Telstra to offer Next G ready laptops

(Credit: CNET Australia)

Telstra has teamed up with Acer to add notebooks and laptops to its Next G range of devices, offering these machines on similar monthly contracts it sells mobile phones on.

Breaking away from its current range consisting only of mobile phones and business handhelds, Telstra today announced it would begin offering Acer One notebooks and Acer Aspire laptops with Next G SIM cards embedded. This means the laptops can connect to the Next G network without the need for an external wireless broadband modem.

"Telstra worked with Acer to make sure once a customer has purchased an embedded laptop it was simple and quick to connect to the internet ... allowing them to start surfing the internet straight away," said Glenice Maclellan, Telstra consumer executive director.

Telstra will sell the Acer computers in its T-Life stores for $0-upfront on a $39 per month data plan plus a monthly laptop repayment expense, the cheapest being $30.38 per month. Vodafone entered into a similar partnership with Dell computers last year and is currently selling a Dell Mini 9 notebook with a 5GB monthly data allowance for $59.95 per month.