Computer Makers, Cell Carriers Band Together for Mobile Broadband
Just as how the innovation of Wi-Fi has freed laptop users from being tethered to an Ethernet cable to roam freely within the proximity of a wireless router, a new initiative by 16 companies hopes to make laptop users connected online nearly everywhere they go.
The new initiative, dubbed “Mobile Broadband,” is mastered by the GSM Association and will help ensure a hopefully uniform experience to those looking for connected computing in a laptop.
“Mobile Broadband is like a home or office broadband connection with one crucial difference : freedom. Freedom from hot spots, freedom from complexity and freedom from security concerns,” said Michael O’Hara, CMO of the GSMA.
The 16 companies currently a part of Mobile Broadband include : 3 Group, Asus, Dell, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Microsoft, Orange, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia, Tellasonera, Toshiba and Vodafone.
In the first step in of the plan is to have mobile carriers and PC makers pre-install Mobile Broadband into a range of notebook PC will be ready out of the box. Such computers will be identified by Mobile Broadband branding, which will also be promoted by a global media spend of more than $1 billion in the next year.
“This commitment is manifested in a service mark that we expect to see on several hundred thousand notebooks in the shops by the holiday season,” added O’Hara. “The Mobile Broadband badge will assure consumers that the devices they buy will always connect – wherever Mobile Broadband is available – and that they can expect a high standard of simplicity and mobility.”
With the growing infrastructure for high-speed wireless coverage, it’s only a natural progression that a network that can now supply data will serve more than just cell phones. The real question will be capacity, as users of the iPhone 3G on the AT&T network are already experiencing congestion.
Should Mobile Broadband prove to be a success, the technology could be extended to consumer devices, such as digital cameras to instantly upload photographs, or to MP3 players to download new songs.
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This could be good, provided they don't lock you to a particular carrier. Most people I know change their mobile contracts every 18 months or so, but swap their laptop about every 3 years. Unless they are going to give the laptops away "free" with a mobile contract I can't see that it'll work out well. As it is now buying a laptop and 3G dongle separately is usually the best method for folks
Despite what this article states, I would still be concerned with security... You wouldn't catch me logging in to anything or making payments with this system.
Doubtlessly the equipment will be locked to the network, contracts will be much longer, and much more expensive, in particular in respect of the Fair Usage Policy/Cap and Bandwidth limitations, where value for money will be a joke, with current limits of around 3GB/4weeks costing around £20. The proposition of increasing interest and usage in 3G Broadband, will bring the networks inphrastructure to it's knees if the number of active subscribers increase, and to counterbalance this the speed and volume of data available will drop.
I think this is a bad idea, and that WiMax would be a far better solution, with greater range, speeds, and capacity, it is a natural progression for providers such as Virgin Cable and BT to extend and superseed the home wired connections with Wireless WiMax variations giving almost Nationwide Access for a single tariff without unreasonable and unrealistic caps