mev

GSM is one of the major cell phone standards, another is CDMA.

In the US, major carriers that use GSM include T-Mobile and AT&T. Carriers that use CDMA include Sprint and Verizon. In the US, the choice of standard isn't quite as important because historically phones have been "locked" to a particular carrier - and you get charged for your phone together with your service. For bike tourists it also often matters where network coverage is found.

In the rest of the world, two significant differences include:
1) GSM is by far the dominant protocol and has the best coverage.
2) Phone service is usually not tied to a specific phone. Instead, you buy the phone separately and then get SIM cards for either a service contract (post-pay) or a pay-as-you-go service (pre-pay).

To some extent this model has then also come back to the US with increased adoption of "unlocked" phones, namely ones where you can buy a SIM card separately from buying a phone. I've seen mostly pre-pay, though believe post-pay also exists. These SIM card mechanisms can be built for either CDMA or GSM networks.

With that background, what has Amazon done with the Kindle paperwhite and similar series?
(1) They have built in support for the GSM standard into devices
(2) They have negotiated with carriers worldwide that Amazon has made one-time payments system-wide rather than requiring individual users of these devices to buy some sort of service.
In effect what Amazon has done is take a US model (buy phone service together with a device), and brought it to a world-wide audience.

The net effect is when you take your Kindle traveling in US or elsewhere, typically if there is phone service (in the US T-Mobile or AT&T - in rest of the world any phone service since they are mostly GSM), you can download and buy new books. Amazon does put some restrictions on that service - the biggest ones I've noticed is you can only use the "email to my device" option via wifi - and you can't use their (primitive) web browser other than wifi.

I have used this in both Africa and South America while camping in my tent. I finished a book and browsed, bought and downloaded a new one. Obviously if there isn't phone service then this doesn't work. However, also surprising how many of these developing regions have cell towers, in effect having skipped a large land-line network in favor of jumping directly to cell.

indyfabz

^^^Thanks^^^ In the situation I described, I believe there was cell service at the restaurant, so I don't know if I the book came to me "over the phone" of WiFi. I am just happy it worked somehow.

timdow

I read all the time while on tour, and use only a smartphone. Works well enough. My trips so far have had train travel involved, and I really like having something to do when on public transportation.

BTW: Google Play has an impressive collection of free books. I try to download via WiFi before leaving, but they download OK without WiFi.

Tourist in MSN

Regarding GSM, there are different standards for the radio frequencies for different parts of the world.
https://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html

About 7 years ago I bought an unlocked GSM phone specifically for European frequencies, it was 2G and 3G, it only had some of the USA frequencies so it did not work so well here in USA. So I just kept using my flip phone here in USA.

You can often tell the frequencies of the phone in the manufacturer literature from when you bought it.

Tourist in MSN

A bit off topic, but it can be useful to have an account with a voice over internet (VOIP) provider on a phone or tablet. On my Pacific Coast trip we had to made a reservation for lodging, I did not have Sprint coverage and my touring partner did not have AT&T coverage. But the restaurant had wifi so I could make a call on my phone using wifi and VOIP. Another example, I was in Europe and one of my credit cards stopped working, I called the credit card company using VOIP from the hostel I was staying at.

djb

thanks mev for that explanation. Last summer while in France I wanted to buy a French sim card for my unlocked phone, but unlike in Mexico where it worked fine and was easy to make work, no matter what the french technician in the store did, including calling my provider in Canada, it never worked, and it must hve been that my phone was set up for one of those two, and didnt match up, whereas in Mexico it did.

philip041

The vague plan is to cycle from Austria to Kyrgyzstan (would start in London but I don't think I'll have time to make it to Bishkek - rough plan is head south through the Balkans, have a cocktail on a beach in Greece. island hop to Turkey, up the coast, boat across the Black Sea, across Georgia and Azerbiajan, boat across the Caspian and then follow the road to Bishkek via the Pamir highway. 5-6 months is my time budget so am sacrificing Western Europe as I live in London and can see it any time really. French is entirely unconnected - I'm just desparate to have a second language!

Tourist in MSN

When I wrote my post above on my 7 inch tablet that I used to carry while bike touring, I was thinking entertainment and just bike touring since that is what the opening topic was.

But for reading material I have often carried a very thin but quite in depth text on weather when I go canoeing or kayaking. There have been several days were I was stuck on shore due to high winds and wanted something to read. And weather is a topic that I am always interested in learning more about.

Is there a topic that you have an interest in studying in more detail, and if so is there a small volume and light weight way to do it like a small thin book?

djb

cool.
I cant recall if you've mentioned before, but what touring experience do you have?
What bike and setup are you going to use? I highly recommend a very tough bike, and also doing as much hands on "taking apart and learning as much as you can to do stuff on your own" re repairs and more importantly, keeping your bike and drivetrain in good shape, before the trip.
I've used a very tough bike for my Latin America trips, and cannot emphasize enough the importance of a very solid bike and pannier and rack system for a trip you want to undertake.
I could go on and on about the importance of low gearing, tire choice and all that stuff, but will wait for if you answer and if you want to go in this direction of discussion at all.

also, do you know of the website, Crazy guy on a bike? CGOAB, easy to find.
There will be lots of trip journals of the areas you are thinking of, with lots of very useful information.
My very strong opinion on trips like these is to get as much real and somewhat recent info from actual cycle tourers on the areas you want to go through, to plan properly and be aware of the realiities of a given country/area/whatever.

proper and realistic planning is key to avoiding potential crappy and dangerous situations, and you can gain a huge amount of insight before your trip from others travels through the areas.