William Maher10 December 2007, 7:37 AM
Forget annoying soap-on-a-rope USB modems -- now you can have wireless broadband built-in to your laptop. Here's what you need to know.
The telcos have finally cut prices, and now Dell and Toshiba are offering built-in wireless broadband from the likes of Vodafone and BigPond in their notebooks - including 13 notebooks in Dell’s range.
The notebooks contain built-in wireless modules, including SIM slots, wireless HSDPA radios and internal antennae.
 Dell XPS M1530: comes with 3G broadband option. |
Dell offers two official 3G broadband options with its notebooks – Telstra BigPond Wireless Broadband, or Vodafone Mobile Broadband. You choose which provider you want during the ordering phase, and your notebook comes with the internal WWAN card preconfigured with that carrier’s firmware.
The 3G option costs $300 extra, plus you’ll need to signup with the carrier.
Toshiba’s Portege R400 12.1-inch executive tablet notebook comes with the SIM inside, and ready for activation with BigPond Wireless Broadband. The wireless card will be capable of download speeds bursting up to 3Mbps, and is firmware upgradeable to 7.2Mbps in the future.
Toshiba hasn’t locked the HSDPA module to work with BigPond only. “The card is still a quad band card so in theory it should work with any carrier. We’re not locked in,” said Toshiba’s Matthew Tumminello.
“We’ve also received compatibility approvals from Vodafone in Europe, and Orange in Europe. So people can use it on other networks to if they choose to.”
Other notebook manufacturers aren’t locking their notebooks, though Dell stresses its notebooks are tested and certified to work with Vodafone and BigPond. There’s no support if you try using 3G SIMs from other providers, or any guarantee that they’ll work.
By far the cheapest option we’ve found so far is Dell Inspiron 1420, which can be ordered for $1,298 including 3G broadband. Fujitsu, Lenovo is also among others pushing wireless broadband in its notebooks, including the HSDPA-capable LifeBook S6510.
One notable manufacturer that hasn't yet announced any plans for integrated HSDPA is Apple, causing frustration for Mac users who are forced to use USB modems predominantly. The top-end MacBook Pro does have an ExpressCard slot for wireless broadband cards, but the more popular MacBook only has USB.