Amazon fire tv stick and WiFi connection

[grumpyjock]

Good day all,
I will try and keep this short and précis so as not to bore the pants off everyone.
we live in a static in Norfolk.
We have a normal flat screen tv( not smart) and “Ma’rm“ watches serials and as is you always end up missing one or two.
So I thought I would bring us into the 21st century, earning brownie points on the way and buy the above, it’s a 4K Max UltraHD with Alexa.
now we are to far away from the clubhouse to use their WiFi, So to operate our laptop, iPads and pods, kindles etc we use our iPhones WiFi or Bluetooth which usually have a good signal, albeit sometimes a tad slow.
Having plugged in Firestick and changed source to HMDI, it then asks to pick which WIFI to want it to connect to.When putting my phone details in it just comes up with “ not able to connect ?
I’m assuming it is because signal on phone is just not strong enough to work TV ? Or am I missing something easy, someone
has suggested that I need to download an app on my phone first, but having scrolled through Amazon and various sites can find nothing that seems to relate ?.

we have in the Tranny camper van a smart tv which I’m assuming will have the same result( haven’t yet tried as not got van here).
so my question is, am I on the right track and if so, over the years I’ve read loads of posts of kits you can get, some seem good and some have been slated as rubbish, so how do you all get your WiFi in your vans and wondered if this would work in the static as well. Maybe something that we could also transfer to the van when needed.
we did have WiFi when we had the RV, but the previous owner had installed already, so no idea how it worked.
I am going back to house Monday and when there usually piggyback my nextdoor neighbours WiFi( with permission), so will try in smart tv there to make sure it’s not just the stick, which seems unlikely!
hope I have explainEd enough for some help and many thanks for any replies in advance.
Grumpy Malcolm

 

[Hettie's Crew]

When we ran our Firestick off our phones it was a pain to connect sometimes.
When you have the screen up on the TV to search for WiFi source, turn your phone hot spot off and then on again, it then recognises it, sometimes we had to do it two or three times.

 

[Andacami]

How are you powering the Firestick? is it just by USB from the TV or a separate USB power socket? It may help to boost the power intake for the Firestick to get it to connect reliably.

I also found that set-up and operation worked perfectly at home with mains connected devices but failed to connect or work properly when transferred to the 'van on 12v devices (again probably due to power). A complete reset and start again with a separate 2.1A USB connection seemed to fix it; this "fix" also works if you can't access/authorize via your Amazon account from the Firestick (I think because that's what it takes to fully forget your last WiFi connection which it seems it might still want to use for authentication).

Any decent WiFi is going to need a strong internal WiFi signal and a good External 4G aerial to be worthwhile. This can seem to defeat the idea of moving it around as you suggested, however, systems like those from Motorhome WiFi have hardware that does all that AND comes with a portable WiFi router, a MiFi - this little box you can disconnect and take with you and will get similar performance if you are able to get a good line of sight to the sky and it's not tucked away inside a building, so by a window for example.

 

[MisterB]

we use a motorhome wifi set up on our static in France - works perfect !

have you got your phone settings to act as a hotspot so it can share its data?

 

[jollyrodger]

All I use at home or on the move is hotspot from the phone or sometimes pop the sim into mifi .

No phone line or wifi other than : Unlimited ,all on 3.

Mostly (as now) running my tablet on here and watching a box set on smart TV (cheaply Toshiba) sourced from fire stick.

On your hotspot setting can you go into advance settings and select Band 5GHz instead of 2.4GHz that sometimes helps when signal low or indoors .

Used to use a router when mobile and site wifi is poor but lots mow sniff out the fact you have a booster / router and cut the feed.

No special apps on the wifi source but I have one or two side loaded onto fire stick other than Amazon provided

HD Cinema is a favourite box sets or films

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[grumpyjock]

When we ran our Firestick off our phones it was a pain to connect sometimes.
When you have the screen up on the TV to search for WiFi source, turn your phone hot spot off and then on again, it then recognises it, sometimes we had to do it two or three times.

Many thanks will give it go !

 

[monzer]

When you say you put your phone details in, what exactly do you mean?

Are you seeing yout phones hot-spot option? For instance when I connect to my phones hot-spot it is called android210 or such.

 

[grumpyjock]

When you say you put your phone details in, what exactly do you mean?

Are you seeing yout phones hot-spot option? For instance when I connect to my phones hot-spot it is called android210 or such.

I put in “grumpys iphone” as that’s what comes up when I sync with other items, it then comes up on the tv, not recognised.

 

[jollyrodger]

Some smart TVs are like that log in with all correct credentials ,looks like it's going to connect then fails do it 3-4 times same result then nada .other times connect right away .

Now don't bother just fire up the fire sticks hdmi port.

 

[Manic]

Do a internet speed test on your phone to see what speed your getting.

Broken Link Removed

I use a Huawei B535 router which works well, would be ideal in a static and could be used in the camper.

