for me. For now I far prefer the radio working than the clock

Having the Echo set to the US or the UK doesn't affect Tunein. i have them set to both and Tunein isn't affected. You can always switch it back via the same process if you don't like it anyway. There's a way to get the clock working on the America Alexa but it's a bit technical. I have Irish time even though I'm set to the uS with Pandora, IFTTT etc. working.

Amazon Echo FAQ

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