Echo & Alexa Forums

Using outside the US

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Paphle

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #105 on: October 10, 2016, 07:15:28 pm »
What do you mean by magic order? Sorry, apparently have skipped that while scanning the posts.

I just re-tried by changing from San Diego Location to Seattle Location. Device is currently set-up to San Diego and when Alexa is asked, she responds that she is in San Diego, even after following changes.

1. I changed the time zone and sent it  ==> 200 OK
2. I changed everything to null except City (Seattle) and CountryCode (US) ==> 200 OK

As mentioned previously, it still gives me San Diego as my location. Same happens if I name the city randomly ChewingGum and the Country Code ABCD.

Currently, my address line looks as follows (with an OK response but no changes in Alexa, so still San Diego location):

{"city":"Seattle","countryCode":"US","county":null,"district":null,"houseNumber":null,"label":null,"postalCode":null,"state":null,"street":null}

Thanks again for the quick help! :)

xbmcnut

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #106 on: October 10, 2016, 07:31:52 pm »
What do you mean by magic order?
https://devdiner.com/internet-of-things/how-do-i-set-up-an-amazon-echo-in-australia. About 1/3 way down is the "Magic Order". See if that works.

Paphle

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #107 on: October 10, 2016, 07:57:44 pm »
Unfortunately, it does not work. If I do not change the label, it gives me a 400 bad request.

Did you have the same problem?
I even tried doing all the steps although I got a bad request.

xbmcnut

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #108 on: October 10, 2016, 07:59:47 pm »
If I do not change the label, it gives me a 400 bad request.
So if you also change the label (which others say not to), it does actually allow you to make some changes?

Paphle

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #109 on: October 10, 2016, 08:05:11 pm »
When I change it to null, I get a 200 response, however, Alexa keeps saying she is in the old location.
I have all parameters changed then, but she keeps telling me that she is at the location I set her on Alexa.amazon.com

xbmcnut

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #110 on: October 10, 2016, 08:09:19 pm »
When I change it to null, I get a 200 response, however, Alexa keeps saying she is in the old location.
I have all parameters changed then, but she keeps telling me that she is at the location I set her on Alexa.amazon.com
If you are using null for your address locations, nothing will change. Looks like Amazon is performing some kind of address verification now so you can only adjust the timezone ID which allows you to enter calendar events in the right time zone at least.

Paphle

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #111 on: October 10, 2016, 08:11:44 pm »
I only used it for the label. Maybe I can try to change the label to something different

xbmcnut

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #112 on: October 10, 2016, 08:34:54 pm »
I only used it for the label. Maybe I can try to change the label to something different
If the address is accepted which used to happen prior to this week, the label updates automatically. According to most of the forums, you're not supposed to alter the label at all. I set one up on the 19th September here in NZ and everything worked a treat. Street, Suburb, City etc so local weather worked. Shortly thereafter, the label updated in the Echo. Believe it is broken now until someone smarter than me finds a workaround.  :-[

pellinore

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #113 on: October 11, 2016, 09:47:51 am »
What do you mean by magic order? Sorry, apparently have skipped that while scanning the posts.

I just re-tried by changing from San Diego Location to Seattle Location. Device is currently set-up to San Diego and when Alexa is asked, she responds that she is in San Diego, even after following changes.

1. I changed the time zone and sent it  ==> 200 OK
2. I changed everything to null except City (Seattle) and CountryCode (US) ==> 200 OK

As mentioned previously, it still gives me San Diego as my location. Same happens if I name the city randomly ChewingGum and the Country Code ABCD.

Currently, my address line looks as follows (with an OK response but no changes in Alexa, so still San Diego location):

{"city":"Seattle","countryCode":"US","county":null,"district":null,"houseNumber":null,"label":null,"postalCode":null,"state":null,"street":null}

Thanks again for the quick help! :)

I pretty sure it's based off the zip code.  Try changing the 2nd zip code option, the one not in the label.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2016, 10:30:48 am by pellinore »

Paphle

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #114 on: October 11, 2016, 04:43:12 pm »
Also changed that. However, I changed label to null as well.

As long as I have label set as null, I get a 200 response, but still no change of address (Alexa tells me I would still be in San Diego although I changed everything to Berlin, Germany)

Kiwi0ne

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #115 on: October 12, 2016, 04:56:22 pm »
Any new development on this?
I just received the Echo and I am in New Zealand.
:)

Cheers,e

pellinore

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #116 on: October 12, 2016, 10:08:36 pm »
So following Paphle, I was able to add in any address but I had to put the label=null or label="" and it accepted the address.  The echo still thinks it's in the US address I changed in the Settings.  The label is also the same as the US address I inputted.  Will leave it for the night and see if the label updates...

Edit:  Left it for the night and it did not update my location.  The label stayed the same and asking for the Weather gives me the US address I changed it too :(.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2016, 09:48:23 am by pellinore »

deanc

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #117 on: October 28, 2016, 04:41:58 pm »
Just to confirm with complete certainty if anyone outside of US/UK is thinking of buying these - hold off for now. As described above it's now not possible to set to an address outside of the US or UK. You are still able to set your timezone which at least helps with the correct time, but any other local features are out the question. No cinema listings, nearby restaurants and most importantly "Alexa, what's the weather today?" will answer incorrectly.

I know they are not selling these devices outside the US/UK for a reason, but given the data sources they are using for the information - all of them support pretty much every country.

