Kindle News: Misleading info re a max monthly free-3G Browsing amount on Kindle Keyboard outside the US for some UPDATE

Headlines re any general Amazon crackdown on Kindle Keyboard 3G web browsing are misleading

UPDATE 7/31/12 8:06 am (Original post 7/26/12 7:14 pm) - Chamekke, the Canadian who made the first known report about receiving notification of the monthly 3G download limit, verified over the weekend that she lives outside the U.S. and was not out of her country (Canada) when she received the alert.

  She was then also unable to use the 3G for downloading of Kindle books or access to Wikipedia for the rest of the month, although from wording on the Amazon site, the limit is on 'browsing.'

  You can see the details at her post at Mobileread Forums if interested in puzzling out when this applies, but her experience seems to confirm the Amazon 3G browsing limit that is shown only for those living outside the U.S. and which 'may' apply (my theory is that it depends on carrier rates in the various countries, with some being relatively low and some involving expensive roaming charges with AT&T partners).

[Original post of 7/26 follows.]

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There are several stories about what would seem to some news writers to be Amazon's new limits on free (and slow) 3G web browsing in general.

This idea was started when a Mobileread Forum member, chamekke, posted on July 23 about receiving a message while she was browsing the web on her Kindle Keyboard 3G, which told her she'd "hit my 50 MB monthly limit of 3G Web access on my Kindle 3G.

  "When I clicked the 'OK' button (which was my only choice, really), I got a second message saying that I'd have 24 hours of grace to continue to use 3G for Web browsing, but that after that I could use 3G only for visiting Amazon.com, Wikipedia, and the Kindle Store.  Otherwise I will be obligated to use Wi-Fi."

  As you can see from the image above, chamekke lives outside the U.S., and roaming charges outside the US with AT&T partners are expensive.  The Kindle Keyboard's free 3G web access is so slow that it's not used that much, for the most part, except for more urgent needs such as quickly checking your email or getting step-by-step directions to another location.  chamekke later added that although she bought her Kindle from the U.S. Amazon Kindle store, she's in Canada.  The Kindle 3G terms are different for those living outside the U.S.

  Per DreamWriter, in the same message thread, a Googling of this situation brought up some reports that as of July 1 the Kindle Keyboard (Kindle 3) 3G web browsing limits had seen a change.  She found the one Amazon paragraph about this, on the "Using Kindle Keyboard if You Live Outside the United States" page (emphasis mine):

' Experimental Web Browser
The Experimental Web Browser is currently only available for some customers outside of the United States and may be limited to 50MB of browsing over 3G per month for those living outside the U.S.  This limit does not apply when customers are browsing over Wi-Fi.'

 So there it is.   And yet, news sites are showing stories along the lines of
  "The party's over" for free 3G.

  The limit is currently only for some who are living outside the U.S.  And 50MB is a LOT when you're using the e-Ink web browser, which could be called a web crawler, but it has come in handy many times for me, for the more urgent lookups (such as step-by-step directions to an address when in a car) and also for checking product reviews and competitive pricing when I'm in a store and trying to decide whether or not to buy something that is suddenly on a big sale.

  So, although the limit is stated only for those living outside the U.S., why is Amazon doing it?  As many had guessed, it's almost surely because some or someone used the free 3G of the Kindle Keyboard model to tether its free 3G to a faster device like a laptop.

  The US-based PC Magazine realized this may affect some living outside the U.S. after exploring the story but still headlined their article, in general terms: "Amazon Limits Kindle 3G Web Use."

  The Register, UK article by Simon Sharwood is written for those who would be more affected by it, although Amazon UK is actually fairly liberal in its handling of the free 3G web browser feature and also posts the countries in which the slow free 3G web browsing will work when UK residents (and US residents) visit outside the UK.

  Unfortunately, The Register starts its report with "The free ride is over...."  It's not of course, it's just a shorter free ride per month.
  At least the Register picks up the Amazon language that says the limit "may" be enforced (outside the U.S.), and maybe more likely where roaming charges are exhorbitant.

  But chosen headlines and opening lines will make it sound more severe than it is.  So far we've heard of just one person who has been affected.  It takes a lot of time to do 50MB on an e-Ink text-based e-reader because if you try to load a graphics-intensive website (as so many of them are these days), it would be beyond most human patience.
  Here's my downloadable mobile-device oriented file of faster-loading website links, which includes good umbrella sites that specialize in categorizing such links.

  So, why the limit?

