T60 T60p WWAN sim card

[demossmd]

I'm looking to buy a T60 or T60p with a 15.0 4:3 ratio notebook. I have the maintenance manual and it appears the sim card holder may be fitted on every notebook whether it has a WWAN card or not. I was looking at an ebay auction that had a verizon card and I didn't bid on it because I wasn't sure if it had the sim card holder and how easy or difficult it would be to acquire on if it didn't. I basically would have swapped out the Verizon card for an AT&T Cingular HSDPA mini-pci MC8755 or higher card, but I know some computers won't have SIM card slots if they originally were fitted with a Verizon EVDO card. Do I have to buy a T60/p with an HSDPA card in order to get the SIM card holder?

[bill bolton]

I have the maintenance manual and it appears the sim card holder may be fitted on every notebook whether it has a WWAN card or not.

No, that is definitely NOT the case.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[Brad]

I have not seen a SIM card slot in any T60/T60p.

Brad

[EOMtp]

Do I have to buy a T60/p with an HSDPA card in order to get the SIM card holder?

You are correct that any T60/p that came with an EV-DO card can be fitted with a SIM card slot at a later time. The T60/p SIM card holder is FRU #41W1353. It is a small circuit board with a one-inch wired connector which plugs into a header that is already present on the motherboard. The maintenance manual can guide you through the installation steps.

[demossmd]

Thank you for the information. So the 15.0" 4:3 T60/p models without the EVDO or HSDPA card likely would also need the WWAN antenna FRU 91P6989. Would that part, mini-PCI card and the sim card holder convert a non-WWAN equipped model to a WWAN functioning HSDPA laptop...or is there something else. i don't see anything else, but thought I'd check.

[EOMtp]

...or is there something else.

Yes, there is: make certain a second mini-PCIe socket is present on the motherboard.

[demossmd]

Yes, there is: make certain a second mini-PCIe socket is present on the motherboard.

Hmmm, I seem to think I'm going to run into bigger problems than I anticipated...

The motherboard I'll be using in the T60/p is from a T61p 8891 4:3 notebook (system board fru: 42W7650 --nvida NB8P-GL FX570) which has two mPCI sockets, however I just noticed it has a different sim card slot number FRU 42X3919.

The FRU for the WWAN antenna for the 14.1" 4:3 non-wide screen T61/p is a dual-antenna with both WLAN and WWAN in one FRU (93P4515), however I don't think this is that big of a deal. These mini-PCIe WWAN cards all have the same antenna connectors so I'd likely be able to use the T60p WWAN antenna.

Finding a T60p 15.0 with an HSDPA card seems impossible to find eventhough the maintenance manual gives a lot of model numbers with such. Hopefully, I can purchase these sim card holders and antennas...they can't be that expensive but does Lenovo sell such parts to everyday people?

[Crunch]

If you already have Verizon WWAN, then, and only then, can you swap it out for an AT&T (or Vodafone, etc. if you are outside of the U.S.) mini-PCIe broadband wireless card, along with the necessary SIM card tray.

Do you already have a card? Make sure you get a 7.2Mbps HSPA (HSDPA and HSUPA), not the 3.6Mbps or 1.8Mbps ones floating around ebay and CL, unless you don't care about speed.

If you get a good 3G signal, you'll be blown away by the speeds. I know I was.

P.S.: Ever considered just tethering?

[demossmd]

The T61p 14.1" 4:3 non-widescreen that I purchased doesn't have WWAN (that's the motherboard which is going into the T60/p).

1. So are you saying that if I purchase a used T60/p with Verizon then IBM will swap out to a mini-PCIe 7.2Mbps HSDPA card? For free?

2. Can I just purchase the antenna and sim card tray and HSDPA card from IBM/Lenovo?

3. If I don't buy a WWAN Verizon equipped computer or are these forbidden to purchase?

Tethering is just too much of a headache. I've never had much consistency with it. Maybe times have changed though.