Roku setup

[rtan2020]

I just bought and installed a brand new ROKU ULTRA from Amazon.com.  The setup and activation went fine and completed successfully. I did not enter any credit card information.

I have tried more than a dozen times already and CANNOT:

(1)  Access, click into (or whatever the proper term is) -- The ROKU Channel

(2) Do a search -- one of the Community posts was to goto Streaming Channels, SEARCH for the ROKU Channel, and then do an ADD CHANNEL.  But there is no search on my screen.  I tried the voice, to no avail.  Pressing the * Options key did not result in any response.

(3) This is rather strange, as I am dealing with the most common functions: search, add channel.  I must be missing something fundamental in the setup process, or some step along the way?

Would be highly grateful for some guidance.

Sincerely,

R.Tan

[makaiguy · Accepted solution]

Where are you located?  Some Roku features are not available in all geographical regions.

I'm in the US and I do have a Search option on my Roku home screen menu.  There is also a Streaming Channels menu option that contains a Search Channels option within it.  Do you have this?

[rtan2020]

Hello,

Much thanks for your question, which is the answer:  upon calling Roku help, I found out that my ROKU account was created using an existing email address that was used a few months ago in a foreign country to also set up some Roku boxes.  The ROKU database flagged my box as 'OC' - Other Country.

So the solution was to either:

(a) use a new email address created in the US (where I am now) to create the Roku account and link to the Roku Ultra box, or

(b) delete the existing Roku account (associated with the existing email address) entirely, then reset the ROKU box, followed by reconfiguring the box as if I were installing a new box, and then linking the same email address to this box.

I chose (b) in order to retain the same email address.

In my opinion, this system of ROKU setup needs to be reviewed by ROKU -- especially in households where more than one ROKU box may be in use.  This was actually the situation I was in -- these last 16 months I have been secluded in a foreign country. I started to order and install ROKU boxes for a number of family members all living in 3 houses adjacent to each other and sharing a single 100mbps Internet.  It worked well, except of course, the absence of many features due to not being in USA/Canada.  

Many thanks for your guidance.