Jun. 6--IHAVE A PROBLEM. I'm so addicted to connectivity, a CrackBerry is only a gateway drug to heavier devices. An iPhone can only get me through a stoplight without the DTs.

I need faster downloads, a better view of Web pages and easier typing.

I'm a connectaholic who can't take my kids to Kings Dominion without being able to work.

Someone please help me.

I was locked inside Sing Sing prison Wednesday night to hear Tim Robbins of "The Shawshank Redemption" speak to inmates who were getting their college diplomas. They wouldn't let anyone bring in electronic devices. All I could think about was using the spoon they gave me for dinner to tunnel out and check my e-mail.

Making matters worse, I have a back problem, and endlessly lugging around a 6-pound laptop to support my habit supports my chiropractor's expensive sports-car habit.

I'd much prefer to carry 2-pound netbooks through airports rather than 6-pound laptops.

So I quivered with delight as I unboxed the new embedded 3G Verizon Wireless Hewlett-Packard Mini 1151 NR netbook.

The 10-inch screen is looking plenty big enough to me right now, and its keyboard, while not quite roomy, isn't bad at all.

The Verizon Wireless HP netbook is the beginning of a trend in which cell phone companies looking for new revenue streams in a saturated mobile-phone market are subsidizing sales in return for service agreements, just as they do with phones.

On May 17, Verizon Wireless began selling HP netbooks discounted to $199 after a $50 rebate with a two-year data contract starting at $40 a month with Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband Network access built in. Two days later, AT&T announced it would begin offering Acer and Lenovo netbooks.

Radio Shack is selling a "built-in mobility" Acer Aspire One 3G Netbook for $79, with a two-year AT&T DataConnect contract. It normally sells for $300, but the monthly data plan is about $60. Ouch. It's 2.2 pounds and has an 9-inch screen. Its keyboard is a little more cramped than the HP Mini's, but it has a 160-GB hard drive -- twice the Mini's 80 GB.

This week I left my laptop at home and brought the 2.4-pound HP Mini with me on a five-day trip hopping from Stafford Airport (OK, not much lugging involved there) to New York to Maine to Pennsylvania to Richmond, hotel to friend's house to hotel. Out on the bay at Rockport, I was enjoying the sun, water and idyllic view of the sailboats -- well, sort of -- as I surfed the Internet, e-mailed my boss and worked on this column.