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Please follow the steps here and click on the text at the point where you reached your question: |
I have some questions before I buy the Brookstone Forecaster.
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Okay! I got a Brookstone Forecaster! Now,
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I got my first transmission!
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Okay, it worked for awhile but now:
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If I buy this, will it work in my ZIP code?
Well, you can check areas down to street level by going over to our Coverage Map. Simply enter in either your ZIP code or your full street address and click "Check Your Coverage." Areas highlighted in purple are very likely to get signal; areas without highlighting do not get signal.
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If it won't work in my location, will it work if I enroll in the "Premium Service"?
Nope! Upgrading to Premium will only add an extra channel to your device; it can't improve your forecaster's ability to receive signal.
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If I buy this, will it show the weather for a place outside the United States?
It's likely—we support one thousand cities overseas. Send an email to support [at] ambientdevices.com if you're having trouble upgrading to a foreign city.
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If I buy this, will it work outside of the United States?
Nope! Sorry, at present we only send data to towers within the United States.
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I opened the box.
Super! While this device does make an attractive paperweight/fridge magnet, we recommend you find your finest, freshest AAA batteries and insert them in the battery compartment (they go parallel, not opposite to each other like other devices...follow the little picture!).
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I put two fresh batteries inside the forecaster.
The first thing to check is that the signal strength indicator (a little golf-tee looking icon in the upper-right) is showing at least one bar. If you wait ten minutes or so and nothing shows up there, you should consult the Signal Map to ensure you're in a good coverage area.
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The forecaster's segments danced around in a little circle.
This is what the forecaster will do when its hardware has been self-checked and it's waiting for its first weather update from our network.
This is a fine time to ensure your signal strength indicator (a little golf-tee looking icon in the upper-right) is showing at least one bar. If you wait ten minutes or so and nothing shows up there, you should consult the Signal Map to ensure you're in a good coverage area.
If you're getting good signal, it's only a matter of time before it receives its first update...just put it down, go make a cup of tea, and come back in an hour.
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Ummm, how do I find out what city "NYC" is?
Go to our Weather City List to find the bundle of five cities that your device is currently displaying.
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How do I switch what city is showing?
Press the clear button on the lower left-hand side of the device. Although it may look like it rolls, it doesn't. Just push it in until you feel a click, and let go.
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Weird! Even if I leave it alone, the forecaster keeps cycling through cities!
That is weird. Turns out that is the in-store demo mode. You can stop this by clicking once on the button on the lower left-hand side. After that, click through the cities to get back to the one you want to see.
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It's stuck on weather information from a few days ago. What do I do now?
Hmmm...this is almost always the result of "lagging," a condition that occurs when your device is not receiving a consistently strong signal. If you notice this happening, try changing the location where you usually keep the device: generally, it's best to keep it somewhere where it shows at least two bars of signal strength.
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My temperature is different from what the device is saying!
The forecaster doesn't have a thermometer in it...it just receives a signal we send using information from Accuweather.com. Consequently, the temperature right outside your front door in the Houston suburbs might be a few degrees off of the meteorological information we get for the city of Houston proper. For most people, the difference will be negligible.
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My local area isn't one of the five cities available? What now?
You should try out our free trial of the Premium Channel! It allows you to add the weather information for any ZIP code in the United States or one of about a thousand international locations.
Alternately, you could experiment with the weather information from a city nearby...many people find that the weather in an "upstream" city will often give them an accurate picture of what weather to expect in the next few hours or days.
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It used to work fine here, and now it doesn't!
If you haven't moved your forecaster but it suddenly stops receiving updates, one of two things could be happening:
- Your device's signal receiver has conked out
- A transmitter in your area is down
There's not much we can do on our end to tell which one of these two things has happened, but you can help! Would you please take the device with you on your next trip into town? You can make sure you're travelling to an area with good signal by checking our map.
By traveling to another area and watching to see if your device picks up a signal (it may take up to 40 minutes), we'll be able to tell if the receiver is bad, or if it's the
transmitter.
- If your device begins working again in the new location, it's possible that the transmitter that serves your old location is out of order. In that case, please reply to this email with your street address, your device's serial number, and the date you noticed signal had degraded. We'll write our wireless provider and ask them to have a look.
- If you've travelled to an area that should have good signal and waited an hour with no data appearing, your device may simply have broken. If you suspect this to be the case, please contact Brookstone (1-800-846-3000) for a replacement.
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While almost all questions are answered in the above pages, if you still have a question you're always welcome to call or write our Tech Support team:
