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Lenovo Offers No-Contract Broadband Service
Lenovo Mobile Access Available July 1
Lenovo this morning announced that the company is going to start offering buyers of their Thinkpad line of laptops the ability to sign up for no contract broadband service starting July 1. Lenovo's essentially running an MVNO named Lenovo Mobile Access, though they don't specify which network they're running the service on. Select Thinkpads with cellular internals can get speeds up to 21 Mbps downstream in a variety of pricing options, incluing $2 for less than 30 minutes and 30MB of usage, or a full day pass with less than 200 MB for $9. The company says they'll also be offering 2GB or 6GB data plans, though they fail to specify the price point.
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Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

Noah Vail

Premium Member

I'd guess Sprint

The only US partnership I can find for Macheen is with Sprint.
will_lam
join:2012-06-06
Toronto, ON

will_lam

Member

Re: I'd guess Sprint

if it's an MVNO, outside of branding and visibility for Lenovo, I'm not too sure about the prospect of profiting from a partnership like this on Lenovo's end as it's pretty small scale.

Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

Noah Vail

Premium Member

Re: I'd guess Sprint

said by will_lam:

if it's an MVNO, outside of branding and visibility for Lenovo, I'm not too sure about the prospect of profiting from a partnership like this on Lenovo's end as it's pretty small scale.

If there's a pushy service activation app that's launched at first-run; I could see sales coming from that.

That's the method that Symantec used to to get rich, selling performance destroying crapware for over 10 years.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: I'd guess Sprint

Ever used MacAFee? They make Symantec look like angels.

Also, Symantec has fixed their software now. It actually runs quite well.

Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

Noah Vail

Premium Member

Re: I'd guess Sprint

said by iansltx:

Ever used MacAFee? They make Symantec look like angels.

For 10 years both of them ripped off their consumer-class customers.
said by iansltx:

Also, Symantec has fixed their software now. It actually runs quite well.

Sometimes.
I've had 2 Symantec uninstalls off Windows Servers this year.
Each one took me 3 hours to tweezer them out of the OS.

More to the point, Symantec has 10 years of fraud to atone for.
If they'd care to refund every consumer-class purchase, made between 2000 and 2009, we could see if they're still an ethically corrupt company or not.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: I'd guess Sprint

Fair enough.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to Noah Vail

Premium Member

to Noah Vail
They're also both resource hogs. I can't believe those companies are still in business considering Microsoft offers free AV in Windows now.

a333
A hot cup of integrals please
join:2007-06-12
Rego Park, NY

a333 to Noah Vail

Member

to Noah Vail
Considering Karl's article is mentioning "up to 21 Mbps" speeds, my guess would be that the partnership is with either T-mobile or AT&T. Makes more sense, since the offerings can also be unified on an international scale, or at least be of interest to people who travel often (i.e. Lenovo can also market similar stuff in markets abroad, since GSM/HSPA+ is deployed pretty much across the globe, as opposed to CDMA which is limited to the US and South Korea).

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

djdanska

Premium Member

Re: I'd guess Sprint

I agree and it sounds like at&t, considering t-mobile's 4g is 42Mb down vs. at&t's 21Mb HSPA+
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to a333

Premium Member

to a333
Yup. It's probably AT&T, given their geographic reach with HSPA+.
Mr Zilla
join:2012-06-12

Mr Zilla to a333

Member

to a333
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tcope
Premium Member
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT

tcope

Premium Member

No the right price point

I can't see consumers wanting this type of plan. If they need late limtited of data access they will sit in a McDonals parking lot for a few minutes. That is... go some place that has fre WiFi and have lunch. With the price comparasion the lunch would really be free.

I think the price point for this type of service would be around $10 for an entire day, up to 1GB. I don't think most people would use 1GB in a day so it sounds like they are offering a lot for $10 but data usage would be less.
NgtFlyer
join:2000-07-09
Marietta, GA

NgtFlyer

Member

Re: No the right price point

Consumers will probably rarely bite, but business users will. Remember, the Thinkpad is marketed as a business/professional's laptop. In cases where other connectivity is not available and a user has to get online, say from a job site, this makes sense. Only time will tell how successful this is, but I suspect this plan isn't there itself to make profits, but rather to advertise it as a benefit to owning Thinkpad and increasing sales of the notebooks as a result.
tcope
Premium Member
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT

tcope

Premium Member

Re: No the right price point

True, but I'd think a company who's employees need a data connection are already going to have something in place... something much cheaper then what Lenovo is offering.

I think it does need to make money as Lenovo has a deal with some provider. If that deal is not making that data provider money then they are not to stop offering it. Though, I can't see the plan really costing Lenovo or the data provider much, other then admin costs.
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Works for me!

While I'm concerned that Lenovo may have misjudged American 3G performance (up to 21Mbps? More like 256kbps.), the price point does work, if you have very intermittent / itinerant needs not served by WiFi, though I think they'll need to look closely at the data allocations.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

djdanska

Premium Member

Re: Works for me!

said by elray:

While I'm concerned that Lenovo may have misjudged American 3G performance (up to 21Mbps? More like 256kbps.), the price point does work, if you have very intermittent / itinerant needs not served by WiFi, though I think they'll need to look closely at the data allocations.

Misjudged? I don't have any problem getting 20Mb down on my smartphone and tablet. Maybe your using the wrong carrier? lol
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

1 edit

elray

Member

Re: Works for me!

said by djdanska See Profile
Misjudged? I don't have any problem getting 20Mb down on my smartphone and tablet. Maybe your using the wrong carrier? lol

3G service in this town, on Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T, has never exceeded 400kbps. Sprint could push towards 1Mbps, but no longer.

Clear service manages to paint the entire county, except our little hamlet.
Cricket, Leap, and their cousin MetroPCS don't sell 3G broadband data access, or don't sell it here. Everyone else is reselling one of the above.

What carrier am I supposed to be using?


tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

This could work for...

.. a certain market segment. Say, students who usually use a home or school network, and can't afford/ won't buy/don't see the need for a full time mobile account, but may OCCASIONALLY need wireless at a remote site or while traveling.

Many people bought laptops that spend most of the time/ in some cases exclusively used at home.
Not alot different than paying for WiFi at a hotel, EXCEPT this is cellular so it can be used almost anywhere, and of course carries a heavier price tag.
Convience is often expensive.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium Member
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA

djdanska

Premium Member

Re: This could work for...

The lenovo i bought a few months ago came with wimax built in, and to be honest, it helpful since i travel a bit, and hate paying up to $15 for wifi at the hotel per night. (nyc! Yeesh) plus being able to use hulu and netflix and use the hdmi output of the laptop totally helps.