Can't install smart home skill from Canada

[G W]

Larry is in Canada and he has the skill. So, again, i suggest you contact Amazon support.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

[G W]

I'm located in Canada and can see the skill.

 

It seems like you can't see US skills. I searched for a parameter that perhaps would prevent you from seeing them, but I could not find anything.

 

I know that Alexa skills now can be enabled for English Canada. Our V3 skills which is coming out soon is. Our V2 skill did not have that option when it was released.

 

Anyone else in Canada who can't see the skill?

 

Benoit

Do you use amazon.com or amazon.ca?

Edited November 21, 2017 by Gary Funk

[bmercier]

Do you use amazon.com or amazon.ca?

 

I use both, but I don't think it matters.

 

I believe the issue is something on the user profile which identifies if it's a canadian or american user.

 

I don't know if that could be a reason, but I have a ship-to address in the US (A cross-border service address).

 

Benoit

[bmercier]

I have not contacted Amazon support. Benoit said this is "normal" per his conversation with Amazon. Would appear to me that UDI isn't willing to address the issue and leave new Canadian users hanging, but please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

We are entirely dependant on Amazon at this time. I believe it's a matter of hours before the V3 skill becomes available. 

 

We could also enable the V2 skill for Canada, but a change to the skill would have to go through the same process, so it would not be faster.

 

Benoit

[G W]

I use both, but I don't think it matters.

 

I believe the issue is something on the user profile which identifies if it's a canadian or american user.

 

I don't know if that could be a reason, but I have a ship-to address in the US (A cross-border service address).

 

Benoit

I did some testing and using amazon.ca instead of amazon.com does show different skills. I wasn't aware of this till today.

Many, many of us are Canadians here. Many of us use Alexa with the ISY portal.

Larry, Is your account on amazon.com or amazon.ca?

Edited November 21, 2017 by Gary Funk

[beninsteon]

Many, many of us are Canadians here. Many of us use Alexa with the ISY portal.

 

I am also Canadian (of course) and on my existing Echo where the ISY skill was already installed there's no problem.

 

I can't install the ISY skill on a new echo because of geographical restrictions on the skill. It's all the more painful that this echo device happens to be at a friend's house, who I convinced to spend $500 on an ISY device with the promise of controlling his lights with his voice.

 

If it is a matter of hours until the new skill is published then this conversation is moot. However given the history, particularly with this skill being done for well over a month awaiting Amazon's approval, I'm not holding my breath.

 

My Amazon mailing address is in Canada, but even with a new Amazon account and a fake US address I was geo-blocked from downloading this skill. I am sure Amazon gave its skill partners time to get their code ported to the Canadian market but presumably owing to limited resources and the imminent release of V3, UDI didn't figure this would end up being a problem. I guess they were wrong.

 

I'd hope for more support from other end users and UDI here ... hopefully none of you are identified by Amazon as being in Canada and need to install the skill on a new Echo device.

[Teken]

I am also Canadian (of course) and on my existing Echo where the ISY skill was already installed there's no problem.

 

I can't install the ISY skill on a new echo because of geographical restrictions on the skill. It's all the more painful that this echo device happens to be at a friend's house, who I convinced to spend $500 on an ISY device with the promise of controlling his lights with his voice.

 

If it is a matter of hours until the new skill is published then this conversation is moot. However given the history, particularly with this skill being done for well over a month awaiting Amazon's approval, I'm not holding my breath.

 

My Amazon mailing address is in Canada, but even with a new Amazon account and a fake US address I was geo-blocked from downloading this skill. I am sure Amazon gave its skill partners time to get their code ported to the Canadian market but presumably owing to limited resources and the imminent release of V3, UDI didn't figure this would end up being a problem. I guess they were wrong.

 

I'd hope for more support from other end users and UDI here ... hopefully none of you are identified by Amazon as being in Canada and need to install the skill on a new Echo device.

 

The work around since day one has been to use the American smart application. This was coupled with listing the home using an American address. This was later fine tuned by using a web page hack which allowed the person to change that U.S.A address to a Canadian location. Doing that ensured when you requested local services the reply was geo located to your physical address.

 

To be clear in iOS one needs to login to the American App store to download said smart application.

