Unreliable service

ChrisR
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Unreliable service

Tue Sep 01, 2015 9:03 am

When first installed the reliability of the service was excellent, by this I mean there was no interruption to UK TV programmes or UK Netflix films at any time.

Now, particularly in the evening UK time, I regularly see "Ooops, this title is not available in your area (Uruguay) please make an appropriate selection."

To overcome this I have to switch to my original VPN 'British TV Anywhere' which does not have the picture quality of HA but stays on throughout the session.

HA has got so bad with dropping out with Netflix (via UK server) that they are now asking 'who's watching' before I start.

Is it simply that HA has many more users and the UK server cannot cope and if so are there plans to appoint additional UK capacity?

I cannot route just anywhere, Netflix and the other channels must see a British address, even though I live in Uruguay.
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rusticdog
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Re: Unreliable service

Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:55 pm

Which browser are you using ?
There is some small tweaks to the browser caching DNS lookups that HideAway makes on install to stop the behaviour you describe, so I just want to check that those tweaks were in fact made.

Also do you have multiple profiles setup, or just your main and the default 'Kids' ?
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rusticdog
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Re: Unreliable service

Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:19 pm

With the Who's Watching, I think this might be a Netflix change.

If I have multiple profiles, watch a single show of say 30 minutes, then go Back to Browse I find Netflix will default back to the last selected profile. But if I watch a few in a row (I did two runs of 3xTwilight Zones and 3xFawlty Towers) then Netflix prompts me to again select which Profile I'd like to use when I go Back to Browse after watching the 3.

I had HideAway active when I ran through the Twilight Zone episodes and switched it off for Fawlty Towers.


If you only have your profile and the Kids profile that you don't use, then just delete the Kids profile from Netflix and that will stop the prompt
http://www.webmastertools.bz/stop-netfl ... ing-popup/
ChrisR
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Re: Unreliable service

Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:11 am

Which browser are you using ?
IE11 Version 11.0.9600.17914

Also do you have multiple profiles setup, or just your main and the default 'Kids' ?
I use the account my UK based son has. He tells me it is set up for a second user (me) but must been seen as sited in the UK.

I have no idea what the settings are because I cannot access the setup page, but the 'who's watching has only very recently appeared.

I cannot try the link you have posted for me but will discuss your suggestions with my son.

Thanks for the help.
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rusticdog
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Re: Unreliable service

Wed Sep 02, 2015 4:44 pm

ChrisR wrote:Which browser are you using ?
IE11 Version 11.0.9600.17914
I've been trying to reproduce the "Oops, this title is not available in your area" problem on IE, but no success so far. Can you describe in a little more detail what steps you take when you see this error.

For example, if you're watching a TV show and Netflix automatically plays the next episode, do you see that error ?
Or does it happen after watching a movie, and you go back to browse, select the next movie to watch and then get that error ?

ChrisR wrote:I use the account my UK based son has. He tells me it is set up for a second user (me) but must been seen as sited in the UK.
I have no idea what the settings are because I cannot access the setup page, but the 'who's watching has only very recently appeared.
I cannot try the link you have posted for me but will discuss your suggestions with my son.
Thanks for the help.
I had a chat with Netflix Support, and they indicated that this popup to ask what profile to use is by design. One imagine your son also gets this ?

Netflix chat :
Me
After watching a movie, when I click Back To Browse, I often get the prompt again to select which profile is watching
If I watch something short, say 30 minutes, I don't get the prompt. But if I watch something longer than about an hour, I get the prompt to select the profile again.

Netflix : Sierra

Ah I know just what you mean. This is something that is intended. Netflix is always looking to become better for everyone. With that comes updating to better improvements that work great and sometimes we need to take a step back and rethink things.
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rusticdog
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Re: Unreliable service

Wed Sep 02, 2015 5:01 pm

Hah!

So minutes after posting that I got the problem to reproduce. After about 4 episodes of a TV show it gave me the error it was not available in my region.
The quick fix is just restart IE, that gives it a kick to get you back into your desired region.

Will do some digging into what might cause that.
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rusticdog
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Re: Unreliable service

Wed Sep 02, 2015 5:23 pm

Can I ask you try this for me, and see if it stops the problem with "Oops, this title is not available in your area..."

In IE go into your Settings >> Internet Options >> click the Advanced tab >> scroll down the list until you see the option "Load sites and content in the background to optimise performance" (it's about quarter of the way down) >> uncheck this option >> click OK >> restart IE.



Scratch that, changing that option for me made things worse.
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rusticdog
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Re: Unreliable service

Fri Sep 04, 2015 5:28 pm

Just a post to say this isn't forgotten. I'm trying at present to try to find a nice balance with IE and Netflix and HideAway. There are many small tweaks that I'm trying, it just takes a bit of time.


Other possible interim solutions for you are :
In HideAway redirect your entire browser through the UK server.

Use either the Firefox or Chrome browser instead of Internet Explorer. Neither of those browsers seem to suffer the same issue, and (at least for me) reliably set the correct location using the default Netflix rule.

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