3G Down?

7080 Views 21 Replies 12 Participants Last post by tsemple, May 12, 2015

Gone 9/21/18

Discussion Starter · May 1, 2015

My Voyage isn't downloading anything and hasn't been since the middle of last night. Called Amazon and after all the usual tap this and do that, was put through to someone who told me AT&T is doing updates and it's not Amazon's fault, etc. My first Voyage went back because of modem problems, and I don't trust this one because of past behavior, so I tend not to believe it. If AT&T is the problem, why will it take me to the Amazon Store and let me buy or borrow things? Which are then never delivered. It won't restore anything from the Cloud either.

However, I will say that my KK, which has never hiccuped in its life, is doing the same thing. Is anyone else having this problem with 3G?

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

Ann in Arlington

· #2 · May 1, 2015

I haven't had a 3G kindle since my keyboard model purchased in 2010 and long since passed on. But here's what I'd suggest, if you've not already tried it.

With the battery full and 3G turned on, do a hard restart. I found with the keyboard model that doing that would reset the modem when it was being glitchy.

Gone 9/21/18

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 1, 2015

I'm sorry, Anne, but did you read my message? The thing has been reset half a dozen times today and Kindle Support is claiming the problem is AT&T's fault.

Maybe that's the truth. I just took a look at the Amazon Kindle forum and there's a thread there from someone with the same problem. He said he got his books via wifi after his 3G wouldn't work. I'd have to do a 20-mile round trip to get to wifi, which is why I paid a lot more for the bloody thing to get 3G. Amazon wants me to download to the PC and do a manual transfer and was acting as if I didn't know how. I know how. I just figure I paid enough for this thing it ought to work, and if there's really a problem with AT&T, there ought to be some formal notification from Amazon.

Sorry if I sound cranky. I am. My Voyage experience has not been good. I wish I'd never bought the thing.

Atunah

· #4 · May 1, 2015

Since you can go to the store and browse on the 3G, it doesn't look like the 3G is down. Or maybe its the part that Amazon uses to send books through 3G? Sounds like something on Amazon's side. But I am not that technical. I would just think that if 3G was down, you would't be able to go anywhere at all.

Sorry

. Hope they fix it soon, any which way. I know you really depend on 3G since you have no wifi.

Gone 9/21/18

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 2, 2015

It started working again about 8:30 p.m. Colorado time, and since it quit about 3 a.m. (I'm a night owl), that means it was out for way over 12 hours.

Betsy the Quilter

· #6 · May 2, 2015

ellenoc said:
I'm sorry, Anne, but did you read my message? The thing has been reset half a dozen times today and Kindle Support is claiming the problem is AT&T's fault.

Ellen, I'm sorry you have been having trouble with your Voyage, but Ann (no "e") had no way of knowing what steps the "usual tap this and do that" included.

Glad it's working now but I know it is frustrating. I can't say that I've seen a lot of problems with 3G modems reported. It's indeed odd that you were able to connect to the store.

I'll poke around and see if I can find anything else out.

Betsy

Toby

· #7 · May 2, 2015

I had the same problem today on my DX, that only uses 3G. I tried twice this afternoon & I could't download my books. I have the DX right here. It's 11:22 PM. I'm going to try it now. Usually I only download while it's plugged in charging to save the battery life. It's working now!!!

Thanks for posting your problem & the cause. I thought it was the DX not working today & I dreaded having to do a restart, since it's my older DX & the battery is going.

Betsy the Quilter

· #8 · May 2, 2015

Thanks for posting this, Toby. And you're not in the same region as ellen, so it isn't a regional thing. The good news, Ellen, is that since both of your devices were doing the same thing, it doesn't appear to have been a problem with your Voyage.

Betsy

Sandpiper

· #9 · May 2, 2015

Maybe it was AT&T. AT&T is the carrier on my iPhone. Few days ago, there was an AT&T update on the phone. I called AppleCare about it. I'd never seen a carrier update on my iPhone before. He said carriers rarely do it, but AT&T did recently. So maybe AT&T is doing work on their cell service generally.