 

I haven't even bothered to try the transition because everything works perfectly as is. Once the new (Canadian Dots) arrive on December 05, 2017 I will see how this new process works. I may very well enroll those new Canadian Dots using a different account in case there is some kind of limitation as there seems to be on everything Canadian!

Edited November 21, 2017 by Teken

[G W]

V3 is now live on Amazon.

[larryllix]

I am also Canadian (of course) and on my existing Echo where the ISY skill was already installed there's no problem.

 

I can't install the ISY skill on a new echo because of geographical restrictions on the skill. It's all the more painful that this echo device happens to be at a friend's house, who I convinced to spend $500 on an ISY device with the promise of controlling his lights with his voice.

 

If it is a matter of hours until the new skill is published then this conversation is moot. However given the history, particularly with this skill being done for well over a month awaiting Amazon's approval, I'm not holding my breath.

 

My Amazon mailing address is in Canada, but even with a new Amazon account and a fake US address I was geo-blocked from downloading this skill. I am sure Amazon gave its skill partners time to get their code ported to the Canadian market but presumably owing to limited resources and the imminent release of V3, UDI didn't figure this would end up being a problem. I guess they were wrong.

 

I'd hope for more support from other end users and UDI here ... hopefully none of you are identified by Amazon as being in Canada and need to install the skill on a new Echo device.

When I first bought my Dots and picked them up in NY I registered and account with amazon.com at the address I was staying at.

 

Despite all this I was not allowed to download the app period as a Canadian. 

How did they know? I went out and bought a brand new tablet for $200 with absolutely no google accounts on it yet and it allowed me to access the app download. Once I installed my google email account into the new tablet email program I was barred access to the Alexa app again with a warning for Canadians.  Amazon was able to access information in my google.com email account and determine I was a Canadian.

 

I originally thought they were accessing my google cookies but I can't see how a cookie could contain my home address location, and give it out just for asking.

 

Conclusion: Google and Amazon were in bed for the initial Alexa programming. The whole voice thing wreaks of google design, being so far ahead in AI anyway.  Amazon was lucky to produce a store website.

[G W]

When I first bought my Dots and picked them up in NY I registered and account with amazon.com at the address I was staying at.

 

Despite all this I was not allowed to download the app period as a Canadian.

How did they know? I went out and bought a brand new tablet for $200 with absolutely no google accounts on it yet and it allowed me to access the app download. Once I installed my google email account into the new tablet email program I was barred access to the Alexa app again with a warning for Canadians. Amazon was able to access information in my google.com email account and determine I was a Canadian.

 

I originally thought they were accessing my google cookies but I can't see how a cookie could contain my home address location, and give it out just for asking.

 

Conclusion: Google and Amazon were in bed for the initial Alexa programming. The whole voice thing wreaks of google design, being so far ahead in AI anyway. Amazon was lucky to produce a store website.

They can tell by your IP address. I use a VPN to avoid that issue.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

[larryllix]

They can tell by your IP address. I use a VPN to avoid that issue.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

MY IP address was in NY when that happened. The only thing that ever identified me as a Canadian was my google account, when installed on a virgin computer. Once I removed my google account. the Alexa app was accessible again.

 

 

New: I just attempted to access the V3 skill in the amazon alexa app. Not happening!

I get a warning that my language does not match my account. Click continue to correct it to English (Canada).

 

When Continue is clicked, it jumps to the Smart Home page and there is no way to access ANY skills now. Amazon just locked me out of my amazon account access and all further skills

 

I guess Gary's clue will need to be followed (thanks). I will have to open a Canadian amazon.ca account and try  it.  After all, these cloud services are only about selling people something anyway.

[G W]

Wow. It gets more strange by the minute.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

[beninsteon]

MY IP address was in NY when that happened. The only thing that ever identified me as a Canadian was my google account, when installed on a virgin computer. Once I removed my google account. the Alexa app was accessible again.

 

 

New: I just attempted to access the V3 skill in the amazon alexa app. Not happening!

I get a warning that my language does not match my account. Click continue to correct it to English (Canada).

