If you’re an proprietor of an older Kindle e-reader, your gadget might quickly lose assist for an necessary characteristic: web entry.

In advance of this variation, Amazon has begun sending emails out to older Kindle homeowners informing them about the situation. The issue is that because a number of wireless carriers are beginning to shut down and dismantle their older 2G and 3G networks in order to focus more on expanding their 4G and 5G coverage, a number of Kindles will no longer be able to connect to the internet later this year.

The devices most affected by this change are first and second-generation Kindles and the second-gen Kindle DX, as they were sold without built-in support for wifi connectivity, which means they are entirely reliant on cellular service in order to download new books and content. And while some carriers like Verizon have temporarily postponed the shutdown of its 3G service, when those older Kindles do finally lose service—which could start happening as soon as the end of the year—users will no longer be able to download new content (though thankfully previously downloaded books will still be available).

For more recent Kindle models that came with both wifi and cellular connectivity, those devices will also be losing cellular support, though they will still be able to fall back on wifi in order to purchase and download new content. The list of affected Kindles in this latter category range from the third-gen Kindle Keyboard all the way to the 8th-gen Kindle Oasis. If you’re not sure which Kindle you own and if it might be affected, you can use check which model you have by using Amazon’s on-line Kindle identifier device right here.

While the lack of service will virtually definitely trigger points for various older Kindle homeowners, it appears Amazon is trying to assist ease the transition by providing $50 reductions in the direction of the acquisition of a brand new Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Oasis, together with $15 in eBook credit. The one caveat is that if you wish to reap the benefits of these offers, you higher act quickly as a result of in keeping with Amazon emails, these affords are set to run out in about two weeks on August 15.

So whereas it might be irritating to see some older Kindles lose part of their core performance, sadly this was at all times sure to occur, and no less than for first and second-gen Kindle gadgets that didn’t include built-in wifi, a run of greater than a decade is fairly admirable in comparison with a whole lot of different fashionable devices.