What caused Amazon to suddenly apply the 50MB limit?  (So far, maybe once)
In February 2012, Brian Benhchoff, posted at Hackaday.com, in the "Tethering a Kindle for free 3G" entry, about a posting by excelangue aka "lickitung" aka Jason (to which Benhchoff links) on how he jail-broke his Kindle and applied a USB network hack to connect his laptop to the Internet through his computer via the 3G from the Kindle.  They both say that Amazon knows who is breaking the terms of use, as the key is tied directly to one's unique Kindle.
  The dueling perspectives of the target audience are interesting to me.  Example:

  "Is it possible if we take the GPS out Amazon won't know who we are?  Or maybe a way to mask our serial number?  I really want to do this but it is not worth bothering if I am just going to get caught."

  It's, in effect, stealing, because it's actually money for charges a cheater is accruing that Amazon would then have to pay the carrier.

  Some of the more long-range thinking commenters:
1. At Lickitung's World (where the hack guide is displayed)
 "(May 28, 2012) S... said:
  whilst I appreciate the intellectual fun in trying to get this to work you are effectively jeopardising the browser access they give us for free.  I really hope that Amazon doesn't end up terminating this service because you have released this information."

2. At Benchoff's Hack A day (which links to the guide and states that Excelangue/Lickitung is "looking into tethering to the Kindle over WiFi so Android and iOS devices can get in on the action," the very first commenter:
  E... says:
  February 27, 2012...
  I really wish this article had never been posted.  Kindle users enjoy free 3G access for our Kindles and I would really hate for Amazon to have a reason to take it away from us.

Then a commenter from Mobileread Forums, which is just a great forum for info and has very responsible moderators, writes, in part:

' R... says
This is a VERY bad idea! All of us kindle developers at mobileread.com are very much AGAINST this sort of information being distributed in public forums such as hackaday.

Amazon must pay the cellphone carriers for 3G traffic. I have seen information that said they paid 12-cents/MB for Sprint 3G used by the Kindle DX and earlier. The newer Kindles like the Kindle 3G mentioned here use AT&T, but it probably has a similar cost.

It is very nice of amazon to provide this EXPERIMENTAL service to us at no additional cost to us. When used on a kindle, it does not generate a lot of traffic because the web browser built into the kindle does not support downloading zip files, and does not do streaming media.

If we tether to an external computer, there is a large amount of extra traffic. Many programs “phone home” to see if they have new versions available. Antivirus programs download updates. Even Windows Update may download many large files when updates are available. In addition, your computer will generate a lot of unrelated traffic for internet protocols other than just web browsing...
...
The really BAD thing about 3G tethering, and we us [sic] kindle developers are so against it, is that this much publicity for this bad practice of stealing 3G bandwidth from amazon (which can cost them a LOT of money) may cause them to remove 3G service for ALL OF US!

I have been a long-time hackaday reader and poster... I am very upset that links are provided here to a web page that encourages people to STEAL 3G service from amazon, to the detriment of us all!

Please remove those links! Thank you. '

And he goes on to explain many other aspects of what goes on with all this, with Amazon and the user, and to ask "Please do not make it [the 'free 3G that 'works in a moving vehicle (unlike wifi)'] ... go away with your selfishness and thievery."

I find it a fascinating 50-50 conversation in that R. gets a lot of support for his position while the other half think Amazon is to blame for making this hack possible.  I'm detailing a bit too much here but thought some readers might be interested in what is going on with attempts to maximize what a device can do at a company's expense (against Terms of Service agreement) and the idea that the information itself should be available on the web and it's up to others to not use it, while some of R's supporters think it's a cool hack and are impressed but also "disgusted all the same from the ethical side of it."

HackJack brags:

' I’ve been tethered to my kindle for 6 months, using it as my main internet connection. With browsing and utorrent I’ve racked up over 46GB. No disconnection here! '

So, you can see what Amazon's up against when hoping to make their devices and services attractive but also have to think about things like the stockholders and its stock value.

In the meantime, Amazon is said to be working on the software update to prevent this kind of tethering of the Kindle Keyboard 3G.  I hope they can do it rather than need to apply new limits.

And they've applied a monthly limit to one hapless owner so far, who's living outside the US where the AT&T roaming charges can be sky high.

