Kindle in Afghanistan????

[Mike A]

My younger son is being deployed to Afghanistan in about a month and we were thinking of getting him a "Kindle" one of those electronic book readers to take along, since it is compact and can hold a bunch of books (I have and use one).

As I understand it (keep in mind that I am both old and a techno-idiot; anything more complex than a Garand is 'way past my understanding...) these devices are dependent on a cell phone connection to the Internet when you want to buy and load a new book or newspaper or whatever. So my question is: is regular cell service (not a "Satphone") available to troops for this in Afghanistan?

Anybody have any experience with this?

[racky]

well i'm about 1 small country away from afgan and unless it's a tri-ban phone/kindle, you can't connect. my phone is a US phone only and i can't get any signal at all. i assume the same would be for the kindle if it's not made for international connections. hope that helps.

[TonyM]

Amazon does have (limited) international connection options, but unfortunately, Afghanistan isn't one of them.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015T963C

Click on the "outside the US" link and select a country.

In the USA Amazon uses Sprint's EVDO network for content delivery.

[TonyM]

One other option, but I have no idea about internet connectivity over there:

You can buy the Kindle content and have it downloaded to your PC, then transfer it via USB to the Kindle. They offer this specifically for people that have no cell service signal available.

[goathead]

we have net here if it has a hard line to connect to a computer then your good ...a bubby has the sony book thing he down loads books all the time

[goathead]

oh and att cell service works here but it like 3.00 min and tmobile works in some places think it like 4 or 5.00 a min
sat phone is cheaper like 1.50 thuyra min (thats what i have)
then local cell phone some have net (which is the cheaps way)which i have
to call home(USA) its like .25 to .50 a min there about 4 to 5 carriers
its all pre payed about 10 to 12.00 for 500 afghan mins which to call home is like 20 to 30 mins per card

[jmlivingston]

You might consider a Nook from Barnes and Noble instead, it can be loaded via USB cable and it also has Wi-Fi on it (it's 3G cellular capable too - but only in the US, via ATT just like the Kindle is).

[TonyM]

we have net here if it has a hard line to connect to a computer then your good ...a bubby has the sony book thing he down loads books all the time

Yes, the kindle is wired USB from the device to the PC. Just plug it in and drag/drop the books on when there's no 3G Service.

oh and att cell service works here but it like 3.00 min and tmobile works in some places think it like 4 or 5.00 a min
sat phone is cheaper like 1.50 thuyra min (thats what i have)
then local cell phone some have net (which is the cheaps way)which i have
to call home(USA) its like .25 to .50 a min there about 4 to 5 carriers
its all pre payed about 10 to 12.00 for 500 afghan mins which to call home is like 20 to 30 mins per card

Kindles use a pre-configured 3G connection that can't be configured. It's a free service from Amazon when you buy the device.

[Mike A]

Thanks, guys! I'll pass this along to the "Kid" (who is 6'3" and has two Expert Marksman badges....). He lives on a laptop "at work" and can make sense of the technology; then we can get him a reader, or not.

Wish his SIG "220 Carry" could go with him altho he says he has confidence in his M9. At least he shoots it well!

[Rem1492]

If in doubt, an amazon.com credit would be a great gift too, they send APO quickly and he can buy about anything he'd ever need there.

[Mike A]

thanks everybody. I found out that he can buy "Kindle" content (books, magazines, newspapers) over there on his laptop, as I believe several of you mentioned. So that will work, since apparently the USMC lets him keep his laptop in quarters. So the Amazon gift card it is, Rem1492!