Need WWAN advice please

[FragrantHead]

Can someone fill me in on the ins and outs of WWAN (HSPA) access? I live in the Republic of Ireland and bought a machine, T410s with Qualcomm GOBI 2000, in the UK recently. It did not come with a SIM. Since getting the machine I have experimntally downgraded it to Windows XP, but now re-installed Windows 7 (64-bit) from the recovery partition. Thing is, I could have sworn it was Windows 7 Tablet Edition before (this T410s has the touch-screen), but now says it's Windows 7 Professional. I think the recovery partition may be the US preload, which is all I have now, whereas it may have been customized for UK before. The reason I say this is that I got a Vodafone SIM, put it into the slot beneath the battery, and it could see the Vodafone cellphone tower in Access Connections, but then proceeded wanting to enrol me with Verizon, which are a US carrier not available here. To my horror I then read the ThinkWiki site, which mentions that WWAN cards tend to be network locked, like mobile phones, and the firmware may need to be flashed. Furthermore it claimed the firmware could not be downloaded anywhere, but would be available in the country-specific Windows preload on a laptop. It appears I may be stuck. Does the above sound correct? How do I go about using the machine with an Irish (Vodafone) SIM?

[Volker]

I haven't played with my WWAN yet since I'm usually tethered to my N1, but from other people's posts it seems like the Gobi 2000 is unlocked. Which makes sense for a card that claims to support every wireless standard on the planet

The firmware is loaded at each startup by the gobi driver. You just need a non-branded setup program, i.e. not use Lenovo's access connections.

[EOMtp]

Install the Verizon software (VZ Access Manager). Start that program, and you will see an option to "switch" the card to GSM/HSPA mode from the default CDMA/EV-DO mode. Once you do that, You will be able to use it on any GSM system for which you have a SIM card. (Note: Disable the option in the Verizon software whereby the program turns off the card when it exits.)

[Volker]

Considering that the card picks up an Irish cell phone tower its fair to say that it is already in GSM/UMTS mode.

[EOMtp]

Perhaps. Still, how would it have gotten into that mode if you did not change the mode explicitly?