Firestick`s

[#1]

Ive been trying to work out if my parents would make full use of a firestick, they both very light internet users and they have sky and most packages. Also do i really want to recommend them another internet device to play with ... they be on the phone asking questions more than they do now lol.

[#2]

if they have sky then they already have the catchup services on their sky box (unless they have a really old sky box).
a firestick is unlikely to add anything other than netflix.

[#3]

well thanks for the info chenks and the others ill be telling them not to bother... they recently got a new sky box so they get all the catch up anyways.

[#4]

In addition to Amazon prime ( a subscription service). I use mine to view family photos on TV 😉

[#5]

But any old USB stick can do that.

[#6]

Providing your TV has a USB port.

There is a purpose made app on the stick that organises photos into date order, categories, folders etc a necessary evil when you have over 2,000. You can also view as a screensaver or slideshow and store on the Amazon cloud.

Don't know of any standard USB sticks that can achieve all that !

[#7]

I wouldn't give Amazon unnecessary personal info to analyse.

[#8]

I have just had an inlaw bring a Firestick as an early Chrisie presy, to test, but it wouldn't work so it was taken back up north for them to test it at their home on Sky BB and they reported it worked perfectly....

It came up with the menu here, but any attempt to view any of the TV programs was doomed to failure - ages whilst it tried to even start playing them and if it did start at all they only ran for disjointed seconds. Can anyone tell me - does PN block such use of a Firestick or is there another issue with my system?

Youtube and other streaming sites work fine, I can watch other TV sites on my tablet or laptop, but not via the Firestick. 

I have a Talktalk DSL-3780 as the main router connecting to PN's broadband, then a wired LAN to a Netgear wifi router in the living room, just feet away from the Firestick, as a second access point. The Firestick kept complaining of connection issues.

[#9]

Is there a nine year old in the house?

They'll have it sorted in no time, trust me. 

[#10]

Unfortunately not 🙂

[#11]

Do both WiFi access points use the same name?

That might be a possible cause for confusion. Did the testing up North happen in a house with 2 access points?

[#12]

The two AP's have different names, up north there was only one AP, but one or two should make no difference because I have lots of other neighbour's AP's around me as they do up north too.

Besides which, I have lots of other devices here, all of which are able to connect to which ever of my two AP's provides the best connection at any moment. No, they are not all on at the same time, I normally have just my laptop connected, as it is as I type this on my laptop.

As the Firestick has been tested up north and proven to be OK, it is being posted back down to me to have another go at getting it working. I just wanted to be sure it wasn't a problem of PN's making, maybe blocking the use of Firesticks?

[#13]

I was concerned that the Firestick was seeing 2 AP's with identical SSID's and login details and somehow confusing itself.

I have seen this happening with devices in corporate networks (normally Apple kit) where all the access points have the same details but the different MAC addresses of the AP's cause the device to have a wobbler.

Also are your 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz SSID identical? Again that can cause some devices to have connection issues.

No Plusnet don't block Firesticks, if they did this forum would probably melt down

[#14]

Not PN nor the Firestick at fault, so it must be an issue with my routers then... Perhaps in the settings, but odd that everything else I try to use works fine, including Catchup, Youtube etc..

The one connecting to PN's ADSL is my TT D-link DSL-3780 2nd floor, with a wired LAN to a Netgear DG834G in the living room acting just as an AP. Both use 2.4Ghz, have different SSID's, dfferent channels and different passwords. Other items in the living room can connect to the D-link, but not the Firestick. I added the Netgear, because of there being so many other AP's which sprang up locally.

Once the Firsestick is redelivered, I will try in on a TV on the 1st floor, connecting to theD-Link's AP.   

[#15]

If that works you may wish to consider using a powerline wifi extender from the Dlink instead of the netgear.

Regards Mike