How to use Echo Outside of US

[rahnee]

This is GREAT!  Now the rest of the family won't get confused when they ask about weather and restaurants.  Worked like a charm...

[rahnee]

Hmmm....this doesn't seem to be working with my New Dot - second editoin.  TimezoneID works then it fails after that.

[stusviews]

Hmmm....this doesn't seem to be working with my New Dot - second editoin.  TimezoneID works then it fails after that.

 

What isn't working? What fails? Are you not able to use the Echo Dot at all?

[lostprophet]

@stusviews 

 

Hi, 

 

I have an Amazon Echo, just purchased and delivered. It's working good. I live in Romania - Bucharest. I have managed to use Chrome RequestMaker to change the timezone to "Europe/Bucharest" - now it tells the time correctly. However, I cannot modify/update the address  

I have tried to update the city, countrycode, - the first part you mentioned in your first post - however - when pushing Send - it always gives me 400 Bad Request. 

 

Is there any chance to change the location? 

[rahnee]

What isn't working? What fails? Are you not able to use the Echo Dot at all?

Amazon is now only allowing addresses that are in "registered" countries.  For now that means UK, US and Germany.  If I try to use an Canadian address it fails.  The only thing that you can really change is the timezone if you are not in a "registered" country.  That seems to have been implemented just prior to Dot 2 release. 

[lostprophet]

Rahee does that mean, that în previous versions, it would allow non US,UK,DE addresses? I have tried with Toronto and it did not work. Would it be something different if I would do it over a VPN?

 

Trimis de pe al meu Nexus 7 folosind Tapatalk

[larryllix]

Read the OP.

 

This thread is from Alex about a hack to bypass the Amazon filters and get around this peoblem.

 

Read the thread again.

[lostprophet]

I did that, read it and then re-read it to see if I was missing anything. But unfortunately I only managed to change the time zone to "Europe/Bucharest" - all other steps return 400 Bad Request. 

I am willing to give my address to anyone who has done it already - to check if he ca use my location to update his Amazon Echo - just to check if it lets them do that. 

[larryllix]

I have found that Alexa only knows about a few major cities in Canada and nothing about provinces, so trying to hack in some other town is a waste of time anyway if Alexa has never heard of it.

 

I have noticed that all people having success are in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and that is on of the few listed cities in Canada.

Edited October 25, 2016 by larryllix

[Outlander]

I have found that Alexa only knows about a few major cities in Canada and nothing about provinces, so trying to hack in some other town is a waste of time anyway if Alexa has never heard of it.

 

I have noticed that all people having success are in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and that is on of the few listed cities in Canada.

 

I'm in British Columbia (not Vancouver) and it worked fine for me.

[larryllix]

What city did you declare?

[Outlander]

I am not certain if it used the City info or the Postal Code as it actually tells me the area of the city I am located and not the actual city name.  A little odd I thought.

[larryllix]

With American addresses the postal and address have to match.

 

When you ask Alexa for the weather what area does she report?

[Outlander]

With American addresses the postal and address have to match.

 

When you ask Alexa for the weather what area does she report?

She reports correctly the area I am in but not the larger city name.

I am happy I got it working right away, and wondering if they have changed something since then?

[lostprophet]

Outlander - can you tell me where are you from? just as a FYI, as I am trying from Bucharest / Romania - and I cannot update it. It always gives me 400 Bad Request  

[Outlander]

Outlander - can you tell me where are you from? just as a FYI, as I am trying from Bucharest / Romania - and I cannot update it. It always gives me 400 Bad Request

I am in central British Columbia in Canada.  I used the instructions at the beginning and they worked fine for me, but maybe something has been changed since then?

 

UPDATE: As others have also stated, this no longer works.  Tried updating my new Dots and everything fails after setting the TimeZoneID in the first step.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Outlander

[larryllix]

Ask Alexa for the weather in your area, giving your best shot at identifying your exact location.

 

If Alexa doesn't know what that weather is, I doubt you will ever get it to change to an area it hasn't heard of in it's database.

[lostprophet]

I can ask Alexa - what is the weather in Bucharest - and the response is good - 

I managed to change also the timezone. The problem is with changing the address - city - Bucharest / RO / and so on - on all combinations it gives me the 400 error. 

Any ideas? 

[larryllix]

No suggestions. They don't have weather anywhere close to me either and I can't change my location to my area in Canada either

[lostprophet]

I tried again this morning, after a firmware update that happened last night. Thought I give it another try. Unfortunately, I cannot go more than the TimeZone, attempting to change the city, country, ends up in 400 Bad Request

[larryllix]

I tried again this morning, after a firmware update that happened last night. Thought I give it another try. Unfortunately, I cannot go more than the TimeZone, attempting to change the city, country, ends up in 400 Bad Request

How are you aware of a firmware update?

[lostprophet]

In the Alexa Amazon app installed on my phone under Settings - Alexa - Device Software Version it states the firmware build - 4172 in my case. 

[larryllix]

In the Alexa Amazon app installed on my phone under Settings - Alexa - Device Software Version it states the firmware build - 4172 in my case.

So you just remembered what version was on it previously but there is no notification.

 

I thought maybe I had missed something

 

 

....again.

[lostprophet]

I noticed as I was playing with the app this morning - and saw the change. no, there was no notification. 

[fdehmel]

Hi Alex,

 

Thank you for the information on this.  I did the first step and sent and got the 200 ok, but when I did the following steps I got 401.  Any ideas, I did exactly as you said:

 

Then, add the following to your request (keep the timeZoneId changed, each step builds on the last):

1. Set the city value to your city/suburb (e.g. Toronto)
2. Set countryCode (e.g. CA)
3. Set county (e.g. Toronto)
4. Set district (most likely — null)
5. Set houseNumber (e.g. 54)
6. Press “Send” to send those values

Then, once those have been sent, add changes to the following in the same way:
1. Set the first postalCode (e.g. M5K 6G4)
2. Set state (e.g. ON)
3. Set street (e.g. Grand Lake)
4. Press “Send” to send those values
Lastly:

1. Update the second postalCode (e.g. M5K 6G4)
2. Press “Send” to send that value.

 

Fred