Kindle Touch's lack of free 3g web browsing
Just wanted to say that the KTouch has (1) Direct Access to links rather than making us use the 5-way button to slowly wend our way to a link and sometimes miss it due to directional oddities when multiple links are on the same line) and (2) a considerably faster processor that loads web pages much more quickly.  I do have a KTouch and a KKeyboard and I would use the free 3G web on the KTouch a lot more than I do on the KKeyboard if it were available on the KTouch -- which would make the free 3G for that model a bad business idea for Amazon.
  Keep in mind that currently competing e-readers either don't have a web browser at all now (Nook) nor a free 3G one (Sony, except in Japan) for anything.

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Reference Pages for Apple-Big5 lawsuit, 3G web browsing availability, Amazon tablet rumors

NEW REFERENCE PAGES FOR TOPICS WITH SEVERAL ARTICLES

Using Blogger.com's relatively new feature for blogspot.com websites, I've added some reference pages to list and link, in timeline order, sets of articles for topics that have generated a lot of interest.

Pages

• Lawsuit against Apple, Big5 - video, history, sources - pricing wars
• Countries with free 3G and 3G browsing enabled - (revised)
• History of stronger Amazon tablet rumors, with links to Kindleworld articles

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

My Comcast WiFi is down - UPDATE: Kindle News, Kindle books, magazines

Down for several hours. My neighborhood, apparently. So, my desktop, laptop, and Nookcolor aren't connected.  I'm using my Kindle 3's 3G to do this very brief blog entry. Can't do copy/paste with it, so this will be it. They say it'll be another 3+ hours. At least I can get on to read a bit! More when I get WiFi back!

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UPDATE AFTERWARD
Comcast restored the network connections after 8 am.
  While on my Kindle 3G, I found that some formerly problematic pages seem to load faster now, although image-heavy sites will still take forever to load, so stay away from those.  A Kindle World's main page is outrageous in length (because I found that people will, more often than not, skip reading rather than click on 'more' or 'next' and so I never go to the webpage when using the Kindle -- but I tried it last night to confirm that my brief posting went through and found that it actually loaded quite a bit faster than in the past.

Still, people should stick to mostly-text pages when using the Kindle web browser.  Again, try the free, downloadable Kindle Mobiweb file of links that you can just click on, to get to mobile-device optimized pages, which include umbrella pages made by others that are themselves collections of good pages to access via the Kindle.

While experimenting, I wanted to see if I could click on a link from the Kindle-Edition of the blog (which opens a "new window") and maybe download a book, since in the past that was not doable.  I clicked on the first book in the list of HarperCollins "Perennials" -- their favored backlisted books and new books for including in the collection of 20 ebooks for $20 during August.  I did get to the Amazon page for the ebook and it allowed me to buy the 99c book that way.

With the Kindle 3, the initial webpage is seen in full width, which means the words are so tiny you can't read them!  So I pressed the 'Aa' key and chose the "zoom to '200'" option and read the book page that way.

 Since I had no other way to connect, I thought I'd explore.  It turns out the first book (apparently it's one that was wanted by some members of the discounted-books forum thread that I link to each day) is a memoir, about an advertising agent who spends nights doing gay clubs as a drag queen -- likely not everyone's cup of tea.  But it has 90 customer reviews, and a 4.5 star average rating.

  Title: "I Am Not Myself These Days (P.S.)" - which could be a good title for main characters of the two being-cancelled soaps, AMC and OLTL, both spinning (in) absurdly plotted whirlwind endings which actually are tickling audiences to the point the two 30+ yr soaps have been picked up to be continued as online web series by former Disney people.
  ... But, that was certainly a digression.

  Back to the book.  Per review blurbs, the Chicago Sun Times reports,  "It's one hell of a spellbinding read.  Engrossing..."  and  Library Journal says "...darkly hilarous and entertaining."

Blog subjects - Bits and Pieces
Later, I got back on my desktop to do a new blog entry, only to find that the 7 tabs with article subjects I'd collected was not restorable.  I'm not going through my browser history right now to find them.
  But I see some new minor stories, such as the seattle pi one about four central New York school districts getting a total of 84 Kindles, all with 3G.

  I also see that refurbished Kindles pricing has dropped when they're available (not often, though there are a couple of stores on that).

Kindles for Australia
For those in Australia, Kindles are arriving in Dick Smith and Big W stores, as well as Woolworths.   Strangely,  they'll cost a little more that way than if ordering directly from Amazon U.S., but the pluses are said to include local customer service and local returns if a unit breaks, plus there'll be additional accessories that can be viewd. The Kindles for purchase in Australia's stores won't be there until August 31.  'Countdown' stores are included also.

