Lenovo Unveils 'Anytime, Anywhere' Mobile Broadband

PC vendor Lenovo today announced its new no-contract mobile broadband service, available to owners of select ThinkPad laptops.

The cloud-based service, dubbed Lenovo Mobile Access, provides "pre-connected, always-on, customizable connectivity to the Internet and corporate networks," the company said in a statement. It is embedded in certain ThinkPad Classic and ThinkPad Edge laptops, and is available in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

The company advertised its dongle-free product as an ideal solution for users who need to access online content while away from their home, office, or public Wi-Fi.

"We live in a world where it's not only undesirable to be without online access, it's often disruptive to businesses," Dilip Bhatia, Lenovo's ThinkPad Business Unit vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

The flexible service is built for casual or frequent users, with payment options that range from 30 minutes and 30MB for $1.95 to monthly 2GB or 6GB data access plans.

"To date, connectivity has been 'off the rack' and one-size-fits-all,'" said Richard Schwartz, president and CEO of scalable cloud-based platform Macheen Inc., in a press release. "Too many mobile users are forced to squeeze into a mobile broadband contract that gives them either more or less connectivity than they need, or they go without entirely."

Continuing his fashion analogy, Schwartz said that Lenovo Mobile Access lets users trade ill-fitting plans for tailored pay-as-you-go connectivity.

ThinkPad X Series models are available today with Lenovo Mobile Access, according to a Lenovo spokeswoman. The T Series service-equipped models will be available on July 1.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 10:23 p.m. Eastern with comment from Lenovo.