Can you use an Amazon Fire Stick anywhere?

[Cotty]

When all the restrictions have been lifted or loosened up significantly I would like to do some traveling.
As a solo traveler someone suggested taking an Amazon Fire Stick with me, do you know if they will work ok in Europe?

[journeymanpro]

Yes assuming you have the correct power adapter.

[anonymous-user]

Seems a shame to go travelling but need to take a fire stick with you.

[Cotty]

Badda said:

Seems a shame to go travelling but need to take a fire stick with you.

Thinking of Prague for a week and don't fancy the idea of sitting in a bar on my own every night. Maybe one day I might have done a lot of walking seeing the sights and just want to crash out with a film and a couple of take away beers.

Its an option, it might not get used but wanted to know if its possible.

[Cotty]

journeymanpro said:

Yes assuming you have the correct power adapter.

I have one of these. My e-cig and phone use USB charging so it should do the job with four USB sockets.

[vaud]

Cotty said:

When all the restrictions have been lifted or loosened up significantly I would like to do some traveling.
As a solo traveler someone suggested taking an Amazon Fire Stick with me, do you know if they will work ok in Europe?

Your issue might be geo-restrictions for content based on the IP address of where you are.

[PF62]

Cotty said:

someone suggested taking an Amazon Fire Stick with me, do you know if they will work ok in Europe?

Do you mean physically work or actually stream content?

They will physically work and are rather good when travelling as they are actually designed to work with hotel WIFI which has a 'pop up' portal page for you to sign in (Chromecast is very bad in this respect).

But that is the end of the good news.

Thanks to Brexit most of the streaming services which were available when traveling in Europe up to the end of 2020 (BBC iPlayer, All4, NowTV, etc.) just tell you to 'get lost' as you are in an area which the content isn't licenced. Netflix is OK, but shows you the content which is licenced in the country you are in (but that is still usually most of it). Amazon Prime I don't subscribe to so have no idea.

You can overcome the licencing block by using a VPN, but then the quality of the streaming can be very dependant on the quality of the VPN service (and whether that VPN is blocked by the streaming service).

[Cotty]

PF62 said:

Thanks to Brexit most of the streaming services which were available when traveling in Europe up to the end of 2020 (BBC iPlayer, All4, NowTV, etc.) just tell you to 'get lost' as you are in an area which the content isn't licenced. Netflix is OK, but shows you the content which is licenced in the country you are in (but that is still usually most of it). Amazon Prime I don't subscribe to so have no idea.

You can overcome the licencing block by using a VPN, but then the quality of the streaming can be very dependant on the quality of the VPN service (and whether that VPN is blocked by the streaming service).

What about the mirror function. I could download films on Netflix and Amazon Prime to my phone before I went.

Also I have over three hundred videos on my phone, mostly films (I ripped my DVD's) but some TV shows.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

Prime is geo locked - and very annoying as they show you the titles then when you try to watch, tell you that you can't watch it in the country you are in.

Netflix is much better

[PF62]

Carbon Sasquatch said:

Prime is geo locked - and very annoying as they show you the titles then when you try to watch, tell you that you can't watch it in the country you are in.

So does the BBC iPlayer.

Carbon Sasquatch said:

Netflix is much better

Absolutely.

[hellorent]

You can use them abroad if you have side loaded certain apps on them.

[journeymanpro]

hellorent said:

You can use them abroad if you have side loaded certain apps on them.

Can't imagine what you mean....

[dapprman]

BBC iPlayer has always been regionally locked outside the UK, you just need to log in with your BBC account to prove you are a licence payer. Annoyingly I discovered at my mother's house that you now need to do this in the UK as well.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

dapprman said:

BBC iPlayer has always been regionally locked outside the UK, you just need to log in with your BBC account to prove you are a licence payer.

I just tried it - you still can't, even if logged in

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/playb...

[Cotty]

dapprman said:

BBC iPlayer has always been regionally locked outside the UK, you just need to log in with your BBC account to prove you are a licence payer. Annoyingly I discovered at my mother's house that you now need to do this in the UK as well.

Thats a moot point as I don't have a licence. I don't watch any live TV.

[s p a c e m a n]

If you set up Chromecast you can then cast to the TV using a VPN on your phone, well I can watch American Netflix that way at home so assume it will work in a hotel

[PF62]

s p a c e m a n said:

If you set up Chromecast you can then cast to the TV using a VPN on your phone, well I can watch American Netflix that way at home so assume it will work in a hotel

The issue with Chromecast is your phone and the Chromecast need to be on the same WiFi network, and if the hotel WiFi uses a portal for authentication then it isn't possible to get the Chromecast connected to it because you cannot see the portal popping up when the Chromecast connects.

You can get around it by using a travel router like a TL-WR810N that has WISP mode, and connecting to the hotel WiFi with your phone and then spoofing your phone's MAC onto the travel router and then connecting both the Chromecast and phone to the travel router.

But frankly using an Amazon Fire Stick is easier as it deals with the hotel WiFi portal 'pop up' in its own software, and it isn't too hard to install a VPN on the Fire Stick.

[Cotty]

I had a look at the screen mirroring function and found a quick guide (maybe not the best).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySxebmBfN7M

My understanding is, if it is on my phone I can view it on a TV via the Fire Stick. Im thinking that I could go to Netflix and download films or full TV series onto my phone before I leve the UK then watch them on the TV in another country.

Edited by Cotty on Monday 3rd January 14:57

[PF62]

Cotty said:

I had a look at the screen mirroring function and found a quick guide (maybe not the best).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySxebmBfN7M

My understanding is, if it is on my phone I can view it on a TV via the Fire Stick. Im thinking that I could go to Netflix and download films or full TV series onto my phone before I leve the UK then watch them on the TV in another country.

Edited by Cotty on Monday 3rd January 14:57

If you have an Android phone that might work.

I don’t, and the solution for Apple devices requires additional software where the general view is ‘nice try, but doesn’t work’ with video being glitchy and out of time with sound.

[buggalugs]

I usually take my laptop and VPN back home before playing stuff

iPlayer was pretty brutal last time I tried it, if you try once without VPN it will then not work even with VPN untill you clear cookies etc.