Sync/Get new items question

[Steve Z]

I have a WiFi Kindle Touch. When I purchase a book on my PC, and then later, go to my Kindle to get that book, it doesn't always seem to work well.    What I mean is that I go to the menu & click on the Sync/Get New Items button & the screen will flash, but the new book isn't always there.   Sometimes I have to try a few times before the bool will appear.    Is there supposed to be a delay from when I turn on the WiFi before it can actually connect with Amazon?
Thanks

[Betsy the Quilter]

If you are leaving your WiFi off until just before you sync, yes there will be a delay.  It generally takes WiFi devices several seconds to locate the network and connect.  I've had it take as much as 20-30 seconds in some situations.

I leave my WiFi on all the time.


Betsy

[chocochibi]

I leave my wi-fi on all the time too, I have a touch 3G and sometimes, when I buy a book from the website, it's on as soon as I turn on the Touch, but more often, I have to "sync and Check" many times until it downloads. If I don't do the sync and check and just wait, it can be as long as 12 hours sometimes before it downloads. Oddly I've noticed If I'm waiting for something, if I connect to the kindle store then press the home button that will often trigger the download. I'm wondering if I have if not a lemon at least maybe a twist of lemon?

[Steve Z]

thanks....   this helps!!!!     I'm fairly new to the world of Kindle, and I thought that I read somewhere that leaving the WiFi on all the time wears the battery down.   I'm guessing that you don't find it a big deal, or you wouldn't be doing it.

I was telling a friend that if I could do it all over again, I'd get the 3G version.....   oh well...maybe my next Kindle   

Thanks again....Steve

[Ann in Arlington]

I leave my wi-fi on all the time too, I have a touch 3G and sometimes, when I buy a book from the website, it's on as soon as I turn on the Touch, but more often, I have to "sync and Check" many times until it downloads. If I don't do the sync and check and just wait, it can be as long as 12 hours sometimes before it downloads. Oddly I've noticed If I'm waiting for something, if I connect to the kindle store then press the home button that will often trigger the download. I'm wondering if I have if not a lemon at least maybe a twist of lemon?

There might be some confusion in terminology.  Kindles are wireless.  You can turn the wireless on or off.  Some kindles have only a WiFi wireless connection.  Some older ones only have a 3G wireless connection.  Some have both.  They're two different ways of accessing the 'ether world'.

If you have one that has both, you can tell which connection it's using as there'll be a little "wifi" or "3G" next to the wireless icon at the upper right when wireless is on.

I think with the WiFi it automatically checks much more often. . .after all, any data transfer isn't costing anyone anything extra.  But if it's connected via 3G -- which Amazon is paying for -- I don't think it will 'phone home' nearly as often.  Maybe no more often than once or twice a day.  And it makes sense that if you go to the Kindle store -- Amazon wants you to buy stuff! -- that triggers a download.

thanks....   this helps!!!!     I'm fairly new to the world of Kindle, and I thought that I read somewhere that leaving the WiFi on all the time wears the battery down.   I'm guessing that you don't find it a big deal, or you wouldn't be doing it.

FWIW, I don't think leaving WiFi on all the time is nearly the amount of drain as leaving 3G on. . .especially if the device is mostly in an area that has a decent wifi signal.  It's like it just stays connected.  With 3G it has to keep pinging to make sure the connection is still there. . .that can tend to drain the battery faster.  My assessment is that WiFi is the best for regular usage, but a 3G connection is nice if you really want to download something and aren't somewhere you can easily connect with the WiFi. . . . assuming, of course, that you have a decent 3G signal.

[chocochibi]

I have the 3G model of the touch, but I have wi-fi at home and at work, and that's usually what's running, it hardly ever flips over into 3G, so although I have 3G AND wi-fi, my touch is usually running on wi-fi, so it seems a sync and check should trigger a download and not have the need to sync and check multiple times. With my last kindle which was a keyboard 3G K3, anytime I bought anything from the website, it downloaded immediately when I turned on the device, without haveing to sync and check..... It all just seems odd to me, I'm just not sure whether I should call CS or not, since I always eventually end up getting the book.
Forgot to add, I do always have wireless turned on.

[Steve Z]

I can't connect to the WiFi at work....  big company, lots of rules!!  That's why I was thinking having the ability to connect via 3G would be nice.....   but I just make sure that I have a few books in the bullpen so when I finish one, I'm all set to go!!

I'm really glad that I found kindleboards.  You guys are great!

Steve

[history_lover]

Also keep in mind that Amazon does say "books in 60 seconds". So even with wifi already connected, you may have to give it a minute between buying the book and downloading it.

[Morf]

Bear in mind that Sync and Check only tells your Kindle to go and look for a new book.

Once it's looked, it has to download it, and the download itself may take some time, depending upon the size of the book, the signal strength on your WiFi and the load on Amazons servers.

There is another menu item, just below "Sync and Check", which is "View Downloading Items". This is normally greyed out, but if you've done a Sync and Check, and it's found a new book and is downloading it, this menu item becomes active and when you select it you see a progress screen showing the download happening.

In bad network conditions (No wifi and poor phone signal so GPRS only) I've seen a book take several minutes to download.

[chocochibi]

Thing is with mine though, is that wi-fi can be on with a strong signal and when I sync and check it acts like there's nothing there to download, it will show as a pending delivery on the MYK page and if I then send it to my KT from there it will download next time I turn on the KT usually. It just seem odd that if I don't force the download that way and just wait it can take up to 12 hours before it even begins to download. With my K3 anytime I bought anything from the Amazon website it would download immediately when I turned on the K3. I'm just wondering if there's anything wrong with the wireless adapter in my K Touch, and if I need to call Amazon. I do always get my books eventually, and it doesn't happen every time I buy something. Sometimes it does download as soon as I turn the touch on, it seems to be random whether it does or not.