Should a 3G Voyage Update Firmware Wirelessly?

[sun surfer]

I have a basically brand new 3G Voyage (my first Kindle) and am now trying to update it (if not for the thread here I may never have known about it!). It never "automatically" updated and "update now" is greyed out. It is registered, the 3G works great and wi-fi also works great. I have tried with wi-fi on and off and I've connected it to my computer through USB to make sure that wouldn't prompt it to start. Nothing works. Google searches offer zero help. It came with 5.6.2.1 which it still has for now.

I know I could update it manually but shouldn't this happen automatically? I have talked to customer service. Long story short, they could find no cause, couldn't get it to work wirelessly and wanted me to update manually, but I said that since this one is brand new that if it won't update the way it should from the start then I think I'd rather replace it with another brand new one. They agreed, but I'd like to make sure that there's not something I and customer service aren't missing that one of you might catch. Is there some way to get this to work wirelessly as it should or do you think mine is defective?

[AnemicOak]

When Kindle's have updates they are rolled out in phases (Kobo does the same), so yes you should get it at some point, but not always right away (which is one reason they offer the manual update for those who don't want to wait). I'm not sure how long it can take for a Kindle to get a wireless update (I know for Kobo it can take months).

[sun surfer]

Thanks, AnemicOak! I had no idea that these things roll out in waves, and apparently customer service didn't either. So you would say it's working normally then, even with the greyed-out "update now"? My worry is that this could be a sign of a larger problem in the device but if it's normal then I'd much rather just keep the one I already have.

[eschwartz]

Nope, totally normal.

The updates are rolled out in batches, and the Kindle will automatically poll Amazon's servers to see if it should receive an OTA update.


The Update Your Kindle button only lets you tell the Kindle to restart and run the boot-time updater -- it will be grayed out unless the Kindle already has an update downloaded.



I must confess to being slightly amused at Customer Service.
I'm guessing they *tried* to add your Voyage to the list of devices to receive the next wave.
OTOH, maybe that means you will ultimately receive it sooner rather than later.

[sun surfer]

Thanks eschwartz - I had a feeling they were missing something and you guys have assuaged me. It wasn't that I minded a manual download, it was that I didn't understand why it wouldn't download wirelessly, and I must admit customer service seemed clueless. The first rep's answer to me was that this happens to some people but he doesn't know why, and when I asked said he hadn't helped anyone else with this particular problem yet. At one point he said it's because the 3G version doesn't wirelessly update at all, to which I responded with disbelief.

That may sound bad but, in their defence, though they may not have known the reason it was happening they were both very nice and did try hard to be helpful in a timely manner. Oddly though, once the underling couldn't answer the question and transferred me to a higher up who I thought would, I was immediately greeted with the news that my kindle was defective and she'll be happy to send me a new one. Now, I had mentioned to the first rep that if I couldn't have the update wirelessly or else understand why this was happening that I'd want to switch out for a new one but the second rep didn't waste a second! I appreciate the quick willingness very much, but I had the suspicion mine might be just fine if I could only understand and if so would prefer to keep the one I've already set up, everything else being equal. Well, these things happen.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

At one point he said it's because the 3G version doesn't wirelessly update at all, to which I responded with disbelief.

He was partially correct in the sense that a 3G Kindle will not download firmware updates over 3G; only via a WiFi connection.

[sun surfer]

That is probably what he was alluding to though I'd said I'd tried the wi-fi as well.

[HarryT]

Best thing to do if you want the upgrade is to install it manually. It can take several months before it's rolled out to everyone wirelessly.

[sun surfer]

I think I might do that, Harry.

I find it so interesting that from all of you the answer to this was so simple to give, and yet the Voyage manual, the Kindle help pages, many various Google searches, various Mobileread searches and Amazon customer service all offered no illumination whatsoever. After this thread, I even contacted Amazon customer service again, to specifically ask if they know that the updates roll out in waves. I was curious whether my first rep was an outlier. The new rep had no idea at first what I was talking about either; I had to re-explain it in very simple and direct terms before she could even understand what I was trying to ask. After almost five minutes of her searching for the answer, she came back to tell me that if wi-fi is off when updates are sent, you won't receive yours then. So I suppose Amazon keep no info for their reps about rolling out updates in waves.

This was really just a (very minor) perfect storm - that an update just happened to come out just as I got a new Kindle for the first time, and that it just happened to actually have something I really wanted to try (the new Bookerly font). Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered wondering about automatic updates for a long time probably, if ever.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

After this thread, I even contacted Amazon customer service again, to specifically ask if they know that the updates roll out in waves. I was curious whether my first rep was an outlier. The new rep had no idea at first what I was talking about either; I had to re-explain it in very simple and direct terms before she could even understand what I was trying to ask. After almost five minutes of her searching for the answer, she came back to tell me that if wi-fi is off when updates are sent, you won't receive yours then.

Even that's not really true. The upgrade is sent to your account, just like a pending book delivery, so you'll get it the next time you turn on WiFi, just as you would if you'd bought a book and sent it to your device. You don't have to have WiFi turned on at the actual time that Amazon tries to send you the upgrade.

[barryem]

I have a 3G Voyage and I downloaded the update on my PC, transferred it to the Voyage via USB and did the update the day after it first became available. The download took about 20 minutes, probably because they had a lot of people downloading it. The update took about 5 or 10 minutes as I recall. I didn't time it so I might be off a bit.

Basically that was it. It's very simple to do and only takes a few minutes. After the update I tried out the new fonts. All was well.

Barry

[sun surfer]

It was sooner rather than later. I had planned to do the manual update before long but my kindle just updated automatically and wirelessly.

[HarryT]

Great .

[pidgeon92]

If you are going to contact Amazon regarding a Kindle issue, make sure you contact Kindle Customer Service specifically. The regular Amazon CS doesn't know a lot about Kindles. I believe these are still the correct phone numbers to get to them directly.

1-866-321-8851 (US) or
1-206-266-0927 (International)

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by HarryT

... The upgrade is sent to your account, just like a pending book delivery, so you'll get it the next time you turn on WiFi, just as you would if you'd bought a book and sent it to your device. You don't have to have WiFi turned on at the actual time that Amazon tries to send you the upgrade.

Does this mean an unregistered Kindle will not receive updates even if WiFi is left on?