Usability of WWAN in other countries

[Nickolai]

I would like to buy a portable laptop with minimum weight and maximum battery life. My current pick is X60s, or maybe X61s.

I would like to have wireless internet included. PCMCIA card or cell phone over Bluetooth is okay, but if I could have a notebook with built-in Mobile Broadband, as IBM/Lenovo calls it, that could be just great. IBM/Lenovo doesn't offer laptops with mobile broadband here in Russia officially. I think of buying an X series on eBay. Can it be possible for me to use a some model of ThinkPad with Mobile Broadband made for other country?

I see two major categories of mobile broadband, by cellular network: GSM or CDMA.

As far as I could figure, CDMA in Russia is utilizing a frequency that is different from any other country, at least from USA and Europe for sure. It's 450 MHz in Russia and 2000 MHz in other countries. That means that CDMA is a no-go for me. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Maybe I can go with a GSM ThinkPad? As far as I know, it's AT&T in the US. Is Canadian Telus a GSM operator? How about UK?
Can I possibly make use of the ThinkPad with a GSM module even If I'll have to jump through some loops akin to those iPhone users in the countries where it's not officially released?

[Nickolai]

If any of you is using a ThinkPad with Mobile Broadband, please tell me how does it look?

1. What network operator do you use and what country you are in.
1a. Which network technology is utilised if you know this. i.e. some GSM operators tell that they use 3G. But which one 3G technology? They often do not tell. I know that HSDPA is being implemented here in St.-Petersburg, Russia.

2. Was there a SIM card that had to be inserted to a broadband module before first use or not.

[Nickolai]

I would especially like to hear from ThinkPad users from the countries other than the ones which their Mobile Broadband was intended for. Did you manage to use your Mobile Broadband and how? Or, maybe some of you from U.S., U.K, or Canada managed to use Mobile Broadband when travelling abroad?

[Puppy]

Czech Republic - no way. Non-standard hardware is needed to get mobile Internet. Currently PCMCIA cards are available only.

[Nickolai]

Thank you.
I kind of expected this. If I won't find confirmation that using embedded mobile broadband is possible for me, I'm going to use PCMCIA card too.

Currently I have my mind set on this: Huawei EC-500
This PCMCIA card should provide me with fast internet access (CDMA), and it doesn't stick out like other one I saw. (antenna is retractable)

[Puppy]

There are four operators. T-Mobile operator has a bombastic named service called "4G" which is UMTS TDD on non-standard frequency. They have custom IPWireless PCMCIA card. The card is also able to work with GRPS/EDGE network (which has good coverage). O2 operator has HUAWEI EC500 card exclusively for CDMA. T-Mobile offers it as a prepaid service as well while O2 doesn't. Vodafone operator has no fast mobile Internet yet. Ufon operator has CDMA on non-standard frequency which requires custom USB Anydata modem device. O2 has started to experiment with standard 3G services but the coverage is just ridiculous. Welcome to the crazy world

The funny part is if you have a notebook without PCMCIA slot and/or you don't want to have a weird thing stick out of your USB port, you are lost.

[Zender]

I have the EC500 from Huawei and have to say the reception is quite poor, compared to USB modems. Basically I often have to attach the external antenna (the retractable one isn't enough) to get about the same reception as you'd get directly with an USB modem. Though it depends on the coverage, perhaps it wouldn't be a problem at your place.

As for ThinkPad-integrated, there are CDMA cards supporting 800/1900MHz and UMTS cards on frequencies 850/1900/2100MHz (UMTS cards are backwards compatible with slow GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900MHz). You have to check if anything of that is suitable for you.

[Nickolai]

I have the EC500 from Huawei and have to say the reception is quite poor, compared to USB modems. Basically I often have to attach the external antenna (the retractable one isn't enough) to get about the same reception as you'd get directly with an USB modem. Though it depends on the coverage, perhaps it wouldn't be a problem at your place.

That's very sad to hear. I was going to use this not only in the city downtown, but also away from the city, in the village. (This is supposed to be Mobile technology, right?) But I have no other option than to try, because I actually already bought an EC500 with that big additional antenna (and I don't have a notebook yet )

As for ThinkPad-integrated, there are CDMA cards supporting 800/1900MHz and UMTS cards on frequencies 850/1900/2100MHz (UMTS cards are backwards compatible with slow GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900MHz).

You have to check if anything of that is suitable for you.

That's what I am trying to do.

[Puppy]

I was going to use this not only in the city downtown, but also away from the city, in the village. (This is supposed to be Mobile technology, right?) But I have no other option than to try, because I actually already bought an EC500 with that big additional antenna (and I don't have a notebook yet )

The truth is there is no real useable mobile Internet connection yet

[sayagain]

X61_ and X300 WWAN option cards for HSDPA/UMTS/WCDMA/GSM ship with MC8775 Sierra Wireless card, and can be UNLOCKED by downloading software from: http://www.dc-unlocker.com

A forum member has reported that he tried it, and it worked well. (You need to have Windows XP (only) for this software to work). If you cannot have your laptop run WinXP, you need to get an unlocked version on eBay (better try eBay.de because by law all mobile cards in Germany must not be locked)

Most European countries use WCDMA technology (HSDPA/UMTS/HSUPA/HSPA).

