Freerange TV App for Fire TV stick

[tonyshum]

I recently purchased  a Fire TV stick 4K and find it disappointing to see no support at all in Freerange TV steaming. Is there any plan to provide for Fire TV stick app in future ? As we can see Bell Fibre TV already have app that is available in the same platform. What Shaw is still waiting for ?

[rickatk]

I am in full agreement. Telus offers a live TV option on their Pik platform but Shaw has held strong...no Free Range offering on home streaming platforms like Fire TV and Apple TV. 

[shaw-tony]

@tonyshum I haven't heard of any news on when/if this feature will be available. I appreciate your feedback and will pass it along to our product team.

[rickatk]

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@rickatk wrote:

I am in full agreement. Telus offers a live TV option on their Pik platform but Shaw has held strong...no Free Range offering on home streaming platforms like Fire TV and Apple TV. 

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Free Range on Apple TV would be a killer app Apple TV and make for  a very good streaming platform. A few days into Shaw’s streaming platform I find the convenience very good. Shaw has Free Range built in, Netflix, Prime TV, Crave and HBO and Cloud PVR. What is missing though is Disney + and CBC Gem and I am sure a few other lesser known apps. I find the aggregation between the streaming services is very good.

Technically speaking I find my system is a little strained at times resulting In pauses and skips. I can’t really say how my Apple TV’s would respond to more people logged in at the same time but a couple BlueCurve Players, an AppleTV and iOads all drawing down on the Shaw gateway strains the system. 

[Michael_Strong]

Have to say - if Shaw does not present a Fire TV app 'very' soon - I'm switching carriers. Absolutely!!!!

[rstra]

To Bell?

Not sure what the fuss is all about, if you subscribe to Shaw you have a cable box to watch everything on your TV.

[ByteBaron]

In theory yes - I have devices - but these are not working and TV is not working for past 3 months. I cannot get Shaw to resolve the problem - Technicians are not permitted to enter homes due to COVID - at best I play Technician sidekick and have to run around doing all the troubleshooting and relaying photos and changes to a Tech in his car in the street. I am paying for a service I cannot use and a hopeful options was streaming on Firestick.

[mdk]

@ByteBaron --  I have devices - but these are not working and TV is not working

If you can give more details, we can try to help:

• which Shaw PVR do you have (older, Gateway, BlueCurve) ?
• which cable-modem do you have (Cisco, Hitron, BlueCurve) ?
• what Internet speed are you paying for? 75? 150? 300? 600? Gigabit?
• via Shaw SpeedTest, what speed are you getting ?
• if you have multiple "active" coaxial-socket wall-outlets, what happens if you connect your PVR to that point? Does the PVR properly restart?
• do you have an HDMI cable between the PVR and your TV, or composite or component cabling?
• have you tried different cables between the PVR and your TV?
• on the TV's remote-control, be sure to select the correct "input" (HDMI #1? HDMI #2? Composite? Component?)
• if you have multiple "active" wall-outlets, what happens if you connect your cable-modem to that point? Does the cable-modem properly restart?
• try a different Ethernet cable between the cable-modem and your computer.
• does your computer work, when connected via Ethernet to a friend's Telus-modem or Shaw cable-modem?
• if you take your cable-modem to a friend's home, and connect it to their wall-outlet, does it properly restart? If you connect their computer (or their wireless-device) to your cable-modem, does it give Internet access?
• what symptoms are you observing?

> for past 3 months.

Shaw is supposed to give "priority" to all "no service" calls.

> I cannot get Shaw to resolve the problem

So, after they tried, from outside of your home, what did they say?

> Technicians are not permitted to enter homes due to COVID

Correct.

> I am paying for a service I cannot use

Have you asked Shaw for a credit for the days it has not been working?

> a hopeful option was streaming on Firestick.

If you have Internet access to your computer, have you tried a Google Chromecast device, connected to an HDMI port on your TV, to "cast" your screen-display (from the BlueCurve app) onto your TV?

