Amazon Alexa in Canada - WARNING GEOBLOCKED SKILLS

[sidneychiu]

Hello everyone.

I finally find out that Amazon Alexa are now selling in Canada. I purchased my Echo Dot 2nd Gen from LA on my last trip there.

I've been using the Dot in Canada for sometime for my smart home devices and accessing all the skills available.

When I updated my Amazon Alexa App on my android and ipad, I was able to activate the Routines commands.

However, after updating the Alexa App - all my old skills no longer work. Apparently once you register in Canada, all your old skills are blocked because it is going to Amazon.ca and not Amazon.com. All my favourite skills like Jeopardy no longer work.

I can load in my Canadian address and so weather works and so does traffic. Purchasing online also work but the entertaining skills - only have access to a handful of Canadian ones and most do no work.

I would recommend holding off buying an Alexa in Canada until those bugs are worked out. I can still control my smart home devices but the routines don't really work as well as hoped.

They said that the device needs a firmware update which needs to wait for the system since the forced update method in my case doesn't seem to work.

If things change on the skills front I will update this post. But if you are an existing Alexa user in Canada I would NOT recommend updating the software update or else loose all your favourite skills.

[tuicemen]

I had seen reports of Alexa devices being offered in Canada but not tested to see if the app had changed till I read your post.
I updated my location just to test and all my skills are still working as well as my routines.
The only issue I had was it took awhile for both my routines and skills to show up in the app.
 So for me this is a big improvement.

[samsethi]

Hi Guys

If it makes you feel better we had exactly the same issue in the UK.  For some reason skills are GeoFenced.  The other issue with Alexa is many of the features who first hear about in the US take 6-12 months to reach international.  So we only just got dropin and messaging in the UK.  We still have not got echo pairing to the FireTV or individual voice profiles.

Sadly Amazon does treat the rest of the world as the poor second cousin.  Still I prefer it to Google (who may just abandon this space when bored, just as they have with other projects in Google i.e Google + , RSS Reader etc) and for me Alexa is important for the ecommerce graph - i.e ordering goods and services.  I can get a good enough knowledge graph. 

Sam

[sidneychiu]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. When I spoke the the customer service rep on the phone they sort of sent me back and forth between Amazon.com customer service and Amazon.ca reps.

The funny thing was on my Alexa app - I can see the skills that no longer work and when I try to click on them hoping that maybe I can disable and enable again, I get booted back to the main Alexa skills page.

The customer service rep explained that because my previous skills were connected to Amazon.com and now I'm being directed to Amazon.ca - these US skills are not accessible from Amazon.ca.

And in fact according to the Amazon.com rep there is no way to go back once it has been setup. My suspicion is that my IP is showing coming from Canada and therefore directing me to the Canada site.

They said my device could benefit from a firmware update but could not tell me a way to force and update and that I have to wait for the automatic update to happen.

I tried the various mute button and wait force update suggestions I've researched online but it didn't seem to do anything.

So the customer rep suggested I wait for the new device update which end in ... 620 versus my current version end in ... 520.

The new device update was released only the last couple of days. I'd be curious to hear from tuicemen which device version you are currently working with that enables all your old skills to work.

Thanks again for the feed back - nth level nerd out I know.

[sidneychiu]

An update from Amazon.ca


 Amazon   
Your Account   Amazon.com
Message From Customer Service
Hello Sidney,

I'm sorry to hear that you're unable to access some of the Alexa features after you have switched your market place to Canada. I can certainly help you with this.

Yes. Please don't be concerned.

I'd like to inform you that, Yes, Amazon.ca set to launch the Echo devices in Canada on December 5th.

Once if the Echo devices launched in Canada. All the Alexa features will be officially released in Canada.

The access the Alexa app, skill store, music services, weather, smarthome and Alexa features like language will also be officially launched in Canada.

After the launch, you can able to set the access all Alexa features in Canada and would like to continue to use the Echo the same way.

In mean time, if you wish to access these features on your Alexa. I kindly request you to write back to us. So that we can change your market place from Amazon.ca to Amazon.com. Once we are changed your address and market place with US, then you can access all Alexa features. There is no need to be concern.

However, till the official launch say for up-to December 5th the Echo device will inaccessible in Canada. I apologize for the inconvenience.

After the launch, you can use the Echo device without any trouble.

