Monthly 50 MB limit to Kindle Keyboard's 3G usage? - Page 4

geekmaster · 07-25-2012, 08:05 AM

And "unlimited 3G" could mean that it is not limited as to WHERE it can go on the web. It does not necessarily mean "unlimited download bandwidth". Even some cellphone companies that DO advertised "unlimited downloads" still impose a (hidden) data cap, although it is a lot higher than 50MB.

l_macd · 07-25-2012, 09:02 AM

"Unlimited" 3G wasn't mentioned, people are just adding that in themselves!

From the wayback machine showing the Kindle 3G pre-order page on Amazon:

Quote:

Free 3G Wireless – No monthly payments, no annual contracts

Global 3G Coverage
Travel the globe and still get books in under 60 seconds. Kindle uses GSM technology—the most popular mobile wireless standard - with wireless coverage in over 100 countries and territories, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and many others. Stay in touch with news from home by having your newspaper and magazine subscriptions delivered wirelessly while you travel.

Piper_ · 07-25-2012, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shack70

Got a reply:

Quote:

Hello,

I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused in this regard.

I understand your concern regarding the report on MobileRead.com.

We didn't change any policy and we don't have any comments on other websites.

However there is no need to concern, your wireless connection is free and included with your Kindle purchase. There's no confusing service plans, no contracts or commitments, and no monthly fees.

Shopping and downloading from the Kindle Store is free. So is accessing your Archived Items on Amazon.com and Kindle's Basic Web that allows you to browse and search on the Internet.

Delivery of personal documents via 3G carries a charge of $0.15 per megabyte of content you submit for conversion.

If you need any further assistance, you can always write back by visiting this link and state the problem or request a call from us, we will help you right away.

http://amzn.to/XXXXX

We appreciate your understanding and we look forward to seeing you again

Thank you for your inquiry.

After reading more about this 50meg limit around the net it seems the limit is only for outside the US.

I don't think I'm entitled to unlimited 3g for paying my extra $50 but I also do not appreciate being penalized because of a smacktards on the internet. Want to punish someone? Punish them, turn off the 3g access for those units using the hack to share the 3g connection.

Yeah, this issue/scare has come up a few times in the last ~2 years, and so far, it has always turned out to be a confusion about US usage vs outside. Someone finds the rules about outside the US and thinks it's new and now applies to the US.

Who knows, but seems likely when the Amazon rep says nothing has changed.

Thanks for posting the reply for us.

Serpentine · 07-25-2012, 06:20 PM

It's a really understandable change to make, for people outside of the US. The problem is largely with tethering the device to a PC and using it for a free broadband connection. Amazon are the ones picking up the bill, and it's surprising they've taken this long.

BlackBerry had to do the same thing over here - after they audited the service after years of 'free for all', at the end the numbers were pretty straight forward : 95% of bandwidth use was the result of <5% of the active user base (iirc they later confirmed it was more like 98%).

tubemonkey · 07-25-2012, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shack70

Got a reply:

Quote:

Hello,

I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused in this regard.

I understand your concern regarding the report on MobileRead.com.

We didn't change any policy and we don't have any comments on other websites.

However there is no need to concern, your wireless connection is free and included with your Kindle purchase. There's no confusing service plans, no contracts or commitments, and no monthly fees.

Shopping and downloading from the Kindle Store is free. So is accessing your Archived Items on Amazon.com and Kindle's Basic Web that allows you to browse and search on the Internet.

Delivery of personal documents via 3G carries a charge of $0.15 per megabyte of content you submit for conversion.

If you need any further assistance, you can always write back by visiting this link and state the problem or request a call from us, we will help you right away.

http://amzn.to/XXXXX

We appreciate your understanding and we look forward to seeing you again

Thank you for your inquiry.

After reading more about this 50meg limit around the net it seems the limit is only for outside the US.

I don't think I'm entitled to unlimited 3g for paying my extra $50 but I also do not appreciate being penalized because of a smacktards on the internet. Want to punish someone? Punish them, turn off the 3g access for those units using the hack to share the 3g connection.

That's not a complete answer, since it didn't address the 50MB limit. Amazon's response just adds to the confusion and compounds it.

geekmaster · 07-25-2012, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

That's not a complete answer, since it didn't address the 50MB limit. Amazon's response just adds to the confusion and compounds it.

Here it is straight from the official "amazon kindle keyboard support" page:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200505470

An amazon policy change announced 2012 July 1 added this text:

Quote:

The Experimental Web Browser is currently only available for some customers outside of the United States and may be limited to 50MB of browsing over 3G per month. This limit does not apply when customers are browsing over Wi-Fi.

So, it appears that the 50mb limit really DID go into effect on 2012 July 1, which tends to support the claims made in the first post of this thread.

More supporting information:
http://www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/t...-limits-910470

Piper_ · 07-25-2012, 09:34 PM

Right, but that's why we're saying it seems the limit is only for outside the US; both of those pages are addressing non-US Kindle users.

The person who emailed Amazon is in the US, and was told there was no change. So it makes sense... but like i said, who knows.

tubemonkey · 07-25-2012, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piper_

Right, but that's why we're saying it seems the limit is only for outside the US; both of those pages are addressing non-US Kindle users.

The person who emailed Amazon is in the US, and was told there was no change. So it makes sense... but like i said, who knows.

Amazon should've addressed the 50MB cap in their response to eliminate the confusion.

I hate half answers.

Piper_ · 07-25-2012, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon should've addressed the 50MB cap in their response to eliminate the confusion.

I hate half answers.