[ByteBaron]

• which Shaw PVR do you have (older, Gateway, BlueCurve) ? BlueCurve
• which cable-modem do you have (Cisco, Hitron, BlueCurve) ? BlueCurve
• what Internet speed are you paying for? 75? 150? 300? 600? Gigabit? 300
• via Shaw SpeedTest, what speed are you getting ? WiFi 80 / 15  - Ethernet 153 / 15
• if you have multiple "active" coaxial-socket wall-outlets, what happens if you connect your PVR to that point? Does the PVR properly restart? Three coaxial sockets with three devices - none of them work.
• do you have an HDMI cable between the PVR and your TV, or composite or component cabling? HDMI
• have you tried different cables between the PVR and your TV? Yes - Even tried changed ends as requested by the Tech,
• on the TV's remote-control, be sure to select the correct "input" (HDMI #1? HDMI #2? Composite? Component?) Input is correct. This was an intermittent problem - working for a day or two - then same issue - then starts working and agin - same problem. It has slowly deteriorated and become more frequent - now - absolutely no connection to TV Box from all TV's 
• if you have multiple "active" wall-outlets, what happens if you connect your cable-modem to that point? Does the cable-modem properly restart? Have not tried that - Modem and Phone are working. Tech had me move the Signal Booster from after splitter to before the splitter. Modem and Phone would not restart - so I restored to original state.
• try a different Ethernet cable between the cable-modem and your computer. Modem / Wifi working fine.
• does your computer work, when connected via Ethernet to a friend's Telus-modem or Shaw cable-modem? Modem working fine - Only TV service is down. 
• if you take your cable-modem to a friend's home, and connect it to their wall-outlet, does it properly restart? If you connect their computer (or their wireless-device) to your cable-modem, does it give Internet access? Modem working fine - Only TV Service down.
• what symptoms are you observing? "Sorry - We're having Some Trouble. Please tighten your cable connections then restart your TV Box which can often fix Issues - RESTART" - And it just cycles round to same message.   

• > for past 3 months.

  Shaw is supposed to give "priority" to all "no service" calls. It has been intermittent - now completely down

  > I cannot get Shaw to resolve the problem

  So, after they tried, from outside of your home, what did they say? Signal strength is very low. I expected some action to increase the signal strength - but nothing forthcoming.  

  > Technicians are not permitted to enter homes due to COVID

  Correct.

  > I am paying for a service I cannot use

  Have you asked Shaw for a credit for the days it has not been working? Yes - Yesterday after I lost it - They have credit and stopped payment for TV service until resolved. Another Technician scheduled for Friday.,  

  > a hopeful option was streaming on Firestick.

  If you have Internet access to your computer, have you tried a Google Chromecast device, connected to an HDMI port on your TV, to "cast" your screen-display (from the BlueCurve app) onto your TV? 

  Thanks for the advice I am able to stream TV  and mirror screen to TV  

[mdk]

@ByteBaron -- Tech had me move the Signal Booster from after splitter to before the splitter. Modem and Phone would not restart - so I restored to original state. ... So, after they tried, from outside of your home, what did they say? Signal strength is very low. I expected some action to increase the signal strength - but nothing forthcoming.  

I think that the "very low signal strength" is the root cause of your problems -- not giving a strong-enough signal to the BlueCurve PVR, resulting in an "all-or-nothing" situation for TV reception.

Contact Shaw -- they should be tracking your problem, and ask if they have scheduled their technicians to check their infrastructure up-and-down your street, and "when". 

Other people on this forum have reported that their problem was solved when Shaw replaced the coaxial-cable from their home to the telephone-pole -- "excessive tension" or "frayed cable" were the causes.

if you take your BlueCurve PVR (and its remote-control) to a friend's home, and connect it to their wall-outlet, does it properly restart? Does it deliver channels to their TV? If it does not, then replacing the BlueCurve PVR may help.