Wireless carriers have been subsidizing cell phones for years, but just recently many of the same companies are considering subsidizing netbooks.

Radio Shack announced on Friday that they will now be selling the Acer Aspire One which supports 3G wireless for only $99.99. This is pretty cheap for a computer that usually runs for around $400, but the price is only valid when the netbook is bought with a PC data plan which starts at $60 per month.

Getting electronics for cheap appeals to most people, but what some don’t realize is how expensive the device turns out to be in the long run. For example, buying this $100 full featured netbook will set you back around $1,500 after the two year contract is up.

For those road warriors out there though, a cheap netbook with built in 3G may be the perfect Christmas gift. 3G wireless is nice when there isn’t a lot of Wi-Fi around or service of any kind is limited, but for anyone that lives in a populous city there is almost always a free Wi-Fi hot spot around the corner which is much cheaper to use.

The Acer Aspire One is an adequately powered netbook running Windows XP with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.

Hard economic times may increase the popularity of deals like this, where people can get a cheap computer and even bundle Internet with it for the price they used to pay per month for cable Internet. The story was the same with the iPhone 3G, which has also been a huge success in the smart phone market. Time will tell how many wireless carriers adopt the same ideas and follow in Radio Shack’s example.

The promotion at Radio Shack only lasts until December 24. Additional details can be found here.