AT&T to Offer $50 Netbooks

All of the wireless companies are offering deals like this sprint, verizon and at&t

 

i was wondering what everyone thinks of the AT+T netbook?

 

I actually bought a netbook, the HP Mini 1000 in late March, before they started offering the ones with 3G installed. I took out the battery last night after reading on another forum, and sure enough, there is a sim card slot beneath the battery. The poster on this other site said that you can download a program that will allow you to take your sim card out of your cellphone, and install in your HP Mini, and wallah! You're online! As long as you aren't downloading large files like movies and lots of music, the cellphone company cannot tell you have it in your netbook and not your phone.

However.....

Since I'm getting ready to go OTR, I have been looking at USB air cards so I can get online while I'm gone. While you can get some air cards for free with a 2 year agreement, in most cases you can almost buy a particular company's netbook with 3G already installed for not much more. The down side being that with either the netbook or the air card, you're going to get hit for another $60/month for service.

I have my cellphone with ATT. I"ve been thinking about a new phone since I am eligible for upgrade, looking at the iPhone, etc. I've been to all the major provider's stores in the last two days. Verizon, at least in North Texas, is now offering a FREE netbook when you buy a BlackBerry Tour. The Tour is only $149 ($249.99-$100 mail-in rebate + 2 year activation) and the netbook, and HP mini just like I already have but with the 3G is ($299-$100 mail-rebate-$199 instant discount). So, you ulitmately get both the phone and the computer for $149 total ($349 + tax out of pocket in the store, and $200 in rebates). That's a pretty good deal.

I can also say that I use my HP Mini netbook for ALL computer needs now. I quit using my heavy laptop, and now I just throw this in my briefcase. The only thing I miss is the CD/DVD player, which you can always add as a peripheral. In fact, this computer is so good, I'm thinking of just handing this one to my daughter and going with a new one with the 3G. I played with one in the store, and they are exactly the same confirguration as mine. They are now call the HP Mini 1150 instead of 1000, but they still give you an 80 gig HD, 160Hz, 1gig RAM (upgradeable to 2gigs), etc. Just like the one I already have. So yes, the Verizon and ATT netbooks sold do have large hard drives. ATT sells Dell and Acer, Verizon sells the HP Mini's. I can't speak for the Dells and Acers, but I'm more than happy with my HP. Watch out for the ones with the 8gig flash drive. You can download and store very little with those. They are purely for surfing the net, and not much more.

If I could find the HP for the $50 price with 3G, I would jump on it. The HP is nice in that the keyboard is very nearly fullsize. After about 3 days, typing is a breeze. Just check out the keyboard on whatever netbook you are interested in. Make sure you're comfortable typing on it, as they're not all equal size. Some are quite small in fact.

I hope that was of some help.

 

Although.....the more I look at Millenicom as a provider, not having a contract is very appealing right now. They are getting good reviews for the most part.

 

If you have your phone with AT&T, and want to tether, which as far as i know you STILL can't do with the iPhone, the phone I'm using is the Samsung A737, it's a free phone. I have the $45 voice plan and the $15 data plan. I don't have the tethering plan right now, because I'm still using a Sprint card. But, the reason I recommend this particular phone is because it works beautifully as a USB modem. You can use it with a USB cable, or bluetooth. (USB is lot faster.) I don't tether with mine, because I don't have a tethering plan. But, I did it to see how it worked, ran speedtest.net on it in a 3g area, and all I can say is "wow." Bottom line is this, I can call up AT&T at any given time and replace the $15 data plan with the $60 tethering plan and get a 5 gig plan for $45 more than what I'm paying now for my phone, and not be held to a contract on that data plan. It's a free phone, that works fantastic as a usb modem. All you have to do is go on EBay and get a data cable for it, you can find one for $2-3. (Also on ebay get your self a headphone adapter for it, and a 2 gig microSD card, because this phone makes a great mp3 player as well.) Next go to samsung's site, download a software program called PCStudio, it comes with an easy wizard that will set up a nice dial up networking icon on your desktop. PCStudio also lets you transfer music. pictures and video to and from the phone.

If you are looking to get a low cost USB modem with AT&T, and you are a current phone customer, I think this is the way to go, in my opinion, it's just as fast as my Sprint air card, when it's in a 3g area.

Here is a link to the phone I am talking about.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Samsung+A737+-+Red+(Refurb)&q_sku=sku2440219

It tethers real nice!

 

I've heard nothing but good things about Millenicom.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely check it out.