Dell, Lenovo and HP to build EV-DO directly in laptops

Sep 19 2005 - 01:12 AM ET | Data, Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless put together deals with three of the largest laptop makers to build-in EV-DO technology to use its BroadbandAccess network. So far today Dell, Lenovo (maker of the ThinkPad) and HP have announced upcoming models with BroadbandAccess. Unlimited EV-DO access costs $79.99 monthly though there is a $20/month discount for voice subscribers.

• Dell - Starting in 2006 in some Latitude series notebooks.
• Lenovo - Starting in October in the new ThinkPad Z-Series
• HP - Starting in 2006, models unknown

Verizon Wireless is rapidly expanding the EV-DO network and is currently far ahead of Sprint in total network size, though subscriber data for either company is unavailable. But with these announcements today, Sprint has some major catching up to do.

This isn't the first time laptops have shipped with cellular technology, Sony a VAIO laptop earlier this year that had EDGE data built-in.