Kindle Touch 3G - no web browsing via 3G?

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Heart_Mom

I just got the Kindle Keyboard in the mail today! Thanks for your help and advice!

Congrats on your new Kindle! Mine is my mailbox getting lonely.

I have to say this thread has made me want to keep my K3 even though I have a 3G phone the whole idea of having Free 3G appeals to me if there is power outage I have downloaded my books from Dropbox when there was one. I still ordered a non 3G touch but my reasoning was a weight issue mostly.

Can you Tether your Kindle WiFi to a 3G cell phone?

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Buy and iPad or a Kindle Fire if that's part of your requirements and stop complaining about an experimental feature of an ereader.

The Kindle 3 3G was a luxury purchase for me. I never bought current generation computer-type hardware before (at least, not for my own use) and may never do it again.

The word experimental as used on the K3 menu is just plain misleading. Is MP3 playback something that Amazon invented and was afraid wouldn't work? I don't see how that's experimental at all. You could say that 3G browser access is a marketing experiment, but that's a pretty lame use of the word. And what's the control group for that experiment? Everyone who buys a Touch 3G, I suppose.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Can you Tether your Kindle WiFi to a 3G cell phone?

I don't have wi-fi at my house (or a smartphone), so I've relied on Kindle's 3G to download books to my Kindle (keyboard) 3G+wi-fi device. When I have to retrieve a personal document, I sideload the file onto the Kindle via USB, but it always tries to send it to my Kindle too. It's been quite irritating, since it can only be downloaded via wi-fi! So the file sits there until I can get to a wi-fi hotspot.

Anyway... The other day, I asked my daughter to set up her 3G phone as a wi-fi hotspot. I guess she has an app for that. And it worked! I was able to download the stuck personal documents to my Kindle via her phone.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I don't have wi-fi at my house (or a smartphone), so I've relied on Kindle's 3G to download books to my Kindle (keyboard) 3G+wi-fi device. When I have to retrieve a personal document, I sideload the file onto the Kindle via USB, but it always tries to send it to my Kindle too. It's been quite irritating, since it can only be downloaded via wi-fi! So the file sits there until I can get to a wi-fi hotspot.

Anyway... The other day, I asked my daughter to set up her 3G phone as a wi-fi hotspot. I guess she has an app for that. And it worked! I was able to download the stuck personal documents to my Kindle via her phone.

Awesome! I get 5GB of bandwidth to tether a month with my plan. It's good to know in an outage I could do that.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Awesome! I get 5GB of bandwidth to tether a month with my plan. It's good to know in an outage I could do that.

We had a 12-hour regional power outage recently. My daughter's cellphone was down most of that time. She has T-Mobile. I was able to get a 3G signal (AT&T) for a few hours on my Kindle. I did use it for web browsing during that time. At some point I lost 3G, though, and it wasn't restored until some hours after electricity was restored. So, although it can come in handy, I'm not sure it's always reliable during an outage.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

We had a 12-hour regional power outage recently. My daughter's cellphone was down most of that time. She has T-Mobile. I was able to get a 3G signal (AT&T) for a few hours on my Kindle. I did use it for web browsing during that time. At some point I lost 3G, though, and it wasn't restored until some hours after electricity was restored. So, although it can come in handy, I'm not sure it's always reliable during an outage.

I have Verizon and live out in the sticks. AT&T is barely out here so I don't get a great signal on the K3 but my phone is great. During the tornadoes it was a peace of mind as I was able to keep up with the alerts via 3G on the local weather app and twitter. We also two years ago had a blizzard and was without power for a week those phones would of come in handy then.

Our grid does not seem to be connected to the towers. However I can't call and report an outage on my phone to my local electric company. I have to get my sister in Missouri to do that for me.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cabbot

One of the self appointed "posters of righteousness" will be along shortly to tell you how WRONG this would be and how if you lived in the UK it would be illegal as well

Moderator Notice
The MobileRead "Posters of Righteousness" - also known as "the moderating team" - will not permit this site to be used for illegal activities, which includes "hacking" devices to use services illegally. Please take a moment to read our Posting Guidelines and ensure that your posts are in accordance with the guidance laid out therein.

Thank you.

[cabbot]

Thank god for you to point out the rules and your personal ethics over and over. How else would you get that ginormous post count?

[eSheri]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I don't have wi-fi at my house (or a smartphone), so I've relied on Kindle's 3G to download books to my Kindle (keyboard) 3G+wi-fi device. When I have to retrieve a personal document, I sideload the file onto the Kindle via USB, but it always tries to send it to my Kindle too. It's been quite irritating, since it can only be downloaded via wi-fi! So the file sits there until I can get to a wi-fi hotspot.
Anyway... The other day, I asked my daughter to set up her 3G phone as a wi-fi hotspot. I guess she has an app for that. And it worked! I was able to download the stuck personal documents to my Kindle via her phone.

Hey DreamWriter! This is the second time you've given me valuable info! I never thought about using my phone as a hotspot for the Kindle! Thanks!

[tubemonkey]

I'm not surprised Amazon is doing this. Touch and free 3G aren't conducive to their bottom line.

[markdek]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm not surprised Amazon is doing this. Touch and free 3G aren't conducive to their bottom line.

And how would you know this?...w/ any certainty whatsoever?

Actually free 3G has been in the mainstream of their marketing campaign since day one, and it built the "Kindle" brand...you and I really don't know the #'s at all, we're just guessing. And Amazon is guessing that this won't matter to it's customers.

Let me say, they are probably right, and these minor temper tantrums will fade away, and be forgotten.

[markdek]

Originally Posted by cabbot

Thank god for you to point out the rules and your personal ethics over and over. How else would you get that ginormous post count?

lol amen brother.

[pendragginp]

Originally Posted by cabbot

Thank god for you to point out the rules and your personal ethics over and over. How else would you get that ginormous post count?

What is the matter with you?!? Harry is one of the moderators and is doing his job. He's been amazing patient with your rudeness, IMO. But methinks you're cruisin' for a bruisin' here friend.

As for the discussion, I did pre-order a 3G Touch and I will cancel that and just keep my Kindle 3 instead. I too live in the sticks and have no smartphone, and the free 3G is that important to me.

As someone mused in passing, it would be interesting if Amazon would include free 3G on the touch for a minimal cost - or even as part of their $79 per year Prime membership.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by markdek

And how would you know this?...w/ any certainty whatsoever?

I don't.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by eSheri

Hey DreamWriter! This is the second time you've given me valuable info! I never thought about using my phone as a hotspot for the Kindle! Thanks!

Glad I could help!

I don't have a smartphone, so I'm not familiar with all their features, but my daughter has one. I realized the other day that she was using her 3G phone app to broadcast wifi to her laptop computer and that's when I had an epiphany: That should work on the Kindle!

The cellphone-broadcast wifi signal cut in and out a bit, but it was good enough to download three personal documents that had been stuck on my Kindle for a while in "view downloading items." Now that personal documents are stored in my Amazon account, I'm able to delete them that way after transferring the downloaded personal document from computer to Kindle via USB, so I think that'll eliminate them being sent via wifi. I tested that last night. So now I won't have to find a wifi hotspot to "clear" those documents from Kindle's wifi download queue!