Oh, me too.

l_macd · 07-26-2012, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piper_

Right, but that's why we're saying it seems the limit is only for outside the US; both of those pages are addressing non-US Kindle users.

The person who emailed Amazon is in the US, and was told there was no change. So it makes sense... but like i said, who knows.

In that case, I might email them and ask why there the discrepancy between those in the US and those not. Why cap one and not the other. I don't use a 3G Kindle, don't see a problem with them putting some kind of cap in place, but that just makes me want to buy a Sony or Kobo instead!

HarryT · 07-26-2012, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l_macd

In that case, I might email them and ask why there the discrepancy between those in the US and those not. Why cap one and not the other. I don't use a 3G Kindle, don't see a problem with them putting some kind of cap in place, but that just makes me want to buy a Sony or Kobo instead!

I would imagine it's capped in countries where Amazon doesn't have a roaming arrangement with a local telecoms operator. That's only a guess of course, but I'd be interested to know if it's capped in the UK, for example, where Amazon have a deal with Vodafone.

RainingLemur · 07-26-2012, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpentine

BlackBerry had to do the same thing over here - after they audited the service after years of 'free for all', at the end the numbers were pretty straight forward : 95% of bandwidth use was the result of <5% of the active user base (iirc they later confirmed it was more like 98%).

Isn't that the same justification that companies like Verizon have used when doing away with their unlimited plans? "Only 2% of data users go over X-amount of GBs a month, so most everyone will be ok with these tiers!"

StephenM · 07-26-2012, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l_macd

In that case, I might email them and ask why there the discrepancy between those in the US and those not. Why cap one and not the other. I don't use a 3G Kindle, don't see a problem with them putting some kind of cap in place, but that just makes me want to buy a Sony or Kobo instead!

Of course, the Kobo and Sony readers have no 3G offerings that I am aware of, so you might as well say that you are switching to a Kindle Keyboard Wi-Fi, and abandoning the 3G feature.

l_macd · 07-26-2012, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I would imagine it's capped in countries where Amazon doesn't have a roaming arrangement with a local telecoms operator. That's only a guess of course, but I'd be interested to know if it's capped in the UK, for example, where Amazon have a deal with Vodafone.

That's a very good point HarryT. I never thought of that, and that would make some sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StephenM

Of course, the Kobo and Sony readers have no 3G offerings that I am aware of, so you might as well say that you are switching to a Kindle Keyboard Wi-Fi, and abandoning the 3G feature.

I did say I don't use a 3G Kindle, it's the principle of the thing! As per HarryT's suggestion above though, there may well be a fair enough reason for it, in that case I'll go back to loving Amazon to bits

l_macd · 07-26-2012, 03:47 PM

Now confirmed by Amazon that this doesn't apply to the UK, but the limit will apply when you travel outside the UK - so same as the US then.

"Beginning on July 1st, 2012, web browsing on the Kindle Keyboard experimental web browser using a 3G connection will be limited to 50 MB a month outside of the UK. You will still have unlimited access to Wikipedia, Amazon, the Kindle store, and the ability to download content" and "I can confirm that there will not be any limit in the use of Kindle keyboard over 3G in UK for UK residents."

So, looks like HarryT was spot on with his thought that it's capped in countries where Amazon doesn't have a roaming arrangement with a local telecoms operator. I don't know which countries other than the US and the UK has agreements, anyone else?

07-25-2012, 08:05 AM	#46
geekmaster Всё гениальное просто. Posts: 5,028 Karma: 6382209 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Щедрость не имеет пределов. Device: .	And "unlimited 3G" could mean that it is not limited as to WHERE it can go on the web. It does not necessarily mean "unlimited download bandwidth". Even some cellphone companies that DO advertised "unlimited downloads" still impose a (hidden) data cap, although it is a lot higher than 50MB. __________________ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

07-25-2012, 09:34 PM	#52
Piper_ ~~~~~ Posts: 758 Karma: 1276933 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: USA Device: Kindle 3, Sony 350	Right, but that's why we're saying it seems the limit is only for outside the US; both of those pages are addressing non-US Kindle users. The person who emailed Amazon is in the US, and was told there was no change. So it makes sense... but like i said, who knows. __________________ Vesper on Goodreads There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book. ~Marcel Proust

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07-25-2012, 06:20 PM	#49
Serpentine Evangelist Posts: 415 Karma: 1045911 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Cape Town, South Africa Device: Kindle 3	It's a really understandable change to make, for people outside of the US. The problem is largely with tethering the device to a PC and using it for a free broadband connection. Amazon are the ones picking up the bill, and it's surprising they've taken this long. BlackBerry had to do the same thing over here - after they audited the service after years of 'free for all', at the end the numbers were pretty straight forward : 95% of bandwidth use was the result of <5% of the active user base (iirc they later confirmed it was more like 98%).

07-26-2012, 03:47 PM	#60
l_macd I ♥ Calibre Posts: 877 Karma: 1669407 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle 3, Sony PRS-350	Now confirmed by Amazon that this doesn't apply to the UK, but the limit will apply when you travel outside the UK - so same as the US then. "Beginning on July 1st, 2012, web browsing on the Kindle Keyboard experimental web browser using a 3G connection will be limited to 50 MB a month outside of the UK. You will still have unlimited access to Wikipedia, Amazon, the Kindle store, and the ability to download content" and "I can confirm that there will not be any limit in the use of Kindle keyboard over 3G in UK for UK residents." So, looks like HarryT was spot on with his thought that it's capped in countries where Amazon doesn't have a roaming arrangement with a local telecoms operator. I don't know which countries other than the US and the UK has agreements, anyone else?


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