 

When Continue is clicked, it jumps to the Smart Home page and there is no way to access ANY skills now. Amazon just locked me out of my amazon account access and all further skills

 

I guess Gary's clue will need to be followed (thanks). I will have to open a Canadian amazon.ca account and try it. After all, these cloud services are only about selling people something anyway.

This is my issue exactly. Here's how you fix it.

 

Go into device settings and change device language to English (Canada). You'll then be able to access skills again but only ones approved for Canada (whatever that means). The device's accent also changes for the worse. This also means that unless already installed you will no longer have access to the "Izzy" skill either.... Unless UDI gets it into the Canadian skills list.

Edited November 22, 2017 by beninsteon

[Teken]

This is my issue exactly. Here's how you fix it.

 

Go into device settings and change device language to English (Canada). You'll then be able to access skills again but only ones approved for Canada (whatever that means). The device's accent also changes for the worse. This also means that unless already installed you will no longer have access to the "Izzy" skill either.... Unless UDI gets it into the Canadian skills list.

 

I tried moments ago to see what would happen to an existing install. The system just hangs on the WiFi portion and never completes and declares an error code. Based on your reply here I am not missing a damn thing so will continue to use the existing method in place. I'll roll the dice once the new Amazon Dots arrive on December 05, 2017.

 

Let the games begin . . .

[stusviews]

I tried moments ago to see what would happen to an existing install. The system just hangs on the WiFi portion and never completes and declares an error code. Based on your reply here I am not missing a damn thing so will continue to use the existing method in place. I'll roll the dice once the new Amazon Dots arrive on December 05, 2017.

 

Let the games begin . . .

 

What WiFi portion? Are you running your ISY using WiFi? If so, how?

[Teken]

What WiFi portion? Are you running your ISY using WiFi? If so, how?

 

LOL ~ What?!?   

 

The Amazon Echo was stuck on the WiFi portion of the setup process not the ISY Series Controller. I was curious to see what would happen and decided to open the Alexa Application which I rarely if ever use or open. To my surprise instead of it opening normally it opened up in a *Setup Mode* there was no method to bypass this. 

 

At this point I figured what the hell lets see what happens . . .

 

Sadly, the system would not go past the step where the Amazon Echo needs to connect to the local WiFi network. 

[larryllix]

LOL ~ What?!?   

 

The Amazon Echo was stuck on the WiFi portion of the setup process not the ISY Series Controller. I was curious to see what would happen and decided to open the Alexa Application which I rarely if ever use or open. To my surprise instead of it opening normally it opened up in a *Setup Mode* there was no method to bypass this. 

 

At this point I figured what the hell lets see what happens . . .

 

Sadly, the system would not go past the step where the Amazon Echo needs to connect to the local WiFi network. 

Some assumptions are made in the setup that you are on a mobile phone that will automatically reconnect to your house WiFi SSID after the Echo SSID disapears. On my RPi this does NOT happen and I have to manually change the SSID connected to, back and forth while setting these up.

 

 

I connected my units and ISY Portal to my Canadian Account. What a  mess!

Turns out amazon.ca and amazon.com accounts are the same accounts and share your shipping addresses. If you have a "default" American shipping address this will never work from a Canadian IP address.

I found that selecting English (Canadian) will not allow it to work either and had to return to English (American). Since spokens are used their should not be any real difference.

 

 

ecobee4 amazon account change is done in the ecobee web app, not on the stat. I spent a lot of time trying to find this.

 

I had to star over with every Amazon device and re-programme them setting up WiFi, geographic addresses individually, and metric selections. All working fine now. I will likely experiment more with switching over to English (Canadian) later.

 

So far V3 seems a lot faster to switch devices on/off even though a delay of up to about 1 seconds is often found before I get the Amazon "OK". Priority of process seems to be given to getting the job done now. Better!

Edited November 22, 2017 by larryllix

[Teken]

Some assumptions are made in the setup that you are on a mobile phone that will automatically reconnect to your house WiFi SSID after the Echo SSID disapears. On my RPi this does NOT happen and I have to manually change the SSID connected to, back and forth while setting these up.

 

 

I connected my units and ISY Portal to my Canadian Account. What a  mess!

