Lenovo offers mobile Internet access with notebooks

Lenovo Group and mobile operator China United Telecommunications (China Unicom) have begun offering wireless PC cards and mobile Internet access with some Lenovo notebook computers.

The wireless Internet package allows users to access the Internet over China Unicom's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) 2000-1X cellular network. The bundle, which includes a CDMA 20001-X card and three months of nationwide "all-you-can-eat" mobile Internet access, is being offered in China as part of a summer promotion that began on June 20, according to Jean Cai, a spokeswoman for Lenovo in Beijing.

At the end of three months, users will have to sign up for a subscription from China Unicom to continue the service, she said.

CDMA 2000-1X is a cellular technology that offers greater range than IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN technology, commonly called Wi-Fi. The notebook models on offer as part of this package already include Wi-Fi support as a standard feature.

The wireless Internet package is available with Lenovo's Tianyi notebook line, including the Tianyi 100, Tianyi 100-A and Tianyi 200, as well as some models in Lenovo's Xuri notebook line. The offer does not extend to ThinkPad-brand notebooks.

The wireless-Internet bundle will be offered through the end of August.