Andra

· #10 · May 4, 2015

I haven't noticed a total outage, but the 3G connection on my Voyage is easily the slowest of any of the models that I have had in the past. And I like 3G, so I've had it on my original Kindle, K2, K3 (aka KK), DX, Touch, Paperwhite and now the Voyage). I got used to the instant gratification from the earlier models before they had wifi and I've stuck with it whenever possible.
If I give up and connect it to the wifi at the house, I do get books much faster.

Ellen, if you have a cell phone, can you make it a wifi hotspot? That doesn't fix the problem - and I agree that if you have 3G it should work - but it might give you a workaround if things are being flaky. I have done that with my K4 (aka basic Kindle, baby Kindle etc - wifi only) and it worked ok.

Gone 9/21/18

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 4, 2015

Andra said:
Ellen, if you have a cell phone, can you make it a wifi hotspot? That doesn't fix the problem - and I agree that if you have 3G it should work - but it might give you a workaround if things are being flaky. I have done that with my K4 (aka basic Kindle, baby Kindle etc - wifi only) and it worked ok.

My only cell phone is a cheap TracFone I only use for emergencies (and a few friends use to call me when the landline is tried up by the internet). I tried one of those mobile plug in thingies on my laptop. Worked beautifully up in town. Here at my house it never got more speed than the dial up and often didn't get that.

I can always download to the PC and do a sideload. I'm just totally resistant to the bother of it when I paid a premium for the 3G device. And I'm with you - the 3G on both my K1 and KK was far more reliable than my Voyage. For that matter the KK still is. Gave the K1 to a friend and it continued working fine till recently when some clod dropped it.

Sandpiper

· #12 · May 5, 2015

ellenoc said:
Gave the K1 to a friend and it continued working fine till recently when some clod dropped it.

:'(

amyberta

· #13 · May 6, 2015

I used the 3G Saturday night and downloaded a book with no trouble and I have AT&T. I have the
first paperwhite.

ElisabethGFoley

· #14 · May 7, 2015

3G seems to be down today - I tried opening the Kindle Store on several different Kindles in our household (Paperwhite and older Kindle Touch) and while the storefront will appear, if you tap anything or run a search nothing happens.

Gone 9/21/18

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 7, 2015

Elizabeth - It's 3:30 p.m. here in Colorado now, and I just downloaded a sample to make sure everything's still working for me, and it is. Maybe your outage is local. It can't be device specific when you have several different Kindles not working. The outage Amazon blamed on AT&T first showed up for me in the middle of the April 30-May 1 night, about 2 a.m. on the 1st I think, and nothing worked until the evening of the 1st.

I don't understand why we can get to the storefront when everything's down. When the modem stopped working on my first Voyage, it would go to the storefront, but wouldn't do anything else. During this recent outage, I could go to the storefront, search, and actually buy. I'd get the email saying I'd bought the book on my desktop computer, but the book wouldn't appear on the Voyage. I could see the books in the Cloud (not the new ones but what I already had), but couldn't download them back to the Voyage either. My KK wouldn't download the new books or even access its Archives. It's mysterious to me that somethings still worked.

It wouldn't have set me off so badly if when I called Amazon the first person I spoke to had said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, AT&T is upgrading their system and it's affecting Kindle 3G. Everything should be working by tomorrow." Instead, I was 3 levels in and had been through all the time-wasting reset it, check this, check that b.s. that I'd already done before calling. It was only at that point that the tech blamed AT&T and her English was so bad I only barely got the gist of it. I've always loved Amazon support because they didn't seem to be saving money that way. So much for that silly belief.

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cinisajoy

· #16 · May 7, 2015

On Amazon customer support, I am inclined to say my accent and your accent are not understanding each other, may I please have a new tech? That usually works. On any call center actually. Funny one was when a call center worker decided I needed a Spanish speaking person because of the spelling of my name.

