I would like to know if anyone has any experience with using the Kindle II in Thailand, and if they are able to download books directly via wireless.

 

I have reviewed the other threads on kindle here on the board, but am interested in knowing if the wireless downloads work in Thailand. Amazon shows wireless service throughout Thailand. Looks like a great way to get books in Thailand that are up to date.

I love the Kindle. The wireless does NOT work in Thailand. However, you buy your book at Amazon.com and then you log into your account and transfer it to your Kindle via USB. Wireless is not needed outside of USA. It takes 20 seconds.

 

I also use the Kindle for Mac software.

The wireless does NOT work in Thailand.

 

Yes it does. A friend of mine in Chiangmai got the Kindle (big one) in February and he can download books rather quickly. In fact, we were up in the middle of nowhere (out in the country near Fang which isn't too far from the Burmese border) and he had no problem downloading a book from there (and he said it was rather fast although I don't know what "fast" meant).

 

The Kindle site shows that about 95% of Thailand is covered by the lower speed wireless which, I think (I'm guessing here as I don't know for sure), comes over the digital telephone waves versus via a satellite. There is a faster 3G wireless in other parts of the world (much of the US, most of Korea, etc.) but I do note that my Chiangmai friend said he was more than satisfied with the download speed he got using the slower wireless format in Thailand.

 

I remember he told me that he got the entire works of Charles Dickens for $5.99 which I thought was rather cheap.

 

Before I return to LOS in September, I definitely am going to buy a reader and likely the big Kindle. Expensive (just under $500.00) but, given my reading habits (a fair amount when I'm in Thailand), it seems like a good deal for me.

Hope/think you are right Bob. Only reason for me to buy Kindle is read NYTimes in Thailand without doing any downloading from internet.

What I posted was accurate. Before we went to Fang one weekend, I watched him download some stuff a couple of other times (he was playing with it and I was interested in how it worked). Once, when we were in a coffee shop in Kad Suan Gaew (the northern mall), I asked him if he could get newspapers too, especially the New York Times. He proceeded in about a minute to download that in a minute or less (I think he said it was a free two-week deal or something like that).

 

He's also told me that he understands that he could get a wireless router for his computer and he thought the Kindle would recognize that signal too and download that way. But he hasn't done that as yet and, given he's happy with the wireless download speed he already has, said he wasn't going to bother with that.