AT&T Wireless, Dell Offer Cellular Internet Access
Lots of press coverage today about how Dell is teaming up with AT&T Wireless to offer cellular wireless access (GSM/GPRS) for business laptop users. They tout this as a “better” solution to WiFi since you don’t have go to hunting for an access point. Of course, this is an argument that is pretty weak – as has been pointed out plenty of times in the past. If I can sit where I am, but only get very expensive, low speed access or drive five miles to get high speed, unlimited use access on WiFi, I’m in my car on my way to the hotspot. The two technologies are complementary – each with their own benefits. Positioning them otherwise is talking down to your customers. Also, this Dell/AT&T Wireless offering is priced on a per byte meter, which discourages usage and confuses users. Despite the “benefits” they claim over WiFi, I think many people would use this only as a very last resort.