If in case you need any assistance in future, please don't hesitate to contact us.

I hope this solution works for you. We look forward to seeing you again soon.  ​

We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.

Best regards,
Shiva
Amazon.com

[marcel_911]

I am hoping you retyped that in a hurry and this was not cut and pasted, or better still it was a translation from French.
Otherwise the quality of that email was terrible, so many mistakes and bad grammar.

An update from Amazon.ca


 Amazon   
Your Account   Amazon.com
Message From Customer Service
Hello Sidney,

I'm sorry to hear that you're unable to access some of the Alexa features after you have switched your market place to Canada. I can certainly help you with this.

Yes. Please don't be concerned.

I'd like to inform you that, Yes, Amazon.ca set to launch the Echo devices in Canada on December 5th.

Once if the Echo devices launched in Canada. All the Alexa features will be officially released in Canada.

The access the Alexa app, skill store, music services, weather, smarthome and Alexa features like language will also be officially launched in Canada.

After the launch, you can able to set the access all Alexa features in Canada and would like to continue to use the Echo the same way.

In mean time, if you wish to access these features on your Alexa. I kindly request you to write back to us. So that we can change your market place from Amazon.ca to Amazon.com. Once we are changed your address and market place with US, then you can access all Alexa features. There is no need to be concern.

However, till the official launch say for up-to December 5th the Echo device will inaccessible in Canada. I apologize for the inconvenience.

After the launch, you can use the Echo device without any trouble.

If in case you need any assistance in future, please don't hesitate to contact us.

I hope this solution works for you. We look forward to seeing you again soon.  ​

We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.

Best regards,
Shiva
Amazon.com

[Barnes]

I may have a solution...

I got a little ahead of my self and ordered a BroadLink RM Pro to control my RF Christmas lights only to find after I bought it and got excited about all the things I will be able to do with the skill, it wasn't available on .ca.

Well, technically the Echo hasn't officially been released so, it'll be there on the 5th.. right?

Checked the UK store. Not there either.

There's gotta be a solution. The skills are still listed under my skills, they just don't work and when you click on them, it re-directs.

DISCLAIMER: This worked for me. I don't know if it will work for you. I don't know if it will continue to work after the 5th. I don't know what this may #$%* up especially if you try Part 2: enabling new US skills.

- Go to Alexa.amazon.ca and login
- Go to settings and click on your echo device
- Scroll down to language and change it to English (US)

Try a skill, should work. You aren't able to view your skills or enable new ones in the app or the web because your 'language' no longer matches your account settings.

This warning got me thinking, what if I 'move' to the US y'all?

This is where the disclaimer comes in. You're on your own here. I take no responsibility if this goes sideways.

- Log out of Alexa.amazon.ca
- Login to amazon.ca.
- Hover over the Your Account menu and go to Manage Your Content and Devices
- Go to the Settings tab
- Scroll down to the Country Settings
- Click Change
- Choose United States
- You'll have to put in an address here. For the most part, I think you can just make up whatever but the Zip needs to match the state. I moved to San Diego.
- Congrats, you're a digital illegal alien.
- Go to Alexa.amazon.com
- Go get them skills...
- Test them on your Echo. I enabled and linked my Broadlink account for when my RM Pro arrives and I also enabled the AnyList to test right away.

Now, you need to move back to Canada.
- Login to amazon.com.
- Hover over the Your Account menu and go to Manage Your Content and Devices
- Go to the Settings tab
- Scroll down to the Country Settings
- Click Change
- Choose Canada
- You'll have to put in your actual address here if it isn't already an option in the combo box or your packages will be delivered to the M&Ms store in Times Square or whatever address you put in for the US.

For some reason, your Kindle account doesn't switch back to the CA store. Under the Your Content tab of Manage Your Content and Devices, you should see a message that says You are now able to shop for Kindle content in the Canadian store. You can change it there.

You must leave the language on your device to English (US).

Good Luck!

[sidneychiu]

So quick update post Dec 5th. Amazon echo is now official in Canada and official email has stated that certain skills will be blocked to certain countries. Big ones are IFTTT and others.

Also noticing that Spotify isn't working as well as it use to by not finding certain artists.

See below:

Some skills and features available in other countries, including Amazon Music Unlimited, Audible, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Sirius XM, Uber, Jeopardy, IFTTT, and Recipes, are not available in Canada.

