Free Wireless on Kindle?

[RadioRaiders]

Reading the info about the new Kindle, it says:

No Monthly Wireless Bills

No monthly wireless bills or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle's wireless connectivity so you won't see a monthly wireless bill. There is no wireless setup–you are ready to shop, purchase, an
d read right out of the box. See Wireless Terms and Conditions.

Amazon.com: Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, U.S. & International Wireless, Latest Generation): Kindle Store

...this refers to wifi and cellular networks:

Connectivity: HSDPA modem (3G) with a fallback to EDGE/GPRS; utilizes Amazon Whispernet to provide wireless coverage via AT&T's 3G high-speed data network in the U.S. and partner networks outside of the U.S. See Wireless Terms and Conditions.

...so does that mean you get a AT&T SIM card included in the Kindle? It's post-paid, pre-paid? What the h*ll is "Amazon's Whispernet"?

...and great, as if the iPhone useres aren't complaining enough about AT&T, now they can add Kindle users to the list ...looks like AT&T is glutton for punishment

[dmapr]

I was wondering about that myself. Another wireless reader to utilize AT&T 3G services is due out later this year (Sony Reader Daily Edition) and while I have no data of whether there's a built-in SIM or what it's pretty clear that the only wireless access will be to the Sony ebook store. "Amazon Whispernet" seems to be the term they use to refer to the cell-based connectivity, maybe it's their back-bone? The original Kindle uses Sprint as the transport and is also talking about the Whispernet. Another interesting newcomer will be iRex DR800SG, which has teamed with VZW for wireless access.

[RadioRaiders]

Originally Posted by dmapr

"Amazon Whispernet" seems to be the term they use to refer to the cell-based connectivity, maybe it's their back-bone? The original Kindle uses Sprint as the transport and is also talking about the Whispernet.

I highly doubt Amazon would have any phsyical hardware in AT&T's or Sprint's Radio Access Network (and for sure not in foreign countries) , however yea for sure they must have some servers to host their software and maybe some "backbone" connections between the servers.

It would be interesting to see a diagram of how the "Whispernet" works and what it does exactly. And why it's not just a simple FTP or web based download. It would be fairly easy for the cellular operator to say "Ok, all the traffic to/from Amazon's Kindle servers (IP address) won't get billed to the end user, but rather directly to Amazon"

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by RadioRaiders

I highly doubt Amazon would have any phsyical hardware in AT&T's or Sprint's Radio Access Network (and for sure not in foreign countries) , however yea for sure they must have some servers to host their software and maybe some "backbone" connections between the servers.

It would be interesting to see a diagram of how the "Whispernet" works and what it does exactly. And why it's not just a simple FTP or web based download. It would be fairly easy for the cellular operator to say "Ok, all the traffic to/from Amazon's Kindle servers (IP address) won't get billed to the end user, but rather directly to Amazon"

I'm guessing of course, but it could be some proprietary equivalent of SSL/TLS layer to prevent hacking? I agree it's not likely that Amazon has placed their hardware in the cellular loop, but Whispernet doesn't sound much like a hardware term to me. I was originally thinking service, but now I see could be protocol as well.

[RadioRaiders]

Seems not much info about "Whispernet" on Google. The best I could find was a blog that described "Whispernet" basically as Amazon's MVNO using Sprint's (and now AT&T's) networks, which is similar to our speculations as well...

Whispernet

Whispernet is Amazon’s data MVNO with Sprint. As far as we can make out, Sprint is offering raw dumb pipes to Amazon and nothing else.The only lock-in to the Sprint network is probably contractual. We would expect that Amazon is paying is some sort of sliding scale charge according to the amount of data downloaded.

The modem within the Kindle is an AnyData DTEV-DUAL based upon the Qualcomm MSM6500 chipset. This operates both at 800MHz and 1900MHz and EVDO speeds of up to 2.4Mbps. The standard modem software includes 2-way SMS, a TCP/IP stack and support for BREW.

The system integration role developing the various software applications was performed by Qualcomm and includes several innovations including overall network management, the security model, remote device management and content delivery functions. As far as the consumer is concerned everyone is completely controlled by the Amazon e-commerce platform.

There appears nothing in the specification which means that the Kindle would not work on any CDMA network without a little system integration work. The Euro WCDMA networks are a completely different matter and would require a new modem and low level system integration work.

We suspect that once the Whispernet model is proven then all the functions will be abstracted and added to Amazon Web Services available to all developers. In other words, Whispernet will become a direct competitor to a lot of Operators own embryonic platform services. Whispernet could become a very disruptive force not only in consumer space, but also in the M2M and specialised business wireless networking space.

Even more interesting is comparing the very different approaches taken by Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google in getting involved in the wireless game. But this requires a lot more attention for a later date.

Telco 2.0: Amazon Kindle: A Wireless Trojan Horse

[dmapr]

Similar, but a lot more detailed and (I'd guess) accurate Thanks for digging it up!