Board logo

hassle free broadband without pc's etc
jabbahutt - 18/6/12 at 08:18 AM

Morning all

I.T not my strongest point so after some assistance. My Dad bless him is after a kindle or similar for mainly reference books. He has zero I.T and won't go near a computer. So what I'm after is the easiest hassle free way for him to have a broadband connection for when he wants to browse for books but no PC's or anything to worry about.

So is it possible and what is the best easiest way to sort it out. I understand you can get a kindle with 3G but don't know how the fees work to enable you to use it.

Any help, pointers etc greatly appreciated.

Thanks all
Nigel

owelly - 18/6/12 at 08:56 AM

A guy I work with bought a (generic) tablet. It cost about £175 and came with a but of free interweb through Tmobile. Once that was gone, he was using free wifi outside the local pub and Macdonalds. His neighbour has just given him his password to use his wifi as he only uses it for browsing books.
Until he bought the tablet, he'd never touched a puter and has the IT skills of Fred Flintstone.

splitrivet - 18/6/12 at 08:57 AM

The 3g kindles are completely free for downloading books or browsing the web via 3g anywhere in the world, I use one for accessing the net while in France and dont pay a penny. Well worth the extra money for this model.
Cheers,
Bob

mangogrooveworkshop - 18/6/12 at 08:59 AM

Have you got BT ? If so see if theres a FON point nearby and get a galaxy tablet
My mothers got one and she is a net junkie

You could get him on that way even if you buy service off them

[Edited on 18-6-12 by mangogrooveworkshop]

jabbahutt - 18/6/12 at 09:02 AM

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

The 3G thing is ideal. I must admit to not using a mobile either!!! I thought the 3G malarky would invole contracts, sim cards or such like. Now I know it works straight out of the box it's the perfect solution.

Cheers all, just made my Dad a very happy camper.

mangogrooveworkshop - 18/6/12 at 09:06 AM

Gifgaff do sims for data really cheap avoid three network
As it's congested and slow as a result.

Alan M - 18/6/12 at 09:24 AM

quote:
Originally posted by splitrivet
The 3g kindles are completely free for downloading books or browsing the web via 3g anywhere in the world, I use one for accessing the net while in France and dont pay a penny. Well worth the extra money for this model.
Cheers,
Bob


I use a 3g as well. Works well at home or abroad

jabbahutt - 18/6/12 at 09:30 AM

thanks all, as there are a couple of you who already have kindles, I have a question for you. My Dad mainly likes reference books rather than fiction. Looking at the store there doesn't seem to be a lot in the way of general reference such as Encylopedia, dictionaries, atlas and the like.

Am I looking in the wrong place? it all seems very specialised rather than what I call general knowledge.

UncleFista - 18/6/12 at 09:37 AM

It's not advertised, but every kindle has it's own free email address.
I download all my books to my PC (usually from torrent sites) then email them to my kindle for free.

If you searched for books for your dad, you could do the same, they just magically appear on the kindle

Also, if you download in PDF format, just use the word "convert" in the email title and they'll be automatically converted to ebook format.



[Edited on 18/6/12 by UncleFista]

jabbahutt - 18/6/12 at 09:38 AM

I'll have a look, many thanks for the information.

britishtrident - 18/6/12 at 01:10 PM

You do realise once he masters the Kindle the genie is out of the bottle and he will turn into a silver surfer.

jabbahutt - 18/6/12 at 01:26 PM

I can't see him becoming a net guru anytime soon. I gave him an old computer once and set it up for him, went round to visit and it was completely dismantled and in a cupboard. When I asked him why he said that people could access it and get all his info even when it wasn't turned on if it was connected to a phone line.

To an I.T idiot like myself that could be plausible except, wait for it, he'd never put any info into the computer for anyone to steal in the first place.

MikeRJ - 18/6/12 at 02:55 PM

quote:
Originally posted by jabbahutt
Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

The 3G thing is ideal. I must admit to not using a mobile either!!! I thought the 3G malarky would invole contracts, sim cards or such like. Now I know it works straight out of the box it's the perfect solution.

Cheers all, just made my Dad a very happy camper.


Not quite "out of the box" - you have to set up an Amazon account and link a credit/debit card to the account in order to buy books. This will need to be done on a PC I think.

The Kindle has a built in web browser which is very useful for checking on-line email or news web sites etc. but is rather limited in many respects (no flash etc.). Note that only the keyboard 3G version can be used for surfing using 3G - the newer touch screen version does not have this ability, though you can still buy books using the 3G anywhere in the world.

jabbahutt - 18/6/12 at 03:00 PM

thanks for the warning. I should be able to sort out the account side of things (if not I'll ask the wife for assistance) I know you can get people kindle vouchers, can these be used direct from the kindle?

Just thought if I remove the need for any credit/debit card registering and I buy him electronic vouchers he won't hide the kindle in the cupboard with the PC incase it sell all his info to the nearest orgainisedcrime outfit

Thanks again for everyones input and info I've learned a lot and avoided some pitfalls already.