In my article Amazon Kindle 3G-The Perfect Travel Companion, I talked about how useful I found my 3G Kindle while travelling overseas.  One of the comments left on that article pointed to a blog that said that Vietnam was one of the only places that the author couldn’t get any 3G signal.  This confused the heck out of me, as I had full coverage (and also full web access) from North to South for the 3 weeks I was over there. What was going on?

US Kindle 3 3G Coverage

I went to Amazon.com to look at the 3G coverage map. Huh? No 3G coverage in Vietnam? Had I slurped back too much Pho, or had the sun addled my brain, or was it just like an episode of Dallas and it was all a dream?

Then I remembered there’s actually two versions of the 3G Kindle , a US one that is only available in the US and uses an ATT sim card and also an International model that uses a Vodafone sim card.  Now, Australia being NOT being part of the US meant I had an international model. So I went to Amazon.co.uk and check the Vodaphone 3G coverage map there.

Intl Kindle 3 3G Coverage

So you can see while the US (ATT) Kindle 3 offers ZERO 3G coverage in Vietnam, the International version (Voda) gives almost full 3G coverage. The same applies for Cambodia.

US Kindle 3 3G Coverage

Intl Kindle 3 3G Coverage

Tasmania US v Intl 3G Coverage

For interest sake I then had a look at Australian coverage.  I live in Tasmania, that little island just underneath Victoria, but couldn’t get my screenshot to include in the map above, so I added separately. (We hate being left off the map of Australia ).  You can see  that there’s dramatically different coverage between the International and the US Kindle 3 3G . Looking at the maps above, in reality I’d be much better off with a US Kindle 3 3G than the International model. Vodafone has notoriously bad coverage in Australia and I can tell from the ATT coverage that they’re partnering on the Telstra 3G network. It’s a bit ironic that a US Kindle would give me better coverage than an “International” version.  But of course if I had a US model, I’d have NO coverage while in Vietnam.

A quick comparison of the maps shows some obvious areas where coverage is different, Morocco (I), Namibia(I), Ghana(I), Belarus(I), Malawi(I),Ecuador(U), Tanzania(U) and Bolivia(U) amongst others, and the degree of difference in coverage varies.

I’m guessing that this “anomoly”  has to do with the partners that the respective Telcos have in the different countries. The long and short, if you’re intending to use your Kindle while travelling, it’s worth checking out if the US or International will give you the best coverage in the countries that you’re going to visit. Be aware though that it’s not possible to get a US Kindle 3G directly from Amazon internationally and conversely an International Kindle 3G in the US, but there are ways of doing it.

Happy travelling

Filed in categories: Articles, eBook Readers and Gear, Travel Gear

Tagged: 3G, Kindle, Travel gear

Amazon Kindle 3 3G International Coverage – US vs International model originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 3, 2012 at 11:00 am.

The first citywide commercial mobile network was launched in Japan in 1979 by mobile carrier NTT.  In the 1980s, the 1G generation cellular network had been automated and started to get into mainstream commercialization.  Most of you remember them being big and bulky like holding a brick.  Back then network coverage was small and the phones didn’t have any fancy functions like a camera or music player.  Since then mobile technology has greatly improved with the introduction of the GSM network (digital 2G) in 1991,  followed by the first data service SMS text messaging in 1993.  In 2001, Japan launched the first 3G network with high speed data services.

We all know that mobile technology here in the United States has been a few steps behind the technological advances in Asia and Europe.  I remember back in 2001 I was still using a basic Nokia phone on the GSM 2G network while my cousins were using 3G to surf the web on their mobile phones in Hong Kong.  I remember my Nokia had one of those flashing charm straps while my cousins had the more useful LED flash for their 2 megapixel camera phone.

Flash forward to 2005 . . . . I’m in Hong Kong on vacation and went to watch a movie with my cousins.  In the opening commercials I saw my first glimpse of 3G video calling technology.  Leon Lai, a famous Hong Kong actor and singer, plays the main role and Kate Tsui, Miss Hong Kong 2004, plays the female role.  It was a touching story about how a stern father doesn’t want his defiant son to pursue his dreams of working as a fisherman at sea.  After awhile at sea, the son receives a video call from his sister saying that the father has gone into the hospital.  At this point I was very amazed at the mobile advancement  in Hong Kong but what happened next really surprised me. . . Another video screen popped up on the phone with the mother telling the son to come back home. . . and then . . . a forth screen popped up with the doctor saying the father had to go into surgery.  At that point my jaw dropped with amazement.  It was more than I expected from the 3G technology in Hong Kong.

In 2005 Asia and Europe were already far ahead of the United States in mobile network technology.  Back in 2005 we were still reading about the “future” of 3G here in the United States.  Now in 2009, Japan and Hong Kong both have a rock solid 3G network with promise of 4G within 2 years.  Their networks are  streamlined into almost everything with close to 100% coverage both above ground and under in the subway.  And yes, they have no lag on a 4-way video conferencing call in an underground moving train.  They can even watch live over-the-air digital tv on their mobile phones.

So instead of people complaining about SlingPlayer not working over 3G on the iPhone, we should be asking for 4-way video conferencing, live digital tv, reception in the subway, etc.  Hmmm. . . makes me wonder if my first post on The-Gadgeteer is about a new future technology or one that’s been around for over 4 years?  *wink*

Filed in categories: Wireless

Tagged: 3G, Video

3G Video Calling Technology originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 25, 2009 at 10:39 am.