Thinkpads Forum

so plugging any GSM simcard/chip that has HSDPA will work on any network?

There is more to it than installing a sim card. You need to get the PCI Express Mini card (radio), open the X300 and install it. The sim card reader is already present, the software is present, and I would guess that the antenna lead is present.

craigg wrote:There is more to it than installing a sim card. You need to get the PCI Express Mini card (radio), open the X300 and install it. The sim card reader is already present, the software is present, and I would guess that the antenna lead is present.

doesn't AT&T support putting the sim card inside the laptop? i thought its the cingular card?

Besides having the drivers preloaded, the lid would have have the antenna built in even without selecting the broad band option. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

AT&T is Cingular. They've bought it a while ago.

I already have my X300 - I ordered it before the WAN option was available. I just bought the AT&T WAN card off of eBay. I plan to unlock it and use it in Europe with local SIM cards. Putting the card in seems really simple - just remove two screws off the botton and there's the socket.

I'll post again when I have the card. Has anybody used these guys (http://www.dc-unlocker.com) for unlocking WAN cards?

Btw, after installing Office 2007, Visio, Project, Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server Developer Edition, Smart FTP, and MapPoint 2006 I have 36 db free for data - 64gb is lots of space, it's fast, and the laptop is virtually silent.

2cdneh wrote: I'll post again when I have the card. Has anybody used these guys (http://www.dc-unlocker.com) for unlocking WAN cards?

No, but I'm counting on them to work... I am ordering my X300 with Windows-XP just so that this software could work (it does not work on Vista)

Just because Vista sucks, especially for battery life, and all of my software works with XP, can't say the same for Vista!

For any readers who are still wondering: The MC8755 is True World-Wide card, it works on all types of WCDMA (UMTS or HSDPA) networks. It does NOT however, work with HSPA (recently upgraded from HSDPA in several European countries) so it'll go 3.6mbps, instead of 7.2mbps.

2cdneh wrote:I I just bought the AT&T WAN card off of eBay.

How did you find this baby on eBay? Any special keywords to search there?

Also, do you think it'll work on the X300 since the infamous "1802" message doesn't let you install non-Lenovo cards?

2cdneh wrote:Just because Vista sucks, especially for battery life, and all of my software works with XP, can't say the same for Vista!

Both XP and Vista sucks I am hoping to multi-boot install OS-X after everything is working.

2cdneh wrote:I already have my X300 - I ordered it before the WAN option was available. I just bought the AT&T WAN card off of eBay. I plan to unlock it and use it in Europe with local SIM cards. Putting the card in seems really simple - just remove two screws off the botton and there's the socket.

I'll post again when I have the card. Has anybody used these guys (http://www.dc-unlocker.com) for unlocking WAN cards?

Btw, after installing Office 2007, Visio, Project, Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server Developer Edition, Smart FTP, and MapPoint 2006 I have 36 db free for data - 64gb is lots of space, it's fast, and the laptop is virtually silent.

you can open the X300 and install the WWAN card even if you without ordering the box with it from lenovo in the first place?

Bashar wrote:you can open the X300 and install the WWAN card even if you without ordering the box with it from lenovo in the first place?

a WWAN card can be added by removing the keyboard.   the antenna is installed in the X300 whether you order it with WWAN or not.

sayagain wrote:For any readers who are still wondering: The MC8755 is True World-Wide card, it works on all types of WCDMA (UMTS or HSDPA) networks. It does NOT however, work with HSPA (recently upgraded from HSDPA in several European countries) so it'll go 3.6mbps, instead of 7.2mbps.

Thanks sayagain! All the information I've found says this card works worldwide - a great thing for travelers.

Coming from GPRS/EDGE speeds, 3.6Mbps HSDPA is a huge boost! Good enough for me now.

sayagain wrote:For any readers who are still wondering: The MC8755 is True World-Wide card, it works on all types of WCDMA (UMTS or HSDPA) networks. It does NOT however, work with HSPA (recently upgraded from HSDPA in several European countries) so it'll go 3.6mbps, instead of 7.2mbps.

Can I ask if this is the same AT&T WWAN card that Lenovo will bundle with the X300, or a different card model that is bought from eBay? Can you confirm that this AT&T card does not have satellite GPS capability?

beq wrote:Can you confirm that this AT&T card does not have satellite GPS capability?

no GSM-based cards are capable of GPS.   only the CDMA2000 cards can do it.

beq wrote:Can I ask if this is the same AT&T WWAN card that Lenovo will bundle with the X300, or a different card model that is bought from eBay?

The X300 Hardware Maintenance Manual on the Lenovo website confirms that the current WWAN card is a Sierra Wireless MC8775 PCI Express MiniCard .

The M8785 is a GSM / EDGE / UMTS / HSDPA card that also supports GPSone.

erik wrote:

beq wrote:Can you confirm that this AT&T card does not have satellite GPS capability?

no GSM-based cards are capable of GPS.   only the CDMA2000 cards can do it.

craigg wrote:The M8785 is a GSM / EDGE / UMTS / HSDPA card that also supports GPSone.

erik wrote: no GSM-based cards are capable of GPS. only the CDMA2000 cards can do it.

from what i understand, GPSOne requires a live connection to the internet to work properly as a GPS unit and is not as accurate as a regular GPS system as it's based more off of cell sites than actual GPS coordinates.   conversely, the CDMA2000/EV-DO version can act as a standalone GPS unit.

please correct me if i am wrong.