Paper computer, ultra flexible
This is a very weird one.   The Atlantic has a story and video about a device developed by researchers at the Queen's University Human Media Lab in Ontario -- it's an e-Ink prototype "that responds to bend gestures."  They explain that a flexible circuit with sensors records, in the software, various bends that, when repeated, can trigger an action on the device.

  "If incorporated into an e-reader, a flip-of-the-page motion could signal to the device that you're ready to move on."  [It] "looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said creator Roel Vertegaal, who added that you can flip the corner to turn pages or write on it with a pen.

New TV ad company to be used by Amazon
Adweek's Andrew McMains says Amazon has gone to a new agency for their Kindle ads -- and by that, the article seems to mean the TV ads.

  They'd previously worked with production companies like Eyeball, but will now work with Walrus, which has done work for AMC (specifically for Mad men, Breaking Bad and The Prisoner) and The Economist.  I have no idea what it all means but I had  liked the recent TV ads of the guy with his Kindle and the gal who is more brick & morter bookstore inclined.   Personally I love visiting physical bookstores, so I'm hoping that the Borders fiasco was due most of all to bad and negligent management (which seems to be the going sentiment) which ignored the growing draw of e-books rather than including them as B&N has done.

Barnes and Noble - the sale to Liberty Media - is it happening?
A Nook and a Crack in the Deal for Barnes and Noble? - This one is a mobile web-link that Kindle-Edition subsribers can click on and read easily with the Kindle web browser (with Wireless 'on' of course) ...  (Choose Menu/Article Mode, once there, to get the most readable font and layout).

  The story is about the unexpected length of time it has taken for Liberty Media to effect the anticipated $1 billion acquisition of B&N, and the complexities involved, causing problems.  Liberty has been expected to get financing to buy 70% of the company, with BN founder Len Riggio staying on with 30% holdings.  Ron Burkle, as ever, is a possible spoiler.

A new Amazon subscription model being tested?
Amazon is offering the Digest edition of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine, which Stephen King deems "the best fiction magazine in America."

  It's now "exclusively available" in the Kindle Store's magazines area.  Unfortunately, the title of Amazon's press release doesn't indicate it's a Digest rather than the full magazine although the first sentence does make that clear and then describes what is available in the digest and what isn't.

' ...access to all of the magazine's editorial content - editor's recommendations, "Curiosities" (odd books of enduring interest), film reviews, book reviews, cartoons and humor, and "Coming Attractions" (highlights of each issue) - along with one short story [from the current full issue], all at no cost...: '

  The full magazine ("Extended Edition", published bimonthly at $12/year for the Kindle edition), contains "several additional short stories and novelettes."

  Right now, the reviews for the free digest-edition are either highly favorable or are 1-star rants about feeling misled, maybe by the resulting word of mouth via forums and email -- but Amazon should change the title of the press release that's in their archives since it'll continue to be referenced (and is not exactly accurate), and we can see that many haven't gone on to read even the first paragraph of the release.

 The title of the the free digest, as advertised in the Kindle Magazine editions area, is "Fantasy & Science Fiction, Free Exclusive Digest" [Kindle edition], by Spilogale, Inc.  It would appear to be a way to interest people in getting the full or 'extended' product, which customer reviews indicate is happening.

Forbes: British pair with Kindle book land a 6-figure 4-book deal with HarperFiction
An eBook by British writers Louise Voss and Mark Edwards zoomed to the top of the Amazon UK Kindle bestseller's list (for all of June)  ("Catch Your Death" (UK, also at Amazon U.S.) and, as a result, they now have a six-figure four-book deal with HarperFiction.

  The London Evening Standard has a story on how they did this, which includes learning how to publish their own material, with a low price ($1.99 U.S.), and promoting the book by social networking.  Of course the book has to really interest a lot of people and generate word of mouth -- most e-books, including low-priced ones, languish under the giant growing mound of self-published Kindle books while authors try to self-promote on the forums and are often treated as spammers.

  It's an interesting article.  The London Evening Standard (or thisislondon.co.uk) article almost treats her as sole-author, though they mention she has a partner in writing the book.


Photo credit: blog.duncanaviation.aero


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Global Kindle Free 3G Web Browsing: Where? Some Answers. UK table of countries -UPDATE

THIS OLDER POST HAS BEEN UPDATED, although the new Reference Page (8/16/11) does not include the confusing history, while this one does.

See the current reference information at http://bit.ly/kwpweb.

