Your old Kindle is probably about to lose its ability to connect to the internet

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Amazon first introduced the Kindle nearly 15 years ago. Now, some of those older Kindle devices are about to lose their internet capabilities. As mobile networks begin to cut out older 2G and 3G networks, these older devices will lose the ability to connect to the internet by themselves.

In an email to customers, Amazon confirmed that 3G Kindle models will begin to lose the ability starting in December, as mobile network operators begin to transition older 2G and 3G networks into 4G and 5G. Newer products that have 4G support won’t be affected by this, but many devices will.

Many of the Kindle devices out today have both 3G and WiFi support. This includes the Kindle Touch (4th generation), Paperwhite (4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th generation), Voyage (7th generation), and Oasis (8th generation) devices.

READ MORE: Amazon Kindles will finally support the most popular ebook format

While these devices will soon lose the ability to connect to a 3G network, their WiFi capabilities will remain intact, meaning that you can at least connect the devices to any familiar WiFi network for your internet needs.

For a couple of older Kindle models, this change will make things a little more complicated. Early devices like the original Kindle (1st and 2nd generation) and Kindle DX (2nd generation) relied solely on a 2G or 3G network connection to use the internet. For those devices, this change will mean that they can no longer connect to the internet in any way.

This will obviously render these older devices pretty obsolete. Fortunately, Amazon is offering a special promotion for users affected by this change.

If you have one of these older devices, you can use the code ‘NEWKINDLE50‘ when purchasing a new Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Oasis to get a $50 credit. This is a pretty good deal, considering Amazon isn’t even the one to blame for the abandonment of these mobile networks.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Get drunk and throw your new Kindle Paperwhite in the pool, it’s waterproof so f*ck it
• Lenovo is working on some new Android tablets that can also be used as second monitors
• This $799 cooking system comes with a decked out tablet and does the cooking for you
• Is Amazon going to start accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment?

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.