Thinkpads Forum

My T61 and myself need your opinion!

I'm located in St.Petersburg, Russia. Plan to travel a lot this summer.
The countries to visit would be Finland, Germany and maybe Israel.

Got a 622ANXHMW WiFi-WiMax card but have also been thinking about 3G.

Could someone recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad T61 3G solution that would strike a balance between 'not uber expensive' and 'not stone age'? Middleton BIOS is a must, that's understood.

Would Gobi 2000 have what it takes or should I look elsewhere?

Also, looking at Gobi 2000 cards on eBay, how come HP Gobi 2000 cards are around $30 while Lenovo Gobi 2000 cards are around $80?

Ericsson F3507G card would also be a good candidate.

The countries you plan to visit all seem to support 3G over the 2100MHz frequency band according to the GSM Bands information by country website - As per forum member Raceboy, the Ericsson F3507g is a good candidate which supports does support 3G over 2100MHz (as well as 1900/850MHz also).

The Gobi 2000 cards support a multitude of frequency bands and may be semi future proof if wanting to visit countries with different 3G bands etc. As you rightly pointed out the HP versions do seem to have come down in price over the Lenovo one's - Maybe the far-east sellers I have been looking at, have obtained them as a bulk purchase cheaply or these cards may be "end of line" as they are possibly being replaced by the Gobi 3000.

As you will be applying/already have the Middleton BIOS - I can also recommend the (non-whitelisted) Huawei EM770 or EM770W as I have used them both and have found them to be very stable and reliable with good connectivity especially with weaker signal sources - There is generic software available in the form of the Huawei Mobile Partner utility with Win XP/Vista/7 32/64bit driver support - both cards support 3G over 2100MHz (as well as other frequency bands).

The big plus on the Ericsson side is that there are drivers for Windows 7 available that don't need any other 3rd party software to connect to 3G network, you connect just like to any wifi connection and in network connections the card appears as "Mobile Broadband Connection" and you can control it through system tray icon just like wifi. I really like this feature and hate 3rd party software which just eat resources (yes, "Access Connections" included).

Thank you for your opinions - my 3G use has been limited to my cell phone so far.

Peak2Peak, did you have a chance to compare Huawei EM770W and F3507g or Gobi 2000 in terms of connectivity?

Another question I have is power consumption. My first GPS equipped cell phone would eat up a battery in 3 hours while the phone I use today works for about 16 hours on one charge. How are things with these GPS cards in that respect?

Both the EM770/EM770W and F3507g have very good similar connectivity within the UK across all UK networks - but found the EM770's sensitivity much better in area's of low signal strength - unfortunately do not have a Gobi2000 card to do connectivity comparison's.

Also the EM770/EM770W cards can support PCM voice with the correct firmware and activation (and not forgetting voice sim plan), effectively turning your ThinkPad into a cell phone using it's internal mic & speakers or via a bluetooth connected headset - For me this a plus point and adds a little redundancy as on several occasions have misplaced my cell phone, at least now I can make/receive mobile calls - providing I don't misplace my ThinkPad too!

No matter what card, another question I have is adding WWAN antennas. A WWAN card has two antenna sockets. I bought this "bump" (with a red cable): http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Lenovo-Thin ... 519c809ed9

but I am not sure where to get the antenna for the second socket and where it goes...

Get the HMM.
Go to the overview of the LCD.
In there is a diagram of all the antenna wires.

Thanks for the hint!
So "The Bump" is MAIN - I have that one, plus there should be another antenna (AUX) that goes under the keyboard bezel.

But where do I get the AUX antenna as shown on page 88 of the HMM? eBay seems to have none.
I understand it should look like this: http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/495/42w2670.jpg, right (the one with the blue cable)?

Blue cable, got that, thanks! I asked Thinkpad Lover about a WWAN AUX antenna and he said he'll see what he can do, so there's a chance I get one. Ordered from him in the past and was very happy.

My T61 is not really T61... it's a T61 motherboard that is yet to be built into a 15" T60 with a FlexView LCD (still in transit), plus I am not quite sure which antenna set to get. Obviously, I need one for T60. Here's your old topic: http://forums.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=95741 - did you end up with 91P6989 or 91P7029? What's the difference? HMM speaks about 'WWAN' and 'Vodafone WWAN' - what is the difference there?

Also, found a blue one here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0991587448 - will try that if everything else fails.

Sim card slot already ordered and should arrive any day now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0349070387
Hope it fits!

The stupid thing is, when I was buying the T60 FrankenPad Kit from Tuus he said he could look for an extra antenna for me but I said no thanks I'm fine thinking about Wifi. Little did I know about antennae then... Not to say I know a lot more today though.

P.S. Oh, the message I was replying to has suddenly disappeared. Nevermind. )

Sorry Megavvolt - Deleted my reply as I realised just after I posted it you have a T61 and the WWAN Antenna's are usually built into to LCD assembly and was confused by you buying a T60 MAIN antenna - Then just saw your post confirming you have a T60 FrankenPad and now it make's sense with you buying the T60 MAIN antenna

I bought both WWAN FRU's and to me they are very much identical in appearance with different part number stickers - Have tried each on variuos same WWAN cards with absolutely no performance difference what so ever on the UK networks.

The Sim Card slot you have ordered looks like a T60 type

Success! Thinkpad Lover got me a set of WWAN antennae I needed - pink and blue cable ones!

Peak2Peak wrote:Sorry Megavvolt - Deleted my reply as I realised just after I posted it you have a T61 and the WWAN Antenna's are usually built into to LCD assembly and was confused by you buying a T60 MAIN antenna

What are chances to have antennas builded in to lcd assembly at 6464-w7f ? 50/50 ?

Just get one of those 3G USB sticks, then you can put any SIM card you want into it.

Long wobbling usb sticks aren't my thing. And I would like to have better reception than usb sticks with internal antenna can provide.

Should there be any additional cable beside that flat cable when wwan antenna is installed? I mean from factory. Ibm sells antenna ~37euros + about same to expences. Price ain't really cheap, but i couldn't find any from ebay.

while I can understand the idea to have 3G connectivity built-in the TP, I wonder why dont you just use your mobile phone as a modem?
Some options here.
Connect it via blutooth to TP
or via cable
or as a hot spot (android has this, symbian also with a software)
All the above will give you 3G connectivity and pretty good speeds if the local network allows.
And be prepared for mucho dinero per MB costs....

Yes, I can understand your wonder. Firstly my phone doesn't handle 3g. Then my phone operator?(what is that word.. ) charges a whole lotta money for Mb/min. And I may have to use the phone while surfing.