Benefits of being locked in to a provider

[Barbara1955]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I was under The obviously mistaken impression that we were discussing usage charges, not the price of the Kindle itself!

In the USA there are No Usage Charges.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

In the USA there are No Usage Charges.

See post #'s 13 and 15

[barryem]

I have another reason for wanting 3G. I'm 78 years old and I could find myself in a nursing home at some point. Maybe they'll have Wifi or maybe they won't. I want access to my books.

My health isn't bad now and I don't see that happening any time soon. But at my age you never know and i want to be prepared.

Barry

Originally Posted by barryem

I have another reason for wanting 3G. I'm 78 years old and I could find myself in a nursing home at some point. Maybe they'll have Wifi or maybe they won't. I want access to my books.

My health isn't bad now and I don't see that happening any time soon. But at my age you never know and i want to be prepared.

Barry

My Dad's 85, and has only been a Kindle owner for 3 months, since I gave him mine. He reads on it for several hours a day now. It doesn't haven't 3G, so if he ever goes into care and is still able to use his Kindle, we'll show him how to hotspot - as mentioned in an earlier post, that's a more reliable way to give connectivity than Amazon's own 3G. Especially for those of us not in the US

[AnemicOak]

Unfortunately there is no guarantee that 3G will stay available for the life of your device. AFAIK all of the US Kindle's that use AT&T to connect are still good to go, but last I checked the older ones that use the Sprint network no longer connect to Amazon.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

The mainonly reason I would consider 3G these days is for someone who doesn't have a smart phone or wifi and is not technologicaly proficient. If they need something that doesn't rely on owning or having access to any other equipment (phone, wi-fi, computer, etc.) it makes sense. For most others? Not so much.

A kindle with 3G whose wifi is never setup won't get unwanted firmware updates.

For me that is cancelled by by unwanted azw3 to KFX conversions, so I have pretty much stopped buying cellular equipped kindles.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Unfortunately there is no guarantee that 3G will stay available for the life of your device. AFAIK all of the US Kindle's that use AT&T to connect are still good to go, but last I checked the older ones that use the Sprint network no longer connect to Amazon.

3G will be phased out over the next several years. I've seen estimates from 2020 to 2025. I believe that it's already been shut down in much of Canada.

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

Deleted for redundancy

[haertig]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Which is precisely what I said in the following paragraph of my post that you curiously neglected to quote .

I didn't quote that part because I was agreeing with what you said there. I reinforced what you said, and didn't see any need to quote your original.

I quoted the part of your post that I was replying to with my differing opinion - the part about interchangeable car components. This quoting was done to highlight our differing opinions on that.

[skinmaan]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't understand using an ereader to listen to audiobooks unless you are one of the vanishingly small number of people who has a Kindle, but doesn't have a phone.

If you're into that sort of thing, then one reason is immersive reading. While I don't do it myself it would help with retention when I was in school reading a book I really didn't want to read, which was most of them (if they chose, that is).

Just a thought.

Originally Posted by skinmaan

If you're into that sort of thing, then one reason is immersive reading. While I don't do it myself it would help with retention when I was in school reading a book I really didn't want to read, which was most of them (if they chose, that is).

Just a thought.

Yep! I have a Kobo, no audio functions, and trying to listen along to the audiobook versions of Italian novels as I read them on my Kobo is fiddly indeed.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I should be able to buy a Ford car and get spare parts for it from Volvo. ...

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that you should be able to buy a Volvo or a Ford and get gas from anywhere, instead of a Volvo or Ford gas station.

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Yep! I have a Kobo, no audio functions, and trying to listen along to the audiobook versions of Italian novels as I read them on my Kobo is fiddly indeed.

This is something I have been meaning to try. I had an Audible subscription for almost a year, without even bothering to use my tokens before cancelling it. I thought I didn't do audiobooks but I spent much of the last couple months listening to Pema Chodron and believe I finally found a use that is compatible with my habits! I think it has something to do with the style and content. I couldn't do it with dense non fiction or an ordinary novel.

Next step would be to read and listen, together, from my Kindle. I am actually a bit excited because I never did load the entire 32 gb with books....

*continues muttering about one day carrying around a complete 'pocket library'*

[barryem]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

3G will be phased out over the next several years. I've seen estimates from 2020 to 2025. I believe that it's already been shut down in much of Canada.

I've been saying 3G but in fact the new Paperwhite has 4G. I guess if 3G gets phased out my older ones will have a problem but the Paperwhite should be good for years after that.

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Pizza_Cant_Read

Next step would be to read and listen, together, from my Kindle.

If I'm not mistaken the Kindle e-ink devices won't let you read and listen at the same time. At least not in the coordinated way they call Immersion Reading.

This isn't something I use so I've never actually tried it but I'm pretty sure I read that that was true.

Barry