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I wanted to write some thoughts on the Nookcolor yesterday but was detoured by an interesting Amazon UK Kindle message thread and an Amazon UK website listing of 61 59 countries in which UK residents can use their Kindle  (UK: K3)  3G experimental web browsers to access (for free) websites other than Wikipedia.  The listing was brought to our attention by G. Javor of France in that forum thread.

These happen to match, closely, the countries list I made, in June (and have updated), of:
  1.  countries for which the free 3G web browsing had seemed, from their country product-pages and Kindle-owner experience, to suddenly be officially enabled at the time of Kindle software update v2.5.x and also

  2.  the 9 countries one would expect the 3G web to be enabled but for which this feature was listed as "not available."  Those nine countries with no official 3G web browsing capability (outside of Wikipedia and the book store) were, and apparently still are

Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

The Table's information also matches reports from U.S. residents traveling abroad who find they can use their free 3G browsing in those listed countries and even in ones for which the feature has not been enabled officially.


UPDATE - The same type of unexpected access is described in the UK forum thread which lists countries that traveling UK Kindle owners actually were able to do 3G web browsing in and those reports also included countries NOT on the official list, such as France, Germany, Netherlands, etc. [End of Update]

Interestingly, a post on the 3rd page of an Amazon Kindle Forum message thread, from T'Mara in Austria, reports that although the 3G web browsing isn't enabled for residents of Austria, Austrians traveling to other countries CAN use the 3G experimental web browsing feature in countries where that is enabled (via Agreements with cellular network carriers).

CAUTION
That is good news but also reminds us that if the feature is used "too much" Amazon might not be able to continue offering it in some regions, so I use my WiFi capability whenever I can, instead, to minimize the cost to Amazon, in hopes of their retaining/continuing the free feature.

Here is that TABLE of 6159 countries at http://amzn.to/uk-3gwebwhere for which Amazon UK shows currently (10/28/10 10/5/12 [last re-checked on 6/13/11 10/5/12] - and all emphases mine) :

International Web Browsing

The experimental web browser is free to use over Kindle's 3G or Wi-Fi connections. If you are travelling outside the United Kingdom, you can access Wikipedia in over 100 countries anywhere you have a 3G connection (check the wireless coverage map here).  You can browse other websites globally via a Wi-Fi connection.  Access to other websites while travelling abroad is available via a 3G connection in the 61 59 countries listed below.
  [Actually, U.S. and UK residents travelling in countries where 3G web access isn't allowed for its own residents due to carrier-agreements, find that they can use the 3G web-browsing access in those countries as well.-- ab]

Albania	Argentina	Aruba	Australia
Bahamas	Barbados	Bermuda	Bolivia
Brazil	Bulgaria	Canada	Cayman Islands
Chile	Colombia	Croatia	Czech Republic
Dominican Republic	Ecuador	El Salvador	Grenada
Guam	Guatemala	Guyana	Haiti
Honduras	Hong Kong	Hungary	Iceland
India	Ireland	Jamaica	Japan
Kenya	Liechtenstein	Macedonia	Mexico
Montserrat	Nicaragua	Norway	Panama
Paraguay	Peru	Philippines	Poland
Puerto Rico	Romania	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	South Africa	Slovakia	Slovenia
Switzerland	Taiwan	Thailand	United States of America
Uruguay	US Virgin Islands	Venezuela

Access to the web browser within these countries may vary and is subject to change.

Kindle's new web browser is based on WebKit to provide a better web browsing experience. Now it's easier than ever to find the information you're looking for right from your Kindle. Click here to learn more about using Kindle's experimental web browser.

Two changes over the last year were 'Russia' and "Ukraine' no longer being on this table.

Because of several forum message threads at MobileRead and at Amazon forums, in which perplexed prospective international Kindle purchasers were at a loss to decide on whether to get 3G or not because they could not get information, from Amazon U.S. pages, on whether or not 3G web browsing was available in their countries, especially Germany and the Netherlands, I asked Amazon about it.

I received eventually, after much research and coordination on the part of Executive Customer Relations, a reply that I was given permission to quote which I finally placed on one of the forum threads with customers who had lost 3G web access as well as those who wondered if they should purchase the 3G in their countries.  I asked Amazon a follow-up question about this quote, as "3G" was not mentioned in the reply though my email was entirely about 3G web browsing availability but I never heard back.

