Firestick in Thailand

[sirineou 11,962]

By the way. I have saved this thread in my favorites to re-read when I comeback to Thailand with my firesticks. Great information and advice by all.

Thank you

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,765]

Just now, sirineou said:

What is a good VPN to use for a firestick with access to the US market?

 

Depends on what specific services you want to access...

 

Overall, pretty much any good VPN service with U.S. city server locations will get you any of the free stuff you might want and most of the paid stuff as well on the Fire TV platform.

 

The troublesome ones tend to be just a few -- Netflix U.S., Hulu and Amazon Prime, in particular, where you often have to test and trial all the various U.S. servers any particular VPN may offer to find out which ones will or won't work with each one of those individual services.

 

Also unlike Roku devices, Fire TV devices actually have and allow you to install VPN apps directly onto the Fire TV device, meaning you don't have to rely on wifi router-based VPN. Among the VPN services with Fire TV specific apps are Express VPN, Nord, PIA, IPVanish, CyberGhost, Strong, Vypr, Torguard, Pure, Ivacy, among others.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,765]

Just now, sirineou said:

By the way. I have saved this thread in my favorites to re-read when I comeback to Thailand with my firesticks. Great information and advice by all.

Thank you

 

At home, I have Fire TV devices, Roku devices and an Android TV device. Over time, I've found I ended up shelving the Roku and Android TV devices, and now rely solely on the Fire TV devices, which do everything I need them to do. The new Fire TV 4K stick in particular is a really strong device at a bargain price, and probably will be even cheaper come Black Friday/Cyber Monday at the end of this coming month.

 

BTW, Amazon does also sell a "basic edition" Fire Stick via its U.S. online store that's specifically made for international use. But it's more expensive than the regular Fire TV devices, and doesn't have all the capabilities of the regular U.S. devices either, including lacking Alexa capability and only having access to the very limited international version of Amazon Prime Video. But for someone who refuses to use a VPN for whatever reason, the "basic edition" Fire Stick is another alternative.

 

[sirineou 11,962]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

At home, I have Fire TV devices, Roku devices and an Android TV device. Over time, I've found I ended up shelving the Roku and Android TV devices, and now rely solely on the Fire TV devices, which do everything I need them to do. The new Fire TV 4K stick in particular is a really strong device at a bargain price, and probably will be even cheaper come Black Friday/Cyber Monday at the end of this coming month.

 

BTW, Amazon does also sell a "basic edition" Fire Stick via its U.S. online store that's specifically made for international use. But it's more expensive than the regular Fire TV devices, and doesn't have all the capabilities of the regular U.S. devices either, including lacking Alexa capability and only having access to the very limited international version of Amazon Prime Video. But for someone who refuses to use a VPN for whatever reason, the "basic edition" Fire Stick is another alternative.

 

 I replaced my old fire sticks with the new new 4k firestick, I paid $34 usd each!! A bargain. They are lightening fast and never had an issue, also have bluetooth capability for connecting my noise cancelling headphone so that I don't have to listen to my wife's  Thai comedy shows  that she watches on her Ipad,

wizz, ding,doink, wa wa wa waaaaaa. LOL

[elgenon 1,060]

On 11/1/2019 at 12:54 AM, DPKANKAN said:

Scart connection and wifi. One of my TV's is over 8 years old and is connected with little problem, although it only picks up 2.4G wifi which slows it down sometimes!

Please pardon my ignorance, what is an Scart connection?

[Peterw42 10,101]

20 minutes ago, elgenon said:

Please pardon my ignorance, what is an Scart connection?

An old 20 pin A/V connector, TVs or devices haven't had them for 20 years.

 

Edited November 2 by Peterw42

[oceanbreeze851 11]

I will be moving to Sattahip, Thailand in March with my Thai wife. I use Norton VPN now. Would that work with the Fire Stick. I would like the ability to watch NFL games and maybe record them to be watched at later date. Thank you for any information.

[DPKANKAN 589]

6 hours ago, elgenon said:

Please pardon my ignorance, what is an Scart connection?

Actually sorry my error. An HDMI connector

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,765]

7 hours ago, oceanbreeze851 said:

I will be moving to Sattahip, Thailand in March with my Thai wife. I use Norton VPN now. Would that work with the Fire Stick. I would like the ability to watch NFL games and maybe record them to be watched at later date. Thank you for any information.

