Add a dongle, get a free notebook
By Simon Bisson & Mary Branscombe in Editorial
Posted in USB, Networking, Wireless, Mobile on
The usual round of email press releases dropped into the SandM mailbox this morning. One caught our attention, from the folk at PC World, which signals something we’re pretty sure is going to be one of the big IT trends for 2008.
In a tie up with 3, they’re going to be offering a free cheap laptop (or £350 off most) along with one of 3’s 3G dongle modems. You’ll need to sign up for a £35 a month data tariff for the cheap laptop, which gives you 3GB of data (with 10p/megabyte for anything over) at up to 2.8Mbps.
Ignore the free laptop (after all, PC World have a lot to get rid of, if you remember their recent results!) - it’s the 3G modem that really interests us.
It wasn’t long ago that 3G data was the province of the technophiles, using cards with complex drivers and expensive connections. Pricing models have changed dramatically in the last 6 months, as networks try to compete with WiFi - and as a new, lower cost, set of 3G chips arrived. Hardware is now cheap, and the latest USB designs self-install software as soon as they’re plugged in. Even the current tariffs are affordable - T-Mobile has just introduced a pay-as-you-go Web’n'Walk for just £4.50 a day.
That’s where things start to change.
Look at the cost of WiFi. Sit in a Starbucks and hook up to a T-Mobile WiFi connection and you’re already payig more than that (and let’s not go into the costs of BT OpenZone or The Cloud). HSDPA data is more convenient (if a little slower), and it’s now cheaper. You can use it anywhere, and with any PC. In fact, if you’ve got a recent laptop, there are reasonable odds that all you need is a SIM and you can use the built-in 3G WAN hardware.
3G data is here to stay. With higher speed HSUPA networks going online, things are going to get faster still.
My guess? The WiFi networks in places like Starbucks are going to become a loss leader. WiFi prices need to drop to compete with 3G - and we’re also going to see more deals like T-Mobile bundling WiFi with new contracts for it’s Web’n'Walk (why not for us existing subscribers?) and O2 providing free Cloud access to its iPhone users. O2’s also tweaked its data pricing to compete with the rest of the industry.
The endgame is going to be good for us users. WiFi will become free or very low cost, and 3G prices will continue to drop as operators finally start to digest the effects of data usage on the rest of their revenue in the light of voice becoming a commodity…
–Simon
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Loading ...Comment by Crystal L. Cox - January 31, 2008 on 6:59 pm
We really are a Digital World. Its almost like a sci-fi movie. Life is so connected online and it makes me feel like the world is literally at my fingertips. I love it, but at the same time, I kind of fear the world depending on computers for everything. I now do all my bills online, my shopping online, buy food online, communicate with friends and family, read the news and work. It Really is a whole new world. www.ShopForCash.biz
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