Is it worth getting wireless for subsidized netbook prices?
As a preamble to this article, let us hereby state that it is possible to buy a netbook for under a 100 bucks.(Verizon’s Black Friday Deal offers one for the uber-steep price of $29.99) However, before you go skipping away to a wireless provider store, it’s worth it to take a look at the cumulative effects of this purchase. As a purely numerical example, say you buy a netbook from Verizon for $30. You then have to make minimum payments of $60 every month for the next 24 months towards your wireless charges. This works out to the grand sum of $1440. Oh. Throw in that $30 netbook as well and you have $1470.
It astounds me just how many people will just see the fact that they saved themselves a couple hundred, failing to notice that they actually spent about $1200 more than they needed to!
It’s a simple case of identifying the order of your needs. If you need a wireless connection and would like to get a netbook anyways then this is a good deal to take. If on the other hand you’re buying the wireless to get a netbook cheap and don’t really want the connection, DON”T DO IT. Just suck it up and spend that $300 and save yourself a hundred hours of overtime.
Now that that’s dealt with, here are the best offers from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.
AT&T Packages
The netbooks offered under the AT&T Online Only deals are the Acer Aspire One, Lenovo S-10, and a Dell Mini 10.
- We don’t know which Acer is being included in the package, but the price under the deal is $144.99 plus the plan charges. In comparision the lowest-priced Acer Aspire One is available on amazon for just about $260.
- The Lenovo S-10 costs $99.99 from AT&T. It’s available from amazon for $293.
- The Dell Mini 10 costs $149.99 with the plan. On amazon it costs $329.99.
Verizon Wireless Packages
Netbooks offered (we don’t know the particular models so we’ve included base model prices). Also the Verizon prices are for 2 year contracts.
- Gateway LT2016 – $259.99 on amazon, $29.99 with Verizon
- HP Mini 110 – $328 on amazon (This price is for the Windows 7 OS), $149.99 with Verizon
- HP Mini 311 – $399 on amazon, $199.99 with Verizon
Note on Verizon wireless packages. One plan is $39.99 a month for 250MB vs $59.99 for 5GB. Don’t be daft and get the 250MB plan. You’re paying less than double for 20 times the usage, if you get the 5GB. Plus 250MB is nothing and you’ll run up a massive bill at $.10 per extra MB. (A 5GB usage with 250MB plan would cost you $514.99)
Sprint Wireless Packages
Sprint is offering the Dell Mini 10 in some Sprint stores for $199.99 (after $100 mail-in rebate) with an in-store activation and 2-year contract until January 9th, 2010.
Filed under: Netbook