CAR

· #17 · May 9, 2015

ellenoc said:
Elizabeth - It's 3:30 p.m. here in Colorado now, and I just downloaded a sample to make sure everything's still working for me, and it is. Maybe your outage is local. It can't be device specific when you have several different Kindles not working. The outage Amazon blamed on AT&T first showed up for me in the middle of the April 30-May 1 night, about 2 a.m. on the 1st I think, and nothing worked until the evening of the 1st.

I don't understand why we can get to the storefront when everything's down. When the modem stopped working on my first Voyage, it would go to the storefront, but wouldn't do anything else. During this recent outage, I could go to the storefront, search, and actually buy. I'd get the email saying I'd bought the book on my desktop computer, but the book wouldn't appear on the Voyage. I could see the books in the Cloud (not the new ones but what I already had), but couldn't download them back to the Voyage either. My KK wouldn't download the new books or even access its Archives. It's mysterious to me that somethings still worked.

It wouldn't have set me off so badly if when I called Amazon the first person I spoke to had said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, AT&T is upgrading their system and it's affecting Kindle 3G. Everything should be working by tomorrow." Instead, I was 3 levels in and had been through all the time-wasting reset it, check this, check that b.s. that I'd already done before calling. It was only at that point that the tech blamed AT&T and her English was so bad I only barely got the gist of it. I've always loved Amazon support because they didn't seem to be saving money that way. So much for that silly belief.

Disclaimer: I currently do phone support for another company

Here are my answers or guesses to some of your questions:

1: I don't understand why we can get to the storefront when everything's down...

You may have noticed when you go to the Amazon Storefront on a new Kindle for the first time you get a message updating the Amazon Store message. It would be a pretty good guess some of it is in cache (Kindle Memory) Also the purchase and download parts could be handled by different systems.

2: It wouldn't have set me off so badly if when I called Amazon the first person I spoke to had said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, AT&T is upgrading their system and it's affecting Kindle 3G. Everything should be working by tomorrow." ...

Part 1: I think its unfair to blame Amazon for something like this, and this is the reason why: Every time AT&T performs minor updates on some cell towers, or some part of the AT&T Cellular system. I would find it highly unlikely that Amazon would be informed for each and every case.

Part2: When you call a tech support line each call is recorded. The support person must assist you the best way that they can, with the information they have. So sometimes its best to wait some period of time for a issue like this to clear up on its own, before calling support. It could be very well be the 3rd level person just made a guess "at that point that the tech blamed AT&T".

Anyone that thinks phone support is easy should try it for one day.... "Walk a Mile in My Shoes"

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Betsy the Quilter

· #18 · May 10, 2015

Thanks for the view "from the other side," CAR. I've done phone support as one part of my job when I did computer support for a 1000 member agency. And also when I worked at a quilt shop, for people whose sewing machines weren't working. It's fascinating that the same general procedure works. "Is it plugged in?" "Have you rethreaded (rebooted) your machine (computer)?" You have to start at the beginning, partly to make sure they haven't skipped any steps (and frequently they have) and partly to calm them down and get them involved in the process. I've heard "I already did that" so many times...and yet when I talk them through the actual steps I want them to use, it works. (For that matter, that's happened with me--I could have sworn I did the initial steps but when I calm down and start over on my own device, I realize I did something out of order or something.) And you're dealing with people who are already frustrated and upset because they've generally been fighting with the problem for some time before they call.

Betsy

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cinisajoy

· #19 · May 10, 2015

Betsy,
My mom's machine threw a fit a couple of weeks ago. It needed to have some lint removed. Oh and it didn't like mismatched threads.

Betsy the Quilter

· #20 · May 10, 2015

cinisajoy said:
Betsy,
My mom's machine threw a fit a couple of weeks ago. It needed to have some lint removed. Oh and it didn't like mismatched threads.

You wouldn't believe the amount of lint we took out of people's machines when they brought them in. It scared me straight--I clean my machine a lot more often than I used to.

Betsy

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