wwan

Apple adding 3G to MacBooks?

An Apple job posting suggests the company might be thinking about adding 3G wireless radios to future MacBooks.

Apple's Mac Hardware Group is looking for a quality-assurance engineer with experience in the various networking technologies popular in the personal computing market, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, "and/or 3G Wireless WAN," according to the job posting spotted by Computerworld. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet are the standard network interfaces on the Mac at the moment, while 3G Wireless WAN is a technology confined just to the iPhone inside Apple.

A few years ago, notebooks with embedded chips that could … Read more

HP Mini 1000: Now with mobile broadband

Though a DIY route was recently discovered to bring mobile broadband to the Mini 1000, HP now saves you the effort by offering 3G connectivity out of the box on its Netbook. You can select the HP un2400 mobile broadband module ($199) for service on either AT&T's or Verizon's network. The price seems a bit steep, considering you can find the un2400 module for $149 elsewhere. Also, choosing mobile broadband forces you to opt out of either SSD offered in favor of the 60GB 4200rpm drive, which adds $55 from the default 8GB SSD option. Why … Read more

Dell Netbook now 3G-enabled in the U.S.

The Inspiron Mini 9 can now be ordered with built-in mobile broadband, Dell announced Tuesday.

Just last week, CEO Michael Dell confirmed the company was signing up more wireless providers as partners on its new line of Netbooks, but gave no specific date. Dell has offered 3G capability with Vodafone for European customers since the device's September launch.

Now U.S. customers get their turn. For $125 more, the 9-inch Netbook can now be configured with embedded WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network). But right now, AT&T is offering a $120 rebate to those who sign a new … Read more

HP to offer Sprint mobile broadband on business notebooks

Starting this month, five Hewlett-Packard business notebooks will be come packaged with Sprint's mobile broadband network.

The HP Compaq 2710p convertible notebook, 6510b, 6910p, 8510p notebooks and 8510w mobile work station, are the first offerings from HP to be eligible for embedded Sprint service. Prices for the five models range between $959 and $2,049. HP says to expect additional models to be added later this year.

The companies will jointly market the notebooks, which will have access to Sprint's 3G EV-DO network beginning sometime in October. Customers who sign up for a one- or two-year service agreement … Read more

HP and Cingular bring you the Internet

Years from now, your children will laugh about how you had to "stay in range" of a Wi-Fi signal in order to stay connected to the Internet when you were young.

The Hewlett-Packard's Compaq nc6400, with integrated UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, marks another step toward that inevitability.

The laptop has built-in WWAN (wireless wide-area network) connectivity that enables users to connect to the Internet via cell phone tower instead of only WLAN (wireless local-area network, or "regular Wi-Fi"). It connects via WLAN also, but you no longer need to get upset when the independent cafe you … Read more