 

Take a look at Locast.org combined with a FitzyTV app installed on a Fire Stick or Android TV device... 

 

Locast is good if one of the cities they serve happens to be your home town area, meaning you can get all your local team games on the local Fox or CBS affiliate. Locast provides the access. FitzyTV for $5 a month provides a rolling 25 hour cloud DVR.

 

But if you just want to watch the national NFL broadcasts, then that gets a lot easier, and isn't dependent on an internet connection tied to your specific home town city.

 

Re Norton, I don't believe there's a specific Norton VPN app for Fire TV devices. However, there is one for Android (but not Android TV) devices, so you MIGHT be able to sideload the Norton Android app and see if it works properly on your Fire TV device.

 

 

Edited November 3 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[paddypower 30]

On 10/31/2019 at 3:01 PM, Tony125 said:

Try PrivateVPN , has section for Amazon Prime and Netflix

a bit off topic. I am trying to sign up for Netflix. i use Proton vpn, baseed mostly in singapore. Netflix subscription defaults to Sing$. OK - I turned of the vpn. Now the sub. currency is Thai baht. But, when I enter my Can bank Visa, it refuses to accept payment. Called my bank, they say my card is activated, etc. anyone can help - or refer me to a more relevant forum. tia.

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,765]

2 hours ago, paddypower said:

a bit off topic. I am trying to sign up for Netflix. i use Proton vpn, baseed mostly in singapore. Netflix subscription defaults to Sing$. OK - I turned of the vpn. Now the sub. currency is Thai baht. But, when I enter my Can bank Visa, it refuses to accept payment. Called my bank, they say my card is activated, etc. anyone can help - or refer me to a more relevant forum. tia.

 

They may want the payment method location to match the subscription location.

 

But either way, when I look at Netflix for the U.S., it also gives you the option of paying via Paypal, which might avoid the location issue... 

 

Or, couldn't you subscribe to Netflix Canada???

 

What country do you want your Netflix subscription to be based in?

 

You can also subscribe to Netflix directly in Thailand with a Thai IP...and Thai payment method.

 

Edited November 7 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[sirineou 11,962]

I just ordered an extra Echo dot (3 generation)  Amazon is having it on sale $29 , I will use it in a spare room at my US home, and I am planning to bring it with me when I come back to Thailand this spring. (wintering in FL now). I have never used an Echo Dot in Thailand. What issues , if any. would I encounter?  

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,765]

4 minutes ago, sirineou said:

I just ordered an extra Echo dot (3 generation)  Amazon is having it on sale $29 , I will use it in a spare room at my US home, and I am planning to bring it with me when I come back to Thailand this spring. (wintering in FL now). I have never used an Echo Dot in Thailand. What issues , if any. would I encounter?  

 

None.... AFAIK....

 

Once initially set up, it can even connect and be used with a Thai IP address, as best as I recall... But, U.S.-only services on it may not work in that mode. So I keep mine connected to a router-based U.S. VPN.

 

Edited November 7 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[sirineou 11,962]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

None.... AFAIK....

 

Once initially set up, it can even connect and be used with a Thai IP address, as best as I recall... But, U.S.-only services on it may not work in that mode.

 

So run a VPN? I will mainly use it to remotely control devices when traveling, and to listen to music (Amazon music, and spotify),    and verbally control devices when there. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,765]

1 minute ago, sirineou said:

So run a VPN? I will mainly use it to remotely control devices when traveling, and to listen to music (Amazon music, and spotify),    and verbally control devices when there. 

 

Ya, I think the responding to verbal commands part is no problem.

 

But the streaming services issue can get a bit more complicated...

 

Assuming you have a U.S.-based Amazon account, here's what I can advise:

 

--I have a Thailand-based Spotify premium account, have linked it to my Alexa account, and it plays fine via my Alexa devices when they are connected to my U.S. IP.

 

--I switched both my Android mobile phone and laptop to my regular Thai ISP IP via wifi, and my Amazon Music premium subscription played fine on both devices, via the Amazon Music app on my phone, and via the web browser on my laptop.

 

I would switch one of my Alexa devices to my Thai ISP for you and give it a try, except connecting to a different wifi connection via the Alexa app is a bit of a pain, so I'm gonna try to avoid doing that....