Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I received my T60 1953-DAU system 2 weeks ago. I have few questions about the upgrades. I did a lot search but didnt get any results for this model.

- Is it possible to install WWAN card in this laptop ?
- If yes I'll have to remove current 802.11 a/b/g wireless card ?
- Will I have to buy WWAN card along with antena's?
- 802.11 g will work on WWAN card ?
- Is it possible to catch signals within 10 km range after installing WWAN card ?

Like say there is a 802.11 g Linksys router about 1 km far from me.
Is it possible to connect to that device?

Thank you,
Amey.

1. - Is it possible to install WWAN card in this laptop ? YES

2. - If yes I'll have to remove current 802.11 a/b/g wireless card ? NO there is a dedicated PCI connector within yor T60.

3. - Will I have to buy WWAN card along with antena's? Most Likely YES if your T60 did not have a previous WWAN installed.

4. - 802.11 g will work on WWAN card ? NO unless your WWAN card supports the 802.11 standard - have not seen any yet.

5. - Is it possible to catch signals within 10 km range after installing WWAN card ? All depends on your location with respect to your mobile provider's mast and how many there are...etc

Peak, how do you know your answers? ltwbook?

My man Peak2Peak, and this is for you, too, erik....Actually, guess what, I've found a person with a 2623-DDU who has not only successfully installed the Atheros a/b/g/n card, but used his Verizon WWAN as his antenna...he said it was very tedious to do the upgrade. But once it's done, it all works like a charm.

He also upgraded his Core Duo to a C2D T7400 (2.16GHz). And the Vista scoring system continues to be extremely accurate and consistent. He took a snip of his scores and got a 5.1 on his 2.16GHz, and I thought, huh?, but later realized, it's a Core 2 Duo, so it makes sense that mine gets a lower score...

I've actually known this dude for a while from a cellphone forum, and never knew he was has into Thinkpads like me. He uses his Atheros-N card, too, with a Linksys 600N router, and he has the multi-channel set up in a way, so as not to interfere with his WiFi phone...That's awesome, as I also buy only Linksys equipment for wireless, like I do Thinkpads for laptops.

So to Amey, yes, you can install a WWAN card in your T60, but I am not sure how you would put that antenna that's on the right-hand side of the screen on!??? Check out the HMM for that.

You can also install the Atheros a/b/g/n card and use the WWAN antenna. Not sure about the a/b/g without n, but if one works, the other will, too, I would assume. 10km's (6 1/4 miles) range, no, on the WWAN card, I'm afraid. And I doubt you'll reach the Linksys router if it is a kilometer away (.625 miles). Probably not even with N-wireless.

Hopefully for you, someone will correct me on the range for a GSM tower that's over 6 miles away...? It would have to be a 1,800MHz tower. If it's an 900Mhz tower, no way, I'm afraid. Also, make sure you do NOT get a Verizon WWAN card, as Verizon uses CDMA technology that is used mostly only by us in the U.S. and Canada. The international frequencies (900/1,800MHz) are used by the U.S. military, so we use 850MHz and 1,900MHz for both GSM and UMTS/HSDPA. The 850MHz is also sometimes referred to as the 800 band here in the U.S. That's NOT a different band. It's only called that. In Europe, the 3G UMTS/HSDPA band is 2,100MHz. I'm not sure about India. Check out gsmworld.com for India, and your carrier.

Best of luck!

fparisi wrote:Peak, how do you know your answers? ltwbook?

With regards to points 1. 2. 3. & 4. (and reference to forum member: sco1984's - T60 1953-DAU) - I have experience of installing and upgrading various clients T60(p)'s (14.1" & 15") as well as my personal T60p - all with reference and guidance to the Hardware Maintenance Manual.

Hey Crunch, thanks for the info - goodluck with the CPU upgrade

sco1984 wrote:- 802.11 g will work on WWAN card ?
- Is it possible to catch signals within 10 km range after installing WWAN card ?

Like say there is a 802.11 g Linksys router about 1 km far from me.
Is it possible to connect to that device?

I hope you are not confusing WWAN (basically a cellular modem card) with Wi-Max (802.16)...

Thank you everybody for answering my post. I was sorta confused with few things. >

- I thought to fix WWAN card, I must remove currently preinstalled 802/11 a/b/g card from the slot.

- Secondly I am not sure if 802.11 protocols work on WWAN adapter as I never used it in any laptop in India.

I'll take care about the frequency before buying WWAN card to use it in India. CDMA cards from US dont work here. There are few work around through which converts from CDMA to GSM

Price of new WWAN card with antena in USA is still 200 + $ which seems expensive to me. Currently no carriers in India offering WWAN service so better I wait for the service 1st otherwise no use of the WWAN card.

Due to the fact that some frequency range is used by Indian army, carriers are not able to come with 3G technology which uses same signal/frequency army in India using.

sco1984: As recently been pointed out to me in another post: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight= some T60 system boards do not have provision for a 2nd Mini PCI Express connector (Usually reserved for the WWAN card) - Therefore you will have to check your system board to make sure.

So going back to your original question(s) (With ref to new info supplied above):

1. - Is it possible to install WWAN card in this laptop ? YES

2. - If yes I'll have to remove current 802.11 a/b/g wireless card ? YES If there is not a 2nd Mini PCI Express connector on the system board within your T60. (and you want to sacrifice your 802.11 a/b/g wireless card for a WWAN card)

3. - Will I have to buy WWAN card along with antena's? Most Likely YES if your T60 did not have a previous WWAN installed.


Many thanks to Forum me member "EOMtp" (see above link to post) RE: System boards without the 2nd Mini PCI Express connector.