AT&T has announced that it’ll expand its subsidized netbook + home internet service packages that it’s been trying out in Atlanta and Philadelphia for the past few months. Starting sometime this summer, you’ll be able to package AT&T DSL with a 3G-enabled netbook from the likes of Acer, Dell, and HP for a (presumably) discounted monthly fee.
Detailed pricing and availability “will be announced at a later date,” according to AT&T but rest assured that everyone loves netbooks. Don’t believe me? Take it from president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility and Consumer markets, Ralph de la Vega:
“It’s clear there’s a demand for mini laptops,” de la Vega said. “Our customers in the Atlanta and Philadelphia markets have responded well and the response isn’t limited to a specific demographic. We’re getting interest from tweens, teens, young adults, moms on the go and small business owners. Consumers and small business customers really seem to be attracted to the convenience and portability of this connected device.”
Wow, that’s a lot of demographic groups. Tweens, even!
No word about whether mini laptops appeal to jocks, geeks, dweebs, scrubs, flakers, perpetrators, b-boys, tweakers, posers, nerds, pansies, thrashers, glee club, braniacs, year book staff, goths, punks, emo kids, hicks, band geeks, greasers, socias, Sharks, Jets, chess club, baby boomers, Generation X, grunge fans, empty nesters, veterans, homeowners, renters, or metalheads, although remember that de la Vega does say it “isn’t limited to a specific demographic.”
AT&T to Expand its Mini Laptop Lineup and Offer Nationwide Availability [att.com]
What good are these 3G devices if AT&T cannot provide a quality 3G signal to power the broadband to these devices?
I can understand 3G not being everywhere in rural areas, but I cannot get a 3G signal (or reliable 2G Edge signal for that matter) inside my work location at 630 N Broadway Santa Ana California. This building is a County Government building that houses the County Auditor-Controller, the Assessor, the Clerk-Recorder, and Treasurer-Tax Collector. This is in a downtown Civic Center area that is in one of the highest populated counties in the highest populated state.
AT&T Tech Support has been notified multiple times and generally they give the standard “AT&T does NOT guarantee coverage in all places or in all buildings”, or they say it is the fault of the building due to the materials the building is made of. Does this mean AT&T Tech Support is admitting inferior signal quality compared to Verizon, T-Mobile, and even lowly Sprint? Or are they admitting not much thought was put into maximizing the effectiveness of their signal tower locations to properly cover the whole downtown Civic Center area?
In comparison, Sprint gets 4-5 bars of signal strenth inside the building (including a super reliable 3G signal), Verizon and T-Mobile get about 2 bars on average inside the building (but at least these signals are usable). AT&T gets NO signal inside the building and no 2G Edge signal 95% of the time. Forget about voice calls even if we do get 1 bar of signal strength on our phones for a few seconds as the call will drop seconds later when the phone quickly loses reception of any AT&T signal.
I have tested 2 AT&T phones (a Nokia 6650 and a Pantech Matrix) at this location in addition to having co-workers who have been AT&T wireless customers for years tell me they have NEVER been able to consistently connect inside the building (voice calls, etc). So, the co-workers have learned to deal with having no cell phone availability at work (hope the wife and kids don’t call with an emergency when we are away from our desk).
However, to AT&T’s credit, at least they are providing a usable 3G signal “outside” the building to the South (especially South of Santa Ana Blvd), but only an Edge signal outside the building to the North (walking on the sidewalk on Civic Center Drive).
Come on AT&T! A 3G tower to the North would take care of this dead spot of signal coverage inside the building at 630 N Broadway, Santa Ana, California.
This is unacceptable that this issue has not already been rectified by AT&T.
John V
(hopefully the AT&T engineers see the “network incident reports” on file regarding the lack of AT&T signal inside this building)