HP is now offering US customers the option of adding an internal mobile broadband modem to their HP Mini 1000 orders. The modem will work with AT&T or Verizon’s wireless broadband networks. But it costs $199, which is significantly more expensive than the broadband $125 AT&T broadband modem Dell offers for the Inspiron Mini 9, especially when you realize that AT&T will reimburse you for $120 of the purchase price when you sign up for a service plan. There’s no indication on HP’s site that AT&T or Verizon are subsidizing the cost of the modem.

You also need to configure your HP Mini 1000 to have the 60GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM in order to purchase the modem, which drives the price up further. In other words, while the HP Mini 1000 has a base price of $399, you have to pay at least $650 to get a model with a 3G modem.

In related news, if you already purchased an HP Mini 1000 or want to buy a new one and don’t want to spend an extra $300 to get 3G connectivity, jkkmobile has posted a video demonstrating how you can add your own HSDPA modem to this netbook.

You can read more about the HP Mini 1000 in the Liliputing Product Database.