Some countries have both WCDMA and CDMA2000 (aka EV-DO) implemented. (The ones I know of are: USA, Australia, and Israel)

I think you should choose a card-technology that is most widely covered in your home country (Russia), so if its CDMA2000/EVDO (albeit the unique 450mhz you stated) you must find a suitable card, and then seek help from forum members, to have the BIOS of your new Thinkpad patched, to white-list this card.

The reason I am advising you to use Internal card, and not PCMCIA/ExpressCard, is that users are reporting Extreme Speeds when using the built-in screen Antennas that ship with WWAN-Configured ThinkPads. Even on those who show full reception on PCMCIA Cards, are significantly slower than Full-reception on internal-cards (due to Antenna). Of course you can buy an antenna booster, but this is not nice to carry around. Also, they are more power efficient so more battery time for you.


Hope this helps

[Nickolai]

[Nickolai]

Thank you very much, sayagain, for this comprehensive clarification.

X61_ and X300 WWAN option cards for HSDPA/UMTS/WCDMA/GSM ship with MC8775 Sierra Wireless card, and can be UNLOCKED by downloading software from: http://www.dc-unlocker.com

From what you said I would definitely want an X60s with Mobile Broadband. Can I use said card with X60s, or X60s needs other type of card?
Can you tell me where should I look to this information myself?

I see three options to get X60s with WLAN (buying on eBay):
1. Wait for X60s WWAN-Configured with Sierra Wireless card to appear
2. Find X60s WWAN-Configured with any wireless card
3. Buy any X60s and install said wireless card
In other words, do I need to seek for a WWAN-model with antenna pre-built or any will do?

Is (3) an option at all or do I need that little antenna bulging from the lid?
Can I have problems with (2) ?

[argonaut]

In the UK Lenovo has a relationship with Vodafone for network connections.

Vodafone offers USB mobile broadband dongles.

[bill bolton]

Some countries have both WCDMA and CDMA2000 (aka EV-DO) implemented. (The ones I know of are: USA, Australia, and Israel)

The CDMA network in Australia is due to be switched off within a month.

In any case, technical capability with any standard says nothing at all about the commercial aspects of establishing an account you can actually use on a particular WWAN network.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[sayagain]

I see three options to get X60s with WLAN (buying on eBay):
1. Wait for X60s WWAN-Configured with Sierra Wireless card to appear
2. Find X60s WWAN-Configured with any wireless card
3. Buy any X60s and install said wireless card
In other words, do I need to seek for a WWAN-model with antenna pre-built or any will do?

Is (3) an option at all or do I need that little antenna bulging from the lid?
Can I have problems with (2) ?

You can see all the Sierra cards that are whitelisted by X6x series' BIOS: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 62906.html

In the event you buy an older x60s which doesn't whitelist your card, you can do an official bios-update, or a non-official bios-patch

If you get a thinkpad without WWAN, then in most cases, it doesn't have the antenna, and maybe not even the Sim-Card slot (except for X300 and other series which specifically state it has a screen with a built-in antenna). You buy the antenna pack and sim-slot as a service-part, look it up on this forum for the part-number, but you need to have a very skilled pair of hands to install this.

The best solution for you is get an X61s or X60s already configured with MC8775 (note: not the slower MC8755). If not available, then you can get X61s/X60s with the Verison/Sprint EV-DO card MC5720/MC5725 (or MC8755 for that matter) and then buy the MC8775 (Lenovo FRU 42T0931/42T0933, some others) off eBay and install it yourself (if you do, you'll see 2 antennas connected to the EV-DO card, but the MC8775 only has one, thats normal)

Its a little tricky looking up the MC8775 on eBay, you need to use multiple keywords as the sellers aren't always specifying the MC8775 keyword. But only buy Lenovo FRU otherwise you (may) need a BIOS patch.

I assume you know whether or not HSDPA is covered in your region (you stated they only started implementing it in St. Petersburg)

Finally, an X61s model number with Cingular (WCDMA) Sierra Wireless MC8775 card (Lenovo FRU 42T0933) is 766643U (eBay/Google keywords also "7666-43U"). I think I saw one on eBay for $1500, not sure if thats in your budget.

[Nickolai]

Thank you again for this informative answer.

Its a little tricky looking up the MC8775 on eBay, you need to use multiple keywords as the sellers aren't always specifying the MC8775 keyword. But only buy Lenovo FRU otherwise you (may) need a BIOS patch.

I assume you know whether or not HSDPA is covered in your region (you stated they only started implementing it in St. Petersburg)

In any case, at least it should be able to fall back to EDGE or GPRS.

Finally, an X61s model number with Cingular (WCDMA) Sierra Wireless MC8775 card (Lenovo FRU 42T0933) is 766643U (eBay/Google keywords also "7666-43U"). I think I saw one on eBay for $1500, not sure if thats in your budget.

Yes it is. Originally I was going ta pay around $1000 for a X60s without WWAN because I thought that there is no way I can use WWAN in Russia, but now that I see there is some hope I'm willing to try and hunt down the WWAN-enabled laptop, and from what I see I will have to go into much more trouble and pay more than if I chose X61s. Is it worth the trouble? We'll see.