Turns out amazon.ca and amazon.com accounts are the same accounts and share your shipping addresses. If you have a "default" American shipping address this will never work from a Canadian IP address.

I found that selecting English (Canadian) will not allow it to work either and had to return to English (American). Since spokens are used their should not be any real difference.

 

 

ecobee4 amazon account change is done in the ecobee web app, not on the stat. I spent a lot of time trying to find this.

 

I had to star over with every Amazon device and re-programme them setting up WiFi, geographic addresses individually, and metric selections. All working fine now. I will likely experiment more with switching over to English (Canadian) later.

 

So far V3 seems a lot faster to switch devices on/off even though a delay of up to about 1 seconds is often found before I get the Amazon "OK". Priority of process seems to be given to getting the job done now. Better!

 

I'm not sure what the Canadian version is going to offer over the American one. Is it going to say *Eh* at the end?? Seems to be just another hobbled software product nuetured for the 51st State.     

 

The test I performed was on my iPhone so all the WiFi SSID's were present for selection. Unfortunately, once I selected what ever it simply got to 1/4 bar and stopped and then declared a error code. I gave up after more than five attempts but made sure the system was still fully operational using the old method. I had to unplug the Echo from power because it kept glowing orange and wouldn't time out. 

Edited November 22, 2017 by Teken

[larryllix]

I'm not sure what the Canadian version is going to offer over the American one. Is it going to say *Eh* at the end?? Seems to be just another hobbled software product nuetured for the 51st State.     

 

The test I performed was on my iPhone so all the WiFi SSID's were present for selection. Unfortunately, once I selected what ever it simply got to 1/4 bar and stopped and then declared a error code. I gave up after more than five attempts but made sure the system was still fully operational using the old method. I had to unplug the Echo from power because it kept glowing orange and wouldn't time out. 

I just had the same thing with one of five I just "rebuilt". After a power cycle and a closer to the router retry, it linked together OK and now is working well at a larger distance on 5GHz. It seems if certain parts fail the Dot gets hung and only a cold boot will release it from the hang.

 

The only thing I can see of benefit is local weather is available. Of course amazon needs this so you can accidentally enable ordering features and have toilet paper arrive at your door for $40 shipping fees.

Edited November 22, 2017 by larryllix

[Teken]

I just had the same thing with one of five I just "rebuilt". After a power cycle and a closer to the router retry, it linked together OK and now is working well at a larger distance on 5GHz. It seems if certain parts fail the Dot gets hung and only a cold boot will release it from the hang.

 

The only thing I can see of benefit is local weather is available. Of course amazon needs this so you can accidentally enable ordering features and have toilet paper arrive at your door for $40 shipping fees.

 

Don't have that problem since using that web hack which allows your actual address to be used. I simply ask Alexa what is the weather and she spits it out. Its rarely used now because the system uses hyper local weather data from the Autelis Bridge & Weather Flow. 

[GDavis01]

I have been using the Echo for some time now with my Canadian address and getting local weather...etc. However, this morning when I asked Alexa to turn on a light she told me that the light "isn't responding"!

 

So I tried opening my Amazon account and found that I was forwarded from alexa.amazon.com to alexa.amazon.ca! Then it wouldn't accept my password, so I had to go through the 'forgot password' routine. After resetting the password I was able to get in (on the .ca site) but when I tried to view the skills I got the same message as Larry posted some time ago

 

"I get a warning that my language does not match my account. Click continue to correct it to English (Canada)"

 

When I click on 'Continue' I end up on the 'Settings' screen. When I try to to change the language I am only given 3 choices: 

 

  - English (United States)

  - English (United Kingdom)

  - Deutsch

 

I am not seeing the English (Canada)!

 

Any thoughts on how to proceed? Do I have to completely delete the account and start all over?

 

I just sent an email to support asking them a similar question...

Edited December 2, 2017 by GMD99

[bmercier]

You need to uninstall the V2 skill, and install V3.

 

The V3 skill is available in Canada. 

 

Benoit

[GDavis01]

I would if I could! However, I cannot get into the skills section at all!!

[bmercier]

Humm... Strange.

 

I would try with the iOS or android app then.

 

Benoit

[GDavis01]

I just tried with the IOS app and I am having the same problem!