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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

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Acer Aspire One Jumping On WWAN Bandwagon

- Truc Bui

There has been a recent push for the small UMPC/ULCPC/MID/Netbook/Mini-whatever-the-catch-phrase-of-the-day-is devices to include some implementation of 3G connectivity. Joining Asus's eee Pc and Fujitsu's U810 (and the others who started life with WWAN), Acer's Aspire One is also getting its own 3G connection. I know that with the Fujitsu U810 as well as the T2010 with WWAN capabilities, users are locked in to AT&T's network. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not as you are not only locked in to a specific carrier with these devices, you are also locked to the device. If the UMPC is the only computer you have with 3G connectivity, it will be the only computer you can access the web with, unless, of course, you have another way of getting wireless data. What would you rather have, a small USB or ExpressCard 3G modem or would you rather each device have its own dedicated modem? I wonder if the integration of WWAN into these supposedly low-cost devices is one of the reasons being given for their seemingly high price. What are your thoughts and comments on these small netbooks having WWAN built-in?

7/8/2008 11:50 AM MST

Acer Aspire One Jumping On WWAN Bandwagon Comments [3] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:13:38 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Personally I think my "low cost" devices shouldn't have their prices driven up even higher by including a WWAN module. It is slowly defeating the whole purpose of "low cost". If you need WWAN I think an external one to fit across all your needs could be fine. Though I know some users prefer it integrated so as long as they offer the option to opt out on the internal to save money, I'm all for it. Just don't start including them as a standard.

MiKeN

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:30:55 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

You are mistaken when you say you are locked into the device. AT&T and all GSM carriers use SIM cards to enable their 3G modems. So instead of removing a USB external modem you can simply remove the sim card and instert it in another device. Or you can insert another sim card from any other GSM carrier and use their data services. This will help reduce the cost of international roaming data charges if you can just buy another sim card. I'm certain these devices can be unlocked, though I don't know how many hoops you have to jump through to get there. HSPA (3G for GSM) is used throughout Europe and much of Asia. So the majority of the world would benefit with a GSM 3G solution as all they need to do is pop in their sim and the device is good to go.

kingstu

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:48:20 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

You are absolutely right about unlocking the device. The Fujitsu line, for sure, is SIM locked to AT&T. You can get it unlocked, but that's another $40 expense. Furthermore, Fujitsu, when asked by Pocketables, had this to say regarding the SIM card:

"...the SIM will be specific to the unit and therefore unable to accept a card from a cell phone."

So all in all, it just seems like a very locked-down idea, either to the device or to a service carrier.

tonka

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