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[63720]

We use either of our 2 smart phones for data access, both here and abroad, for the Firestick and it works flawlessly. We turn on the phones and after setting up both phones in the firestick it will connect to either automatically when it is powered up - it remembers both sources. Turn on the phone hotspot, power up the firestick and bingo it works immediately. First thing is to establish the phone hotspot with password of your choice for protection. Next turn on the firestick and through the menus search for the phone hotspot, enter the password you set in the phone and it will remember it every time.

 

[grumpyjock]

This site is so good ain’t it
I did what the first reply from Hetties crew said and it’s working fine, hurrah, 3 cheers and all that.
I’ve also listened to all the other Comments and will act accordingly.
many many thanks to one and all
regards
malcolm

 

[grumpyjock]

How are you powering the Firestick? is it just by USB from the TV or a separate USB power socket? It may help to boost the power intake for the Firestick to get it to connect reliably.

I also found that set-up and operation worked perfectly at home with mains connected devices but failed to connect or work properly when transferred to the 'van on 12v devices (again probably due to power). A complete reset and start again with a separate 2.1A USB connection seemed to fix it; this "fix" also works if you can't access/authorize via your Amazon account from the Firestick (I think because that's what it takes to fully forget your last WiFi connection which it seems it might still want to use for authentication).

Any decent WiFi is going to need a strong internal WiFi signal and a good External 4G aerial to be worthwhile. This can seem to defeat the idea of moving it around as you suggested, however, systems like those from Motorhome WiFi have hardware that does all that AND comes with a portable WiFi router, a MiFi - this little box you can disconnect and take with you and will get similar performance if you are able to get a good line of sight to the sky and it's not tucked away inside a building, so by a window for example.

No I have it plugged into the mains and thanks for the “ motorhome WiFi” I’ll look into it.

 

[aidanmacg]

Good day all,
I will try and keep this short and précis so as not to bore the pants off everyone.
we live in a static in Norfolk.
We have a normal flat screen tv( not smart) and “Ma’rm“ watches serials and as is you always end up missing one or two.
So I thought I would bring us into the 21st century, earning brownie points on the way and buy the above, it’s a 4K Max UltraHD with Alexa.
now we are to far away from the clubhouse to use their WiFi, So to operate our laptop, iPads and pods, kindles etc we use our iPhones WiFi or Bluetooth which usually have a good signal, albeit sometimes a tad slow.
Having plugged in Firestick and changed source to HMDI, it then asks to pick which WIFI to want it to connect to.When putting my phone details in it just comes up with “ not able to connect ?
I’m assuming it is because signal on phone is just not strong enough to work TV ? Or am I missing something easy, someone
has suggested that I need to download an app on my phone first, but having scrolled through Amazon and various sites can find nothing that seems to relate ?.

we have in the Tranny camper van a smart tv which I’m assuming will have the same result( haven’t yet tried as not got van here).
so my question is, am I on the right track and if so, over the years I’ve read loads of posts of kits you can get, some seem good and some have been slated as rubbish, so how do you all get your WiFi in your vans and wondered if this would work in the static as well. Maybe something that we could also transfer to the van when needed.
we did have WiFi when we had the RV, but the previous owner had installed already, so no idea how it worked.
I am going back to house Monday and when there usually piggyback my nextdoor neighbours WiFi( with permission), so will try in smart tv there to make sure it’s not just the stick, which seems unlikely!
hope I have explainEd enough for some help and many thanks for any replies in advance.
Grumpy Malcolm

Your better bar may be a WiFi repeater, this can go somewhere with a better signal and re transmit the WiFi closer to where you need it, previous owner probably had a wifi repeater or a mobile network internet connection (4g) possibly

 

[Capitanjohn]

Mine only works with 4g.

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[charliesgrandad]

My Motorhome Wifi iboost system that has served me well for many years giving me internet to my laptop etc whilst in van, connected to either site wifi,BT wifi, or my phone. A few weeks ago whilst using it I tried to use my Vu Zero box, I tried it on the site wifi via my Motorhome wifi iboost system with a cat 5 lead from iboost to Vu box and it was a very watchable live picture of the Russian GP , I thought I would try it via my iphone with 4g signal via the iboost system but I could not get a picture but the 4g signal was really good fast internet on my laptop and showing a very strong signal on the iboost screen
I emailed Adam at motorhome wifi detailing the above problem and his reply was as follows;
Barry,

You cannot connect an iBoost to a phone.

Adam

So I am not sure why I have been able to connect to my phone for years. As for the above problem whilst away recently I changed the cable to the Vu box to a Cat6e one and watched the Saudi Grand Prix and a couple of Premier Leauge matches,and one of those I was only getting 3g on my phone

Does anyone else connect an iboost to their phone ?

 

[autorouter]

I put in “grumpys iphone” as that’s what comes up when I sync with other items, it then comes up on the tv, not recognised.

Could the problem be that it can't cope with a space in the hotspot name? It might automatically strip out the space, then compare the resulting name with the name on its list, and say it can't recognise it. Software can be very picky.