Verizon wireless - Re: Customer mentioned Dell and VZW adding broadband? Is this wi-fi;

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Re: Customer mentioned Dell and VZW adding broadband? Is this wi-fi;

Isaiah Beard

2005-09-20, 5:48 pm

dr news wrote:
> A customer said he read in the wall street journal that Dell and Verizon
> are adding some type of "wireless" feature to laptops. I have not read
> such an article, but as 802.11 is old news, it must be something more.
> Is there a reference to the article? Is perhaps Verizon adding a
> "broadband wireless" card to selected laptops? dr

The plan is that in the near future, Dell will be manufacturing select
Dell laptops (or options for certain laptop models) that have EVDO
functionailty built in. This is similar to having Centrino techology in
a laptop for Wi-Fi use; you aren't plugging in a wireless card, the
capability is just "in there."

UNTIL that happens though, Dell will be reselling the Siera Wireless
EVDO card from Verizon.

There was also a rumor that Lenovo (formerly IBM's Desktop and ThinkPad
division) are in talks with Verizon for something similar.

I certainly hope the built-in verzion is at least EVDO-Revision A ready.

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Isaiah Beard

2005-09-21, 5:48 pm

Jack Hamilton wrote:

> It wasn't clear to me what the advantage is over an EVDO card - better
> price?

Probably.

> better antenna?

Most definitely.

> better support?

Most definitely.

> You'd lose flexibility, since
> you couldn't just tale it out and put it in another machine like you
> could with a card.

You could just as easily turn it off. I do the same thing with my
Thinkpad which has Wifi b/g built in. basically it amounts to haveing
one less card to carry around with you, and one more port freed on your
laptop. Lenovo also does a great job of integrating hese things, so
there's a lot les fuss involved in isntalling and keeping the drivers up
to date.

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George

2005-09-24, 5:48 pm

visortgw wrote:
> I question RF performance of an internal card. There is no external antenna
> port for an internal card. You are absolutely correct that an antenna and
> amp are essential in marginal signal conditions -- I often use both with my
> Kyocera KPC650. Similarly, external WiFi cards with an antenna usually out
> perform internal (built-in) WiFi cards.
>

Same experience here. The only reason dell will be using an internal
antenna is that it will save them money.

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