Got my Kindle Fire a few days ago, eagerly anticipating a morning of shiny new object joy followed by a nice Thanksgiving dinner. No joy. My Kindle Fire will not connect to WiFi and it can’t do much of anything without it.
This is rapidly becoming a known problem. The Amazon support boards are filled with people reporting the issue and Techcrunch also ran an article.
Lots of placebos are being discussed on the support boards and I tried all of them with no success. They range from the usual Customer Service we-don’t-know-what’s-really-going-on-but-we-need-to-get-you-off-the-phone answers like reboot, retype your password, yada, yada, to voodoo around whether it supports all the different WiFi protocols (some say “B” is the culprit and if you set the router to G or N you’re fine) and so on and so forth. There is an update, 6.1, that some claims fixes it. I have to go scare up the right serial cable to try that, but many report it didn’t help so I haven’t been in a big hurry.
One comment on the Tech Support board tells the story:
“Amazon, you know you have a problem, and you know you’re not going to announce it until after Black Friday’s sales have ended, but you had sure better have an easy fix for it or you’ll be facing millions of returns.”
I attempted to get Tech Support via email, but their response was simply a note that said sorry, can’t help unless you call in. Not what you’d expect to hear from the would-be premier Cloud company Amazon!
I would’ve expected that with as many as are reporting the trouble, they would have a coordinated response to keep the situation under control and hopefully get it fixed.
BTW, if you choose to ignore the initial setup and just dive in, the overall UI is pretty confusing. It keeps asking to connect on most anything you do, you click the connect, and nothing happens. There’s no feedback about whether it connected or not, but in my case it did not.
The device looks like a nice form factor, and I wanted some kind of Android device in the house amid our sea of iOS devices. So far, not impressed. I will eventually make that support call, probably tomorrow so as not to spoil Thanksgiving Day, but unless it is actually helpful, I’ll be returning the Kindle.
(Cross-posted @ SmoothSpan Blog)
My wife and I love our new Kindle Fire. It’s lightweight, easy to use and has a great interface. The first thing I recommend anyone with a new Kindle do is install the nook app. We got our instructions from http://www.kindlemad.com through google.
It basically unlocks all the Android marketplace apps and unlocks the device. I am one very happy Kindle owner!
Same story here. I got the Kindle on the release date, and I couldn’t be happier. I use it at home on wifi and on airplane’s GoGoInternet wifi and couldn’t be happier. It does everything they described it would do.
Good news is I now have mine working too. Took a new router to do it, Amazon Tech Support couldn’t really help. No idea why the newer router works and the old one didn’t, but the old one was many years old. I’ll be writing more about the Kindle Fire in a future post. I like it a lot for certain things, but I like my iPad more for the majority of things I use a tablet for.
Bob, what type of router did you purchase? I have an old microsoft 4-port wired/wireless router and my wife kindle will not connect to it. My Ipad and dell laptop have no problems with connectivity.
I have the new kindle fire, but not sure where to get wif can any one help me. thank you
I just got a kindle fire.I have it registered & tried connecting to a network but I most be doing something wrong.I’m new to these so not sure I even know what I’m doing HELP
The router I puchased that worked with my Kindle Fire is a Linksys E2500.
You spend $200 on a kindle fire plus more if you get a case or any other accessories and then you go out and pay for a new router? I got one word for you if you do that….sucker. My wife’s is not able to connect as well and guess what, it’s being sent back. Why should I buy a new router when other devices including other tablets can already connect? This is a big ball drop by Amazon and as far as I am concerned, they can keep this piece of crap and our money will be better well spent elsewhere.
Rod, I don’t necessarily disagree about the router. I did so because I wanted to be able to test software on the Kindle. I use an iPad myself most of the time and if I just wanted a pad for personal use I’d have returned the Kindle.
Cheers,
BW
To access WiFi on kindle fire: Tap the sprocket in the right corner next to the wifi signal and battery. A screen opens. Then tap Wi-Fi. You should then see a list of available wi-fi. Tap on any one that is not locked, Tap connect. Your kindle fire will attempt to connect. Mine normally connect every time. When your kindle fire is connected, it will read as such “connected’. You can also save these wi-fi hotspots.
Hope this helps
I received a kindle from a friend…I immediately took the is that they had off and made it a pure Android tablet with the apps that I want and I love it now… my buddy now wants me to root his and put android ics on his
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