Dell Strikes Deal For High-Speed Wireless

Jason Jardine wrote to mention a C|Net article describing a new Dell deal with Vodafone to provide high-speed wireless access. From the article: "Dell said Tuesday that it plans to embed Vodafone's High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology into laptops built to order and sold in Europe. The technology will be backwards compatible with earlier 3G, or third-generation, wireless technologies including UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), the company said."

Comments

Woohoo

[Realistic_Dragon]

Now we can be locked into paying more for wireless because of the laptop provider we chose.

One of the shitty features of the US market that the UK cellphone market has been picking up recently is longer contracts (now up to 18 months) and higher and higher fees to unlock your device at the end of the term. Orange are up from £free to £20.

And now they want us to pay this on a laptop as well? Sure, fine, throw in a 3G/GPRS data card if you want - but FFS don't cripple it by making it work only with one service. No one would accept a wireless card that only worked with T-Mobil hotspots after all.

Re:Woohoo

[BattleRat]

Oh Jesus H. Christ, cry me a river. If a company attempts to add functionality to a product line by OPTIONALLY including a radio and now you "have to" buy it or subscribe to it? Nope, you will still be able to buy Dells without that radio, just as you can buy Dells today without Bluetooth radios. Saying that you'll be "locked in" is like saying you HAVE to drink Guiness if you're Irish. Gimme a break...

Re:Woohoo

[Anne Thwacks]

the UK cellphone market has been picking up recently is longer contracts (now up to 18 months) and higher and higher fees to unlock your device

I don't know how well the 18 month contracts are selling. No one I knows has signed any of these deals. They all think - hang on, my phone will be obsolete in 12 months, even if it still works. As for unlocking, that nice man in the market does it for £ 6 anyway. And if he tries to charge more, there's another in the next street. Round here, even the meat stall in the market offers phone unlocking. I did my own with a file downloaded from the internet.

Personally, I would like to see the whole business of locking challenged in the European court as an illegal restraint of trade.

I miss Steven

[Sierpinski]

I can see the marketing ploy in 2015 now....

Dude! You're gettin' 15 year contract with a 5-figure penalty for early termination!

Re:In the US?

[drinkypoo]

Most likely... Yes, in form of SIM card. Think, GSM.

Most likely you don't know what you're talking about. A SIM card is a cryptographic token and storage for GSM phone calls. It goes into a GSM phone device. And to complete the acronym soup, GPRS is a packet radio service on top of GSM.

They could give you a SIM card, but it wouldn't do you any good unless you also had another device to plug the SIM card into.

Interesting "solution" to a non-existant problem

[timmyf2371]

Whilst I'm not totally au-fait with how the HSDPA technology works, the fact that it comes with backwards compatibility for UMTS and GPRS suggest some sort of SIM/USIM; whether the SIM will be built in or be supplied by the mobile network as a plug-in module isn't totally clear. Furthermore, if it's an external module the user would plug in, would the actual device be SIM locked solely to Vodafone or would SIMs provided by other networks be compatible?

This deal might bring mobile broadband to the masses, but with the mobile phones available these days - and the fact that most new laptops include bluetooth as standard, is it really necessary?

I have a Nokia N70 handset which uses 3G technology and provides me with connection speeds of around 400Kbps in 3G-enabled areas - 115Kbps in GPRS (2.5G) areas - and even though it's a separate device, I can simply hook it up to my laptop using bluetooth (or USB if I'm using a machine without bluetooth built in) and connect to the Internet anywhere. However, the flexibility of having a small handset allows me to sit in bed, on the couch, on public transport - ie, anywhere a laptop can be somewhat inconvenient - and check my email, logon to IRC, access web-pages and catch up on the latest news.

Even most non-smartphone devices these days are bluetooth enabled and allow this sort of wireless hookup to laptops and allow for the flexibility I mentioned earlier.

Re:In the US?

[QuessFan]

Yes. IF you read TFA, it says:

"In fall last year, Dell announced it would embed 3G access technology from Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless in its products."

As an existing Cingular Broadband Access(HSDPA) subscriber, I am looking forward to get a new laptop with build in HSDPA capabilities.

I am mostly satisified with the signal reception I currently have with the SierraWireless Aircard 860.
However, the signals can be marginal in many areas.

Just as I observed significant improvement when Wifi card moved from PC card to be intergrated with build-in atenna.(Usuualy on the back of the screen) I am expecting similiar improvement on reception.

Sure, I can hook up AirCard 860 to huge external atenna, but why should I bother to haul another gadget when I travel? When there are all those real estates on the back of the screen?

Re:Interesting "solution" to a non-existant proble

[speculatrix]

having a small handset allows me to sit in bed ... and check my email, logon to IRC, access web-pages and catch up on the latest news.

dude, you need a girlfriend real bad!

NO contracts in INDIA

[devilsandy]

Cellphone service in India has NO contracts. Either you take the "prepaid" where in you buy certain amount of currency which is valid for certain days OR "postpaid" where in you get a bill at the end of the month. The best part is there is no airtime charge for receiving a call, your airtime is charged only for the calls you make from the cellphone. I am now in US and I miss the Indian cellphone system along with the tasty home food :-) .