3GScottishUser
30th September 2008, 07:48 AM
Phone firms, chip makers and PC manufacturers are uniting to push mobile broadband on laptop computers.
The alliance will build wireless modules into laptops to make it much easier to use the gadgets on future high-speed services.
Laptops with the wireless chips built-in will bear a service mark which shows they will work with the third and fourth generation wireless technology.
The branded laptops should be on shop shelves in 91 nations by Christmas.
Fast forward
Laptops and notebook computers bearing the "Mobile Broadband" logo will have on-board modules that will boost current third generation speeds and work with future fourth generation technologies.
At their fastest, these technologies - which include High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Long Term Evolution - support web browsing speeds of up to 7 megabits per second (Mbps).
"It's comparable to fixed broadband services and close to what you get in a wi-fi hot spot," said Mike O'Hara, a spokesman for the GSM Alliance which has brokered the tie-up on Mobile Broadband.
Mr O'Hara said the laptops would eventually be available where people now buy mobile phones.
"You can go to an operator's store, buy a laptop and it will be already fitted so you can go online instantly.
"That's a powerful proposition.
"There's a natural evolution such as we saw with wi-fi which at first used to need an external card and became embedded."
Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7642948.stm
The alliance will build wireless modules into laptops to make it much easier to use the gadgets on future high-speed services.
Laptops with the wireless chips built-in will bear a service mark which shows they will work with the third and fourth generation wireless technology.
The branded laptops should be on shop shelves in 91 nations by Christmas.
Fast forward
Laptops and notebook computers bearing the "Mobile Broadband" logo will have on-board modules that will boost current third generation speeds and work with future fourth generation technologies.
At their fastest, these technologies - which include High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Long Term Evolution - support web browsing speeds of up to 7 megabits per second (Mbps).
"It's comparable to fixed broadband services and close to what you get in a wi-fi hot spot," said Mike O'Hara, a spokesman for the GSM Alliance which has brokered the tie-up on Mobile Broadband.
Mr O'Hara said the laptops would eventually be available where people now buy mobile phones.
"You can go to an operator's store, buy a laptop and it will be already fitted so you can go online instantly.
"That's a powerful proposition.
"There's a natural evolution such as we saw with wi-fi which at first used to need an external card and became embedded."
Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7642948.stm