In addition, Canadian English and Canadian skills are not supported for Amazon Echo (1st Gen), Echo Dot (1st Gen), Echo Show, or Amazon Tap.

You can change your country settings on supported devices to switch your device to the Canadian Alexa experience. Customers who chose to change the device country settings on their Alexa-enabled devices to Canada may not be able to access content from unavailable services based in other countries. Customers switching countries may lose access to content purchased from other countries on other devices.

[sidneychiu]

Update - switched everything back to a fake US address on the Alex device, app and Amazon profile using this link

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202205900

Everything back to normal with full access to my previous Alexa skills.

The Canadian ones only work half the time anyways so - plus Uber and stuff doesn't work so no real need to use the Canadian settings.

[Alexa in Canada]

Hey I just noticed this thread a few days after posting a number of items about this subject. You can see one of the discussions here.

http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,3228.0.html

I think the way Amazon has chosen to roll this out is terrible. There must be a better way. Hopefully if enough of us comment and contribute we might be able to change the future of this offering. 

In spite of my desire to support the product, I still don't understand why Amazon ( a huge Global cloud provider and retailer) chose an international roll out that is so fractured and disabled.  Maybe through discussion We will understand it better. 

FYI in contrast our family is a loyal Netflix user. I have one family account , managed in Canada, shared with kids that live in Canada and UK , but who regularly travel to many parts of the world, where they can log in and access Netflix the same way they do at home. Of course, they get local Netflix content, but the interface and experience is seamless and glitch free.

Just venting. 

Please contribute to the discussion in some of these other posts. 

[cdnirene]

What I find strange is that Amazon announced earlier this month that it is expanding Amazon Music Unlimited to 28 new countries - and Canada is not listed as one of the 28.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2321843

On the same day Amazon announced it is bringing the Echo to 80 additional countries:

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-bringing-echo-alexa-80-additional-countries-major-global-expansion/

[Alexa in Canada]

What I find strange is that Amazon announced earlier this month that it is expanding Amazon Music Unlimited to 28 new countries - and Canada is not listed as one of the 28.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2321843

On the same day Amazon announced it is bringing the Echo to 80 additional countries:

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-bringing-echo-alexa-80-additional-countries-major-global-expansion/

Another part of the confusing mess that Amazon.ca has created. I am guessing that Amazon.ca is big enough to have its own roll out plan, separate from what Amazon.com is doing for other countries, but who knows. With Echo launch in Dec, they also launched Amazon Music Prime in Canada but as you say , the Unlimited Option does not seem to be avaiable.

When it comes to Music, our family got onto Spotify unlimited a while back, no similar cross border issues and als easily integrates with other devices like phones and Sonos. Alexa seems to play well with it also, so we don't plan on waiting for Amazon unlimited to catch up.  Another family member went with Google Home primarily because he was heavily invested in Google Music already.

[Pugwinkle]

They said my device could benefit from a firmware update but could not tell me a way to force and update and that I have to wait for the automatic update to happen.

I tried the various mute button and wait force update suggestions I've researched online but it didn't seem to do anything.

So the customer rep suggested I wait for the new device update which end in ... 620 versus my current version end in ... 520.

Hi there, I just received my Amazon Echo for Christmas so mine has been set up for a week now. My version ends in 420 so it seems I must have a fairly old version running on my Echo?  How do I get the new version to update on my Echo?

[mikeprocess]

I bought the echo dot a few months before it came to Canada.  Signing into amazon.com everything worked great.  But once it came to Canada...and I did something to screw it up, it insisted on identifying me as being from Canada.   That sucked.  There is no comparison between the two countries.   I was on the phone several times with Amazon.ca and they kept on apologizing for the skills that didn't work in Canada.  I was especially disappointed that SiriusXM isn't available in Canada...even though I had been using at Amazon.com.   

Just listen to the difference between the American voice and the Canadian voice.  The American voice sounds normal, the Canadian voice sounds like a robot trapped in a tin can :-)

Do yourself a favour and wait before you purchase the Amazon Alexa in Canada. 

[tuicemen]

I agree the Canadian voice sucks!
But that is no reason to wait to purchase an Alexa device.
The trick to getting past the Geoblocking is all in the setup of your account.