Netbooks for Internet Access?
It’s the attack of the NetBooks! Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials on TV by both AT&T and Verizon for their netbook products. This is an interesting development because it merges the concept of cellular phone plans with a computer and internet access. In Verizon’s case, it uses their own proprietary Mobile Broadband for internet access with a two year plan.
The two year plans are priced by megabytes per month. There are two price levels. 250 Meg for $40 per month and 5 Gigs for $60 per month. It is calculated by combining both upload and download volumes according to the agent I spoke with. That would make the 250 meg per month rather skimpy especially if you are downloading any large files, like photos and videos. Still this is very interesting since it uses a plan with a computer. The concept of Netbooks has been around for a few years now, but now these two companies have put it to use.
Can it replace someone’s internet access completely? Not sure but if you want to see how much you download each month, check your “Temporary Internet Files” in Windows. You might be surprised how much you download without knowing it. Every time you open a previously unvisited web site, it will cache some files. So I can see that 250 meg plan not being good for anyone except a light internet user.
For now, my Lightyear Wireless phone provides my “pocket internet access and I’ll stick with that.