GPSone is the version of GPS Lenovo is shipping with the Verizon CDMA card. Here is a comparison of the currently available embedded WAN modules:

http://www.sierrawireless.com/product/e ... rison.aspx

gpsOne is a position location technology developed by SnapTrack, a subsidiary of Qualcomm. GpsOne is an A-GPS technology, meaning it uses GPS satellites in conjunction with land-based stations (towers) to determine a phone?s location.

Phones with gpsOne can receive raw signals directly from GPS satellites, but require a live connection to a network-based location server to do so. The location server helps the phone find the correct satellites. The location server also processes the raw signals and makes the final calculations that determine location.

gpsOne is integrated into most Qualcomm CDMA chipsets, and is the position location technology used by most CDMA carriers.

craigg wrote:The M8785 is a GSM / EDGE / UMTS / HSDPA card that also supports GPSone.

erik wrote: no GSM-based cards are capable of GPS. only the CDMA2000 cards can do it.

Thats correct about the M8785V having the GPSOne protocol. Unfortunately, the X300 is bundled with the MC8755 (the predecessor of MC878x/MC877x series) which does not have the GPSOne protocol embedded. However, when supported by the GSM-Network-provider and using a specialty client-software, the network can send the client software network-based, realtime coordinates (less accurate than GPS / GPSOne based)

Take a look at Sierra's embedded cards feature comparison (MC8755 not listed, as it is discontinued product....STFW for datasheet):
http://www.sierrawireless.com/product/e ... rison.aspx

bananaman wrote:

sayagain wrote:For any readers who are still wondering: The MC8755 is True World-Wide card, it works on all types of WCDMA (UMTS or HSDPA) networks. It does NOT however, work with HSPA (recently upgraded from HSDPA in several European countries) so it'll go 3.6mbps, instead of 7.2mbps.

Thanks sayagain! All the information I've found says this card works worldwide - a great thing for travelers.

Coming from GPRS/EDGE speeds, 3.6Mbps HSDPA is a huge boost! Good enough for me now.

I must correct myself here - MC8755 has old HSDPA revision, which is 1.8mbps, not 3.6mbps as claimed above. I actually use it (different card), and I get 200kb/sec downloads (consistently) which is awsome

Someone mentioned removing the keyboard. There are some screws, plus to slots with little keyboard icons next to them.

Any hints on how to take the keyboard out to access the slot for the broadband?

2cdneh wrote:Any hints on how to take the keyboard out to access the slot for the broadband?

rather than a hint, how about official lenovo service videos?

http://www.lenovoservicetraining.com/io ... index.html

I installed the card, but windows could not find the drivers. However, I pressed the magic Blue Button, and Lenovo downloaded the drivers.

With that done, I downloaded DC-unlocker, paid my 16 Euros, and unlocked the card.

While I plan to use the card in Europe with local sim cards, for testing I want to use my tmobile card. However, now that I have all the hardware installed, I'm not sure what to do next. Any other time I have used a Sierra card it came with a "watcher" program.

You guys have got me this far, I'm hoping the support continues

You can download Watcher from the Sierra Wireless website. I believe this is the generic version:

http://www.sierrawireless.com/support/s ... id=4,5,1,1

I was a little worried, because the card only had one connector, but the laptop had two - I guess the other (aux ant) is for Verizon cards?

Anyway, the unlocking worked perfectly, and I was able to get on Tmobile Edge. I got the card to use mostly in Europe, but I wanted to make sure it worked. For some reason, Edge on the X300 was MUCH faster than Edge on any other device I have used it on. I think it is because at my house I showed 5 bars on signal strength, while my other devices show 2 or 3 bars - must be those great antenna in the lid!

So, in summary:

1. You can add the HSDPA wireless card at any time - everything is there
2. www.dc-unlocker.com works perfectly - great deal for 15 euros
3. Reception seems exceptional
4. Drivers were NOT preinstalled for me, but ThinkAdvantage installed them automatically
5. The generic watcher program from Sierra Wireless worked

Thanks again for all the help.

2cdneh wrote:I
1. You can add the HSDPA wireless card at any time - everything is there
2. www.dc-unlocker.com works perfectly - great deal for 15 euros
3. Reception seems exceptional
Thanks again for all the help.

Thats great news.

I could cancel my order with Lenovo (with MC8755, 4-5weeks) and get one of those In-Stock at dealers, if I was confident that I would be able to find this card on eBay or something, within the next few months. Any thoughts?

Unless they force you into a contract, it's a lot cheaper to get the card installed by Lenovo - I think it's only $40, vs $200+ to buy one. If I had known, I would have waited, but when I ordered there was nothing on the site about WAN coming soon.

That said, it's 20 minutes to get everything up and running if you retrofit, so it depends on how bad you want it.

ok, I ordered the 6478-1TU on eBay. It was actually $2799 incl. 4GB, 3-year-warranty, in-stock.

Now I just need a WWAN card