Android/Dream Box [ Illegal discussion = Ban ]

Bought it in Currys today, set it up, and it's perfect! Thanks again, @jj880!

Well, it didn't last very long.
Yesterday morning, the Chromecast was offline, displaying a note that WiFi connection was lost. I tried to reconnect to WiFi, no luck. Rebooted the Chromecast, still no dice. I tried an older WiFi router that I still have in the house (running 2.5 GHz for some older devices), it wouldn't connect to that either. I even tried the phone's mobile hotspot, which is what I use when our ISP has issues, both 2.5GHz and 5Ghz. Nothing worked. Chromecast can display available networks, but it cannot connect to any of them. Finally, I restored it to factory settings and tried to set it up anew. It worked only to the point of connecting to WiFi, and then nada!

It is clear to me that the network adapter inside it is no longer working. I tried to convey as much to the Google Home Support person, who forced me to go through every troubleshooting step (most of which I had already tried), but she never admitted fault was with the Chromecast itself.
This is where I lost it: "Can you please check if your router or wireless network uses AP isolation also known as guest mode or client mode or an authentication page, also known as a captive portal?"
I had already told her that (a) the Chromecast has worked fine since March, and (b) no changes have been made in the networking setup.

I ended up leaving the chat, so I guess they won't be sending me a replacement under warranty.

Anyway, I wasted 3 hours of my life trying to resurrect this thing, and I ended up buying another one from Currys.

Did you ask for it to be replaced under warranty? Out of all retailers Currys seem to be 1 of the best for this. Theyve handed me brand new devices off the shelf no problem inside 12 months.

AliExpress maybe?

A word of warning/advice though, if you're going to for the cheap Chinese clone/knock off, be prepared for it to break your heart and give you nothing but problems before you go again. Better to spend properly once on a proper box than buying a pile of cheap boxes. Makes life a lot easier (and works out better financially) in the end.

I have bought several Mecool box's and no complaints with them.

Bought direct from meccool website.

I ordered a TOX3 box for 70 euro in January from AliExpress. Came from China. Took 10 days to arrive. No customs fees. What I paid on AliExpress was the total amount.

Hi all

Is there any box that has a easy to use interface?

Formuler box's had their own native app that was very user friendly but I haven't used one in years.

Reason I ask I was going to get a box for my Dad and I want it to be easy as possible to use ,so I'm not getting hounded every second day.

Are these boxes alternatives for firestick ? I presume you can get downloader and other apps on them aswell ?

Which model Formuler do you have ?

The box I buy will purely be for IPTV.

I've a formuler Z11 pro max it's my 3rd formuler box . There is nothing better on the market for IPTV. The ease of use , customisation, ability to record/ pause live TV is second to none. They are expensive but well worth the outlay IMO

Good choice. If mine broke tomorrow, I'd buy another.

I've just got a usb stick plugged in. The pause/rewind works well.

Only issue with the record function is you need to be on the correct channel, it won't change to it for you. If you have it running on rte1 and something set to record on bbc1 it'll fail. I ended up buying a second subscription and it now works perfectly. You can also set a series link to record and again, that works perfectly.

TBH I very rarely use the record option as most of my streams have 7 day catch up. But whenever I've used it it's worked perfectly. I've had the box since launch over a year now I think. Can't recommend it highly enough I've tried a lot of boxes over the years and for IPTV it's beats everything hands down

thanks for the feedback. Purchased one yesterday and very impressed with it. So smooth and great iptv experience using the baked in player (mytvonline3)