Channel 4, ExpressVPN and Amazon Firestick

[zanuck]

Anyone got any thoughts on why I can’t receive Channel 4 (My4) on my Amazon Firestick, but I can on my Windows 10 laptop?

Our broadband service comes via a small dish on the roof, provided by BB4s (now Populoos) and it’s working OK.

I am using ExpressVPN (loaded separately on laptop and Firestick) connected to London Docklands.

Via the Firestick I can receive other UK channels – BBCiPlayer, ITVX, UKTVPlay, Channel 5, etc but although Channel 4 starts to load OK (displays a large yellow “4” on the TV screen), after several seconds I get a “helpful” error message displayed “Well this is embarrassing. Something’s not working. Please try again in a few minutes. 2010-ANON-TOKEN”.

Trying again in a few minutes brings the same results. I’ve been playing with this off and on over the past 4 or 5 days at different times of the day.

I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled the Channel 4 app on the Firestick. Same result.

The Firestick locked up on our previous trip and I took it back to the UK and reset it and tested it there, and as far as I remember, Channel 4 worked ok.

Using my laptop, through the VPN, Channel 4 works fine.

So it seems likely to be something to do with Channel 4’s app and the Firestick, whilst annoying, it’s not the end of the world, but if anyone has any fresh thoughts, or experiences the same problem, it would be good to know.

[olive]

Just a thought. Could it be a virus on the app on the stick?

I have two firesticks. One acquired a virus on a streaming app. I sent it to a friend in the UK to be sorted and reloded. Quite how the the virus got there is anyones guess. Mighht be worth checking the stick using an internet how to.

[zanuck]

Hi Olive,
Hopefully not a virus, I did a factory reset on the Firestick whilst in the UK, and then loaded the TV channels.
I'll see if I can find a way to virus check it.
Thanks zanuck

[markwilding]

Try changing the time on the Firestick to UK time. IN settings you will need to set time to manual so it doesn’t automatically revert back to Spanish time.

[olive]

Good tip, never thought of that trip up.

[olive]

Just checked mine. In preferences , Time zone is
Europe
GMT
Date
( Current) time is UK clock.

Maybe picked up automatically from Location which is set to a UK postcode?

[satandpcguy]

Is the app loaded directly from the app store, or has it been sideloaded? Sometimes sideloaded apps are not always the correct versions

Doubt it is an app vs firestick issue, but a vpn issue...yes it works on the PC, but the PC app is different to the Android app.

It works fine for me on my Firestick4kmax, with nord vpn, but as with ITVX, sometimes you need to "play" around which server it uses...(nordvpn app gives you a few different options eg "fastest", "obfuscated" and "p2p".
Its ITVX that seems to be an issue for me, takes several attempts before it starts to play content,

[zanuck]

Try changing the time on the Firestick to UK time. IN settings you will need to set time to manual so it doesn’t automatically revert back to Spanish time.

Thanks, time is already set to UK, tried changing to Spanish and then testing - still no Ch4, moved it back to UK and still no Ch4.

[zanuck]

Just checked mine. In preferences , Time zone is
Europe
GMT
Date
( Current) time is UK clock.

Maybe picked up automatically from Location which is set to a UK postcode?

Olive
Mine were/are the same as yours.
Thanks for checking - zanuck

[zanuck]

Is the app loaded directly from the app store, or has it been sideloaded? Sometimes sideloaded apps are not always the correct versions

Doubt it is an app vs firestick issue, but a vpn issue...yes it works on the PC, but the PC app is different to the Android app.

It works fine for me on my Firestick4kmax, with nord vpn, but as with ITVX, sometimes you need to "play" around which server it uses...(nordvpn app gives you a few different options eg "fastest", "obfuscated" and "p2p".
Its ITVX that seems to be an issue for me, takes several attempts before it starts to play content,

Hi SandPCG
App was downloaded from the Amazon app store.

In the UK I'm a Lead/Moderator on a daily blog and from time to time have to point out to members that the Android version and the Web version don't always behave/look the same - don't know why I forgot about that in this case

Mine is a Fire Stick (3rd Gen); ExpressVPN also has several UK server locations, I'ts currently on London Docklands, I'll try the others in turn.

OK, now it's five minutes later and I've just tried UK - London and Ch4 invites me to sign-in and yes, Ch4 is working ok


Will check later to see if other channels have been negatively affected...

Thankyou very much - zanuck