# whispernet just not working



## delshin (Nov 1, 2008)

Hello all,

I got my kindle on 10/30, registered and bought my first book. Id did come with the firmware 1.1 too. Anyways, bought a book and it did not download even with 5 full bars. So after resetting it like 5 times I called support and they had me plug it in and reset it. Bang I at least download a book, however I still can't shop or connect to whisper, so the newspaper I bought will not auto update. Rather depressing. Regardless I have a final support call into amazon and I shall see what the story is, sadly if I can't get the whispernet to work I will not be breaking into this community it seems as that is the main reason I picked this device. I need to be able to download away from the desktop and living in Boston, I have full bars reception wise so I just am not sure what the problem is.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I would suggest keep following up with customer service. You should have Whispernet in Boston! There have been occasions when the whole Sprint network is spotty and people have reported outages that last from minutes to hours. In other cases, the Kindle is faulty and needs to be replaced. I have heard that folks that persist with CS find out if it is a network problem or a Kindle problem and if it is the latter, the device is replaced.

L


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## Mnemosyne (Oct 31, 2008)

Delshin, I had the same problems with my first Kindle, and after seeing some recent reviews at Amazon of others with the same problem, I'm starting to wonder if a bad batch of Kindles went out!

I can tell you that customer service was GREAT to me, they shipped out a new one that day and now I've got a working Kindle that I can't put down. So give them a buzz, be a little patient with the wait as they're a little inundated with calls at the moment, and they should be able to help!


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

Whispernet is working in the Chicago area.  I bought three books yesterday.  Leslie, I bought your FAQ book just a few minutes ago.


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## Khabita (Oct 28, 2008)

I, too, suspect there's something bad under the hood of your Kindle. Whispernet is just about the easiest, most trouble-free part of the whole Kindle experience, and if it's not working, then I bet you have a bad whatsamajiggy-thingy.

One good thing -- Amazon Support, from what I hear, has been excellent about replacing problematic Kindles. They will ship you a shiny new one, and send your existing one off to the Island of Lost Kindles to be repaired by the Kindle elves.


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## Mnemosyne (Oct 31, 2008)

Hee, I just bought Leslie's book, too!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Sandpiper said:


> Whispernet is working in the Chicago area. I bought three books yesterday. Leslie, I bought your FAQ book just a few minutes ago.


Oh, thank you Sandpiper! I appreciate your support!

Now when I go and look at the "transaction report" at Amazon, I won't see a big fat 0 for November. That's a good feeling!

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Mnemosyne said:


> Hee, I just bought Leslie's book, too!


Ah, thanks! 

L


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

That's two, Leslie.  Good start for the month?  Twenty-nine days remaining.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Khabita said:


> I, too, suspect there's something bad under the hood of your Kindle. Whispernet is just about the easiest, most trouble-free part of the whole Kindle experience, and if it's not working, then I bet you have a bad whatsamajiggy-thingy.


I read somewhere that's it's actually a modem.



> One good thing -- Amazon Support, from what I hear, has been excellent about replacing problematic Kindles. They will ship you a shiny new one, and send your existing one off to the Island of Lost Kindles to be repaired by the Kindle elves.


Yes. And I think most people get to keep their defective Kindles while they are waiting for their new one. So, Delshin, even though the Whispernet isn't great, at least you can still be reading.

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Sandpiper said:


> That's two, Leslie. Good start for the month? Twenty-nine days remaining.


Excellent start for the month! 6 sold already today! Thanks again!

L


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## cush (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi Delshin- As others have advised, keep on with Amazon Support. They offer great service and your Whispernet problem will be resolved. You probably got a defective Kindle  but don't give up! Boston and the strong signal you receive should work just fine so it sounds like a new Kindle is needed. Amazon can get a new one to you fast, just keep calling and politely explaining the problem.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie--

I'm really enjoying your FAQ book, lots of good info there!  I'm working through it and the Kindle Guide at the same time.

Betsy


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Leslie said:


> I read somewhere that's it's actually a modem.


Not really. A modem (MOdulator-DEModulator) is a device that converts digital to analog and vice versa, used for communication over telephone lines. The Kindle is all digital.

Mike the Geek


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## Lotus (Oct 31, 2008)

Definitely see if Amazon support can help you.

I found that the Whispernet worked a lot more slowly than I thought it would. It takes a little while, even after the bars show up, for it to connect to Amazon and get content. It seems to be when you first turn on the Whispernet that it takes its sweet time to discover that it's connected. After that, it seems to work fine. Think dial-up rather than high-speed. 

I've also seen reports on the Amazon board about certain days when it looks like it's connected, but content doesn't download. From the posts, those sounded like random, isolated incidents.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

jmiked said:


> Leslie said:
> 
> 
> > I read somewhere that's it's actually a modem.
> ...


That's what I thought when I read it...it wouldn't have a modem! But wherever it was it seemed to be a reliable source. Guess not!

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Leslie--
> 
> I'm really enjoying your FAQ book, lots of good info there! I'm working through it and the Kindle Guide at the same time.
> 
> Betsy


Thank you!


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

The Kindle uses EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) cell tower based Internet to access and download files when your Kindle can find an EVDO tower. If it can’t find an EVDO tower, it drops back to a 1xRTT protocol which is much slower.

A 1xRTT connection will download at around 60 - 90K where an EVDO connection can download at over 1,000K.

I use an EVDO modem (Alltel says it's a modem) to connect to the internet because I’m too far away from a city to get any kind of hard-wired service. Most of the time I’m connected at EVDO speeds but occasionally something goes wrong and the modem locks onto a 1xRTT tower. If there’s anything that can be done about it, I don’t know what it is.

The thing about cutting-edge technology is that you sometime bleed when you’re on it but all-in-all it’s really something marvelous.



Jeff


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## RovingSoul (Oct 27, 2008)

My whispernet would not work at all either when I got mine. I called them to trouble shoot, and they had me do a restart from the Settings menu. It has worked fine since that. Except of course, where I spend most of my downtime, which is the basement.


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