Alexa in canada

I can confirm Alexa control of Sonos is already working in Canada. I have 4 Echo devices which I imported from the US. When the Sonos Beta went public in October I installed the skill and paired my Sonos system with my Echo devices. The skill is still buggy but is steadily improving. I initially set up my Alexa account on my US Prime Account earlier this year. But since the announcement earlier this week I have pointed my Echos to my Canadian address and am also using the Alexa calling feature to make outgoing phone calls. I've been controllying my Logitech Harmony Hub since January and controlling my lights since then too. I don't know if and when the new Alexa enabled Sonos speaker will work, but I have been playing Amazon Prime Music playlists through my Sonos Play:1 speakers all weekend. Now, if Amazon would just enable a Sirius XM Canada skill, like they have for the US, I'll be able to listen to just about everything I want to stream. If only I could get Alexa to control streaming from my 60gb of music on my NAS. The only real difference between the US and Canadian versions is the streaming services available because they are geo-locked due to licensing.

Yes but how did you do that? I have a US Amazon account since when I set it up, Alexa wasn't available in Canada yet. However, my Sonos account is registered in Canada. So when I've tried to use Alexa, the Sonos app says I can't because it isn't available in my region. Any way around this?

Interesting. I should preface my answer by stating that when I initially set up Alexa I did it on a Raspberry Pi using an Amazon developer account. There are lots of websites which explain how to do this so Google that and try setting up a developer account. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. The other thing is that I had a US address as my default address in my Alexa account at the time. Go to https://www.amazon.com/mycd and switch over to a US address and then try enabling the Sonos skill and linking it. I had a US address because my Flash Briefing had stopped working so I was trying the work around found at http://echoincanada.com/flash-briefing-not-working/ but I used the Amazon.com not .ca website. Try that and let me know if it works. Good luck.

Alexa Support is 100% active in Canada as I have set up my Amazon Echo Show to my Canadian Amazon Account. However, I am unable to get Sonos working in SKILLS as my Languages (Canadian ENGLISH) are not sync'd between my Alexa App (IOS) and my Amazon Account. Very strange. Anyone have any ideas on how the get this working.

Seems the Sonos skill is US only
I was able to install it by "moving" to the US from https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202205900
When moving back to Canada, the skill still works so far.

Indeed, Ditto for India. But there is some delay before the command is implemented, which has to be down to server distances from India, and may not be an issue for Canada.

I just discovered another issue though I suspect it has been raised here but I haven't delved into till now. When skills are enabled and Sonos speakers are linked to Alexa, ALL of those playing duck and drop volume when the wake word is uttered even for a command that does not expect a response from Sonos. So if a standalone Echo in one room hears a wake word, a Sonos speaker playing in another room also drops its volume. Very distracting for that room.

For now, I have disabled the Skills and delinked Sonos because there is no benefit at this time.

More so, because unless Prime Music service is added to Sonos as a valid choice, it will not play via Alexa commands. Even though the service is released in India and WILL play via a command for a standalone Echo.

My question for the Sonos engineers is this. You've got Sonos working with Alexa in the USA and Alexa is now legitimately working in Canada without the need for any bogus addresses or IP addresses. Sonos knew that this was coming. Why does it now need to take months of "engineering" to get this to work in Canada. "Early 2018" is not acceptable to me.

Good questions all, but if the Sonos CEO does not have good answers to these - I have asked - nothing more can be forthcoming from his engineers. And even " Early 2018", as someone suggested somewhere, can extend to midnight of June 30.

I think that Sonos launched Alexa and Sonos One prematurely even in the US. Witness for example the many complaints from those with the One with as simple a matter as mic sensitivity. I say simple only because in comparison, the same work fine on Echo/Dot devices. And the Alexa on Sonos One is a beta. So I can't see much happening outside the US, till the US voice services are stabilised.

By the way, India, where Amazon launched Alexa/Echo on November 1, a month before Canada, does not even get the consolation bone of "Early 2018".

Apple probably did the wise thing and pushed out its HomePods launch to 2018, even at the cost of missing the 2017 year end shopping season sales.

My question for the Sonos engineers is this. You've got Sonos working with Alexa in the USA and Alexa is now legitimately working in Canada without the need for any bogus addresses or IP addresses. Sonos knew that this was coming. Why does it now need to take months of "engineering" to get this to work in Canada. "Early 2018" is not acceptable to me.. Agreed!!

I used to use Alexa with US postal code to control my sonos devices. Since Alexa became availabke in Canada, the Sonos functionality is broken - it makes no sense. The problem apparently links back to "Canadian English". Our spoken english in Vancouver is the same where I live as it is in Seattle, Portland, northern California, so this problem makes absolutely no sense to me.