Poll: Would you pay for an integrated Internet solution to your laptop?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4568946

by steventruong • 14 years ago

3 8 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

For some reason the poll option is turned off so I apologize for not having an actual poll.

I am curious if anyone here would pay for an integrated internet solution to your laptop much like a wifi iPad (current laptops) vs 3G iPad (what it could be; replace 3G for 4G or LTE all you want). Basically laptop with internet. Why or why not? Appreciate the responses.

I know that some netbooks and laptops had a prebuilt integration but that never seemed to have taken off but I am curious if that had to do more with the netbook market in general vs a mass market option.

The current options today are:

1. USB Modem or AirCard

2. Mobile Hotspot device

3. Tether from your smartphone

I think each has drawbacks (forgetting to always bring your USB dongle or card, battery life (especially tethering on the go), and wifi is not always available everywhere.

So if there was an option to have it part of your laptop without a big dongle attached or a separate hotspot device to carry around, would you pay for that (assume service is still through carrier as normal)?

gates2010• 14 years ago

there are already a few outthere that are sold with an inbuild WAN card...

ex: dell laptops sold with wan card http://www.dell.com/us/p/d/campaigns/4g-3g-mobile-broadband-...

anonymouz• 14 years ago

My Thinkpad also has this: Just put in a SIM card and you are good to go. No need to be tied to any particular provider.

Edit: I did pay a bit extra for that, so I suppose my answer to the question is: "Yes, I would, and I have". But I would never buy it if it is tied to one carrier.

ljf• 14 years ago

Indeed, when laptops used to have PCMCIA slots, and it was relatively cheap and simple to buy these in the uk, about £199. Now a dongle plus 3 months of service is £40 (which is actually cheaper than buying another 3months service, which is £45) so you have to be able to beat that almost give away price. In the I'm able to pick these up all over the place.

That to me is the challenge. I'm shocked there aren't recessed USB slots that would hide or cover the dongle. The archos and arnova brand android tablets have this and it looks good and works well, and can be used to whack in extra storage if you don't need the connectivity.

project23• 14 years ago

That is true. I admit there are some that has this option. Unfortunately not all does. As a Mac user, this is missing for me. I have had the Sprint Sierra Air Card and the Verizon Mobile Hotspot previously and would rather have something more integrated or close to it.

TobbenTM• 14 years ago

Yes, at my workplace all the computers have the slot for a sim card. WWAN card has to be installed for it to function though. Everything from Lenovo Thinkpads to HP Elitebooks to Dell Latitudes have this.

staunch• 14 years ago

Now that LTE is real this will probably become standard pretty soon. LTE will replace public wifi for the most part, at least for me.

maguay• 14 years ago

I use a Alcatel USB 3G adaptor for connectivity on my MacBook Air. If there had been an option to add a built-in data solution, I would have upgraded in a heartbeat if it was sim-unlocked.

One nice thing: in Thailand, I pay ~$25/month for a 5Gb data cap and unlimited wifi in most public places from my carrier, on a pre-paid sim.

malandrew• 14 years ago

I've been wanting built in internet in a macbook pro for a while now. It's frustrating that this still isn't an option except on tablets and phones.

Poll: Would you pay for an integrated Internet solution to your laptop?

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