Our office now has 3 dumb echos. I wish I had seen this thread earlier ;-)

Offline jwlv

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Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #118 on: October 28, 2016, 09:56:05 pm »
Just to confirm with complete certainty if anyone outside of US/UK is thinking of buying these - hold off for now. As described above it's now not possible to set to an address outside of the US or UK. You are still able to set your timezone which at least helps with the correct time, but any other local features are out the question. No cinema listings, nearby restaurants and most importantly "Alexa, what's the weather today?" will answer incorrectly.

I know they are not selling these devices outside the US/UK for a reason, but given the data sources they are using for the information - all of them support pretty much every country.

Our office now has 3 dumb echos. I wish I had seen this thread earlier ;-)

When Echo first came out in the US two years ago, there were no cinema listings either. And you can't even get an answer for where the nearest McDonalds is located.  I remember when I first got the Echo two years ago, I was severely disappointed as I thought I could ask things like "What time does Pizza Hut open?" There was no support for smart switches either. I had several Wemo switches already before I got the Echo. All these little things that I thought it could do, it didn't do. Back then, getting an Echo was by invitation only. I had two invitations and the waiting list was extremely long. Because I was so disappointed in the beginning, I cancelled my order for the second one. After months and months of waiting, then seeing new features and improvements, I began to appreciate what the Echo can do. But by then, demand for the Echo had exploded. The waiting list was something 6 months. (There are probably some posts in this forum about how long people were waiting for their Echos). I ended up paying a large sum of money to get one quickly from Ebay. Now I have a total of 3 Echos, 1 Tap, and 6 Dots. I'm happy with them all.

The benefit to the UK folks is that you already know what the US Echo can do. It's just a matter of time for those missing features to be added to the UK Echos. Cinema listings? It'll be there soon. Address and operating hours of local businesses? It's coming. IMDB? Very soon. IFTTT? You bet!

If you feel mislead or disappointed, just remember that the US folks had to wait a lot longer than you before these features came out. And even as we waited, there was no official word on whether something was going to be supported. It was just all rumors. Everyone hoped Wemo, IFTTT, Nest, and other services/devices would be supported. And that's all it was, just hope that Amazon would do something. Amazon never said anything until the day the new firmware was released. Similarly to this week's Logitech Harmony announcement. Amazon made no official announcement until the day it was released.

In case you're interested, I've located the thread where we talked about how the waiting list was.
http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,9.0.html
The original post was from Jan 2015. At that time, 56% of respondents indicated that they were expecting to receive their Echo in May 2015 or later. And that was only if you were one of the lucky ones to get the invitation. The Echo was not available to the general public.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2016, 10:12:45 pm by jwlv »

deanc

Re: Using outside the US
« Reply #119 on: October 29, 2016, 01:22:17 pm »
Just to confirm with complete certainty if anyone outside of US/UK is thinking of buying these - hold off for now. As described above it's now not possible to set to an address outside of the US or UK. You are still able to set your timezone which at least helps with the correct time, but any other local features are out the question. No cinema listings, nearby restaurants and most importantly "Alexa, what's the weather today?" will answer incorrectly.

I know they are not selling these devices outside the US/UK for a reason, but given the data sources they are using for the information - all of them support pretty much every country.

Our office now has 3 dumb echos. I wish I had seen this thread earlier ;-)

When Echo first came out in the US two years ago, there were no cinema listings either. And you can't even get an answer for where the nearest McDonalds is located.  I remember when I first got the Echo two years ago, I was severely disappointed as I thought I could ask things like "What time does Pizza Hut open?" There was no support for smart switches either. I had several Wemo switches already before I got the Echo. All these little things that I thought it could do, it didn't do. Back then, getting an Echo was by invitation only. I had two invitations and the waiting list was extremely long. Because I was so disappointed in the beginning, I cancelled my order for the second one. After months and months of waiting, then seeing new features and improvements, I began to appreciate what the Echo can do. But by then, demand for the Echo had exploded. The waiting list was something 6 months. (There are probably some posts in this forum about how long people were waiting for their Echos). I ended up paying a large sum of money to get one quickly from Ebay. Now I have a total of 3 Echos, 1 Tap, and 6 Dots. I'm happy with them all.

The benefit to the UK folks is that you already know what the US Echo can do. It's just a matter of time for those missing features to be added to the UK Echos. Cinema listings? It'll be there soon. Address and operating hours of local businesses? It's coming. IMDB? Very soon. IFTTT? You bet!

If you feel mislead or disappointed, just remember that the US folks had to wait a lot longer than you before these features came out. And even as we waited, there was no official word on whether something was going to be supported. It was just all rumors. Everyone hoped Wemo, IFTTT, Nest, and other services/devices would be supported. And that's all it was, just hope that Amazon would do something. Amazon never said anything until the day the new firmware was released. Similarly to this week's Logitech Harmony announcement. Amazon made no official announcement until the day it was released.

In case you're interested, I've located the thread where we talked about how the waiting list was.
http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,9.0.html
The original post was from Jan 2015. At that time, 56% of respondents indicated that they were expecting to receive their Echo in May 2015 or later. And that was only if you were one of the lucky ones to get the invitation. The Echo was not available to the general public.

Sadly for me, I'm outside of both the US and UK. So we might be waiting a while in Finland ;-)