14 DAY TRIAL // It took a while, but the Qualcomm Gobi 3000 mobile broadband technology has found a new home in a number of HP mobile personal computers, especially business ones.
HP won't be including the software with every one of its machines, instead sticking to a select number of them.
After all, the notebooks that will get Gobi 3000 are intended for a particular breed of customers.
People typically own a desktop PC in addition to a notebook, if they have the latter.
As such, they don’t necessarily need their mobile computer to be always connected to the Internet via 3G.
Thus, HP figured it would offer something special to people who might end up traveling and needing mobile broadband just once in a while.
The name is HP DataPass, notebooks with pay-as-you-go Internet for those who might end up in need of Internet but don't need a regular service contract.
“Our Gobi technology is enabling advanced mobile data services on PC and tablet products from top-tier OEMs,” said Fram Akiki, senior director of product management for Qualcomm.
“Innovative pay-as-you-go plans like HP DataPass will provide network operators with new and untapped channels of service and deliver mobile broadband to a broader set of end users.”
Gobi's 3000 module features the Gobi Application Programming Interface (API) and offers 3G/4G connectivity anywhere and everywhere.
HP DataPass should be able to complement existing corporate contracts and provide some flexibility to IT managers.
It involves wholesale data that HP bought from Sprint and costs about $5 / 3.82 Euro, according to exchange rates, for the no-contract plan (75MB, for about five hours of use) or $30 / 22.96 Euro(for 1 GB).
It is also one of the few options that people have when traveling from country to country every few weeks.
Visit Gobi's website to learn more about its embedded data connectivity modules.