Comments on: Subsidized netbooks- who will pay to play?

By: Zach

Zach — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:30:17 +0000

I find it interesting and shortsighted that so many people feel being locked into a contract to be a more expensive proposition than not. I’ve been paying $60 a month for verizon 3G broadband for around 3 years… That is the same price at&t is bundling the new acer netbook at radioshack with, with a savings of $400 off the price of the netbook.. Also, verizon lets you change your contract to another level of service if available; as long as I continue 3g data service with verizon, i can have any 3g plan they offer. I’ve also done this with phones for years with at&t, always adjusting my plan for the best deal – as long as I stayed with at&t, I maintained the contract agreement. Can someone logically explain why this would be a financial loss?

By: AllanCJ

AllanCJ — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:04:16 +0000

There’s a short article about a UK offer here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/16/computing-mobile-phones

As the article indicates, it’s a pretty expensive way to get a computer. Nevertheless, I understand this kind of deal is reasonably popular.

But why not buy a computer and a mobile broadband deal separately? It more sense financially.

I think part of the answer to that is convenience. A lot of people who might be interested find the position with mobile broadband pretty confusing, and haven’t got the time or inclination to research it. As always, you pay for convenience.

By: Bruno

Bruno — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:19:56 +0000

I stopped by the Carphone Warehouse (one of, if not the, largest mobile retailer in the UK) the other day and as I saw they had a few “webbooks” as they called them on offer I asked how many they have sold so far. Not a single one yet.
It does not help that the units on offer (I haven’t checked in detail which ones they were as I am not looking for one) were all stunningly ugly.

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:07:44 +0000

I’ve been doing the sums everytime they announce one of these new deals here in the UK, and – unsurprisingly – they always make up the cost of the netbook somewhere. At first it was always as Gavin Miller observed, a more expensive data package, but recently there have been more examples of quiet limits elsewhere in the contract: 1GB of data allowed, say, rather than 3GB or 5GB if you went for the same price tariff with a basic USB modem.

The subset of netbook users who need mobile internet access so much that they want a simple, integrated option, but who aren’t wanting to ever use it on another machine, seems particularly small to me. I’d be very interested to know how many the carriers actually sell.

By: Portablemonkey

Portablemonkey — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:54:04 +0000

Expensive, USB modems dangling from the side (at least for netbooks currently) and 2 year contract minimum (at least here in Japan). Ugh.. Only if I couldn’t live without it.

By: HG

HG — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:19:41 +0000

I rather use BT DUN 2.1 which is a bit faster than 2.0 and this way I can use it with all my computers like the Aigo, U810, M912, SC3 and the Macbook Pro.

By: Travis

Travis — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:38:49 +0000

Looks like very few European/UK readers here.

By: Luscious

Luscious — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:15:33 +0000

Sprint and Verizon have been throwing out broadband cards for about $50 to sometimes free when signing up for a 2-year contract at full monthly price. Using the same model for netbooks would probably call for a similar deal, I can see HP offering the mini 1000 for $100 with a 2-year broadband plan.

The problem is I don’t like it because it is a blatant ripoff.

At $60/month over 2 years that’s over $1400. Factor in the $399 price of the mininote over that same period and the savings come out to a puny $16/month. Over a period of 2 years you’ve paid $1000-$1100 for that “free” netbook, and saved only $12-16/month off the broadband plan.

The other issue is with the netbooks themselves. WWAN modules are built-in and cannot be used with other devices, unlike express card devices that can be used with certain netbooks and all notebooks. USB devices working with desktops as well.

Sure, the netbook subsidies are attractive, but only during the first two years. After that you may as well toss the old netbook for a newer model and sign up for a new plan.

For too many years now, wireless companies have been deceiving customers with free hardware offers, then milking users with locked-in contracts and intimidating anybody who wanted out with cancellation fees.

To be honest, I would feel more comfortable buying the unit at a full price, and sign up for a pay-as-you-go monthly data plan – no contract obligations, no cancellation fees and free to use as I need.

By: AndyW

AndyW — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:29:43 +0000

I think that this is absolutely right on the mark (in the US) in Europe and the rest of the world you will have the option of buying data cards like voice minutes.

US: I predict that each major carrier (ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile) will partner with a specific vendor (ASUS, HP, etc) and offer their netbook with their service. Like the AT&T/Ipod T-mobile/Android phone combinations.

– AndyW

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:14:17 +0000

So apart from my cell phone plan, I need a data plan for web access from my phone, and then a separate plan for my netbook? Not to mention my home internet connection? Nah. I might be willing to pay a few dollars extra on my phone plan if I could tether a netbook, but else I’ll wait for more wifi in more places :-)