[OPLINTECH] Amazon Kindle and WiFi

Thu Oct 13 10:27:27 EDT 2011

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the tips, I will keep that in mind next time I get to try to
connect one. It perhaps could have been like you said about not getting the
policy page and nothing getting out.

Thanks again for the info

Ron

Ron Woods

Computer Services Manager

St. Clairsville Public Library

740-695-2062

http://www.stclibrary.org

woodsro at oplin.org

From: Bob Neeper [mailto:neeperro at oplin.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 1:25 PM
To: Ron Woods
Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] Amazon Kindle and WiFi

Hi Ron,

We use Linksys WRT54G and WAP55AG through ZoneCD (policy acceptance page),
so our setup is close to yours.

Chauncey (director) setup a Kindle a few days ago and said it was a snap.

However, he couldn't get a Pandigital to work.
I suspect they didn't accept the ZoneCD policy in a browser first.

ZoneCD provides the IP right away, but if you don't accept the policy
sometimes things may hang.
Everything looks connected but you can't get out or even get the policy page
again.
But usually a PC reboot and possibly ZoneCD too will fix the problem.

Bob

R. W. (Bob) Neeper
Community Library
44 Burrer Dr.
Sunbury, Oh 43074
Tel:  (740)-965-3901

On 10/12/2011 11:39 AM, Ron Woods wrote: 

Hi everyone!

I had a patron come in last week with a Kindle, and for the life of me I
could get no WiFi connection to it at all. First however I will explain a
little bit more in detail.

1.       I am running dhcpd which is pretty much the defacto standard for
DHCP servers from ISC(Internet Standards Consortium)

2.       I have a intercept page on my WiFi that has users agree to terms of
service before being allowed to access the internet (I tried exempting the
Kindle from it via both MAC Address and Static IP)

3.       I am also running a Linksys Access Point in mixed B/G mode and my
server serves dhcp via the dhcpd service. (I also updated the firmware on
the access point which is dated less then a year old)

4.       The only thing I didn't get to try was manually assigning a static
IP and DNS server config to the Kindle itself. (patron had to leave)

However, here is the part that is a bit perplexing. The Kindle says it can't
connect to my WiFi and refuses to open anything, however the DHCP lease log
in my server says that the Kindle did connect and that the kindle had an ip
assigned to it, So according to it, its connected and has an active leased
IP. However the Kindle says its not.

Now I ran across a few articles where people have mentioned that the Kindle
has problems and will infact refuse dhcp offers for no reason.but it doesn't
always do it, and it varies depending on the router, etc.

Now we have a Nook here that connects no problem. I have an Android Phone
that will connect to WiFi no problem, I have had no issues with an Ipod
Touch, even a lady that comes in with a Coby Reader has no issues connecting
whatsoever. I see a good many IPhones, various Android, IPods, even HP
Tablets that connect no problem.but the Kindle seems to do something
different and "non-standard"  

Has anyone else seen something similar to this? Was there any specific
changes you had to make for just the kindle? It seems every other device has
no problems connecting, and I don't want to break existing functionality for
other devices just to accommodate one. I do plan on upgrading my version of
dhcpd that runs on on my appliance in the coming weeks, but I see nothing in
the changelogs that suggests its going to fix this particular issue.

I placed some links to some reading below, but it seems many folks have said
they had to change routers to get the Kindle working because it just simply
didn't like that brand of router or whatever and refused to connect to it. I
found it puzzling that it seems the Kindle was refusing to accept dhcp
offers.has anyone else seen anything like this? My next attempt will be to
try assigning static IP and DNS to it and see if that solves it

http://info.iet.unipi.it/~luigi/kindle/index.php#standalone-kindle-terminal
<http://info.iet.unipi.it/%7Eluigi/kindle/index.php#standalone-kindle-termin
al> 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg2?_encoding=UTF8
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg2?_encoding=UTF8&cdForu
m=Fx3IRFCNF3E5K2W&cdPage=2&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx3CNI8H74M0HU>
&cdForum=Fx3IRFCNF3E5K2W&cdPage=2&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx3CNI8H74M0HU

thanks for any advice or suggestions you kind folks can give me.

Sincerely

Ron Woods

Computer Services Manager

St. Clairsville Public Library

740-695-2062

http://www.stclibrary.org

woodsro at oplin.org

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