' ======= From Executive Customer Relations =======
"To your web access questions; yes, Wikipedia is available in Germany as it is in all countries. Web Browser access to the internet works in Germany and in the Netherlands and access to the internet is the same for all device versions and generations."
======= '

The reply did differentiate between Wikipedia that IS available everywhere that Amazon wireless exists and the web browser availability.

  Within the context of my questions about 3G browsing-availability info that prospective purchasers felt they needed, the Amazon reply seems to say that 3G web browsing was available in those two countries -- however, the wording '3G' was not part of the quote itself so I hesitated to write it up without further clarification, which I didn't receive.

  STILL, the part about 'all device versions and generations' could be a big clue since no Kindle device before Kindle 3 ever had WiFi.  So, -IF- that's right, what is the answer to how one goes about having it re-enabled for Kindle owners residing in those two countries who lost it.

I asked for further clarification from Public Relations/Media and received two very positive replies saying that they should be able to get the answer within a day or so, but I never did receive any more replies although they'd been forthcoming in the past when they could not comment and just said they couldn't and even though I did write again to ask that they say something more, for prospective customers needing to make an informed decision, even if the answer was no.  Apparently, they just do not want to go on record with more than I received.

  Interestingly, Amazon UK is just more forthcoming, for some reason, actually listing, on their support pages, 61 59 countries with 3G web browsing officially available for their travelling Kindle owners.  There is no corresponding page on the U.S. Amazon pages.  The UK pages DON'T, however, list Germany and Netherlands, as you can see. So, that is all a mystery.  It could just mean that they WERE going to have that capability and something fell through -- if so, that may come someday, with the right Agreements between Amazon and countries without the capability for its residents currently.

WHY THE SILENCE FROM AMAZON US?
  As I said on the Kindle forums, 3G web browsing is probably a financial minefield for them, so it's important how something is phrased.  You can imagine several departments trying to agree on wording.

  Also, they likely have complex contracts being negotiated currently, and in some cases really may not be able to say anything without possibly affecting talks.

FINAL QUESTION
My final question for Amazon has been:
Who do customers go to when they cannot find out whether or not the 3G web browsing is *supposed* to be enabled/disabled for them and what to do if it shouldn't be disabled but is?

Those remain the unanswered questions.  I've asked the customers to, themselves, ask further up the chain when getting Customer Support replies that say only that 'some' countries don't have 3G web browser availability instead of responding to customer queries about their specific countries.

  I'm just reporting the situation based on several forum discussions I saw, but customers need to follow up, themselves, when they are the ones affected.

  What a prospective European customer can do about deciding on the 3G/WiFi model is to just accept, at this point, that the only certainty -- in the 9 restricted European countries -- is the free 3G access to the bookstore and its books and to Wikipedia, and hope for the best on anything else, and decide from that.

THE UPSIDE
Amazon, unlike Barnes and Noble, sells its books outside the U.S.  It also is the only e-reader maker with 3G web-browsing to external websites, as the other e-book vendors keep the 3G access (if their models have it at all) to their stores only and certainly don't offer free-3G Wikipedia, which Amazon offers for free 3G-access EVERYwhere in the world that they have any cellular wireless arrangements.
 This is a real boon for students of any age and IS an expense for Amazon.

With over a hundred countries in which Amazon offers free 3G wireless to download books to their Kindle and browse Wikipedia from their books, Amazon, for all my nagging of them, is way ahead of the field in this important area.

  That they offer free 3G web browsing in 61 59 countries now is actually hard to believe for some, seen on forums almost daily asking if the 3G web browsing access on the experimental web browser can really be free.  The answer's Yes, for now, in 61 59 areas of the world, but the feature has been "experimental" for 4 years and there are no promises that I've seen.  The fine print in their Agreements with us say they can charge fees at some point.  With a balky e-ink web browser (even if it's more capable than in earlier Kindle models), any charges would not be a winning proposition either.

  And, for the first time, in July-August 2010, their marketing ads stressed the "Free 3G" in the titles or headers, so they wouldn't be changing that very soon.

  On the general International product-marketing pages, they include in their listed features:
    New WebKit-Based Browser - Free 3G web browsing (experimental)
  Abandoning that too soon when it's featured in the marketing would not have been good business and even a year later would not be, because that advertising continues.

Time will tell, as they say.  It's a great experiment though.  As I've said in other threads, I often use mine for step-by-step directions when lost, as a passenger in a car.  The fact that you can access information for free almost wherever you are (bus, car, beach, park) is just a Huge benefit, in my opinion.

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US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow 3G web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
  Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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