My Kindle's Broked!

Dodge got me a Kindle for Christmas this year and yes I've already opened it. To be fair, he opened his first (I had bought him one, too). I only wanted mine after seeing him use his for a few days. I was trying to hold out for Christmas!

It's a really neat book reader. I purchased some books and can read any of them on the go without having to haul novels around with me. It's pretty spiffy!

The problem is that ever since registering it on Amazon, it has not connected back to Whispernet, the wireless connection through Sprint the device has. That means I can't browse the Amazon store or wirelessly purchase any other books with the device. I can buy ebooks online and transfer them to the kindle with a USB cable so I'm not completely unable to get books. However, part of the coolness of the book is being able to browse and get books on the fly without your computer.

I spent some time on the phone this morning with Amazon Kindle Support. The good news is that the guy on the phone really didn't know what to do with me. Makes it feel like this isn't a wide spread problem with the device. He had me try resetting it and verifying the registration of the device. He checked the signal for the Whispernet service in both my home and work locations and says that shouldn't be any problem. He tried for me to get the diagnostics from the kindle but the command he gave me brought up a blank page.

So we're going to have to exchange my kindle for a new one because the wireless device in this one is just plain broke. The bad news is that Amazon is completely sold out of kindles. He said they show the next shipment to arrive in March. March! Gah!

Since I can use the kindle still to read my books he said to just keep it for now and he'll hold off sending me the shipping lables until they have some in stock to swap with me. That way I can continue to use my kindle instead of just watching Dodge use his for 3 months.