Help !!! WWAN modem: Sierra MC MC8775 or Ericsson F3507-g?

[kokkolis]

Dear friends,

I am new here and I am kindly asking for your help as Lenovo are driving me mad !!!

I purchased a 2nd hand laptop (X61s, model 7669-45U, Windows 7 Ultimate, and latest BIOS 2.21; I also have all latest Lenovo drivers on the laptop).

I am based in UK, and I am trying to make my WWAN work (it has never been "activated").

After a lot of research and much lost time, it appears that my laptop has all antennas etc, (it also has the expandable antenna on the right hand-side of the laptop), but it's fitted with a Sierra Wireless MC5725 modem which apparently can ONLY work with Verizon and only in US.

Orange is my mobile phone provider in the UK, and I am trying to make my WWAN work in its network (without buying dongles etc).

It seems I have two options:

A. Replace the Verizon-locked modem with an unlocked Sierra HDSPA MC8775 for Lenovo (not sure if my BIOS will be happy with it).

B. Replace the existing Sierra MC5725 with an unlocked Ericsson F-3507g for Lenovo (which seems to be offering the best performance?...)

So, my question is:

1. Which WWAN modem to go for (if you don't like any of the above two, which one would you suggest?)

2. Which WWAN modem will give me the fastest performance in UK (for 7.2 kbs downlad) for the least trouble !!

3. Do you think the latest BIOS 2.21 will be happy with any of your suggestions?

I have noticed that Ericsson modems often need a hacked BIOS, but I am just hopeful that as I am using the latest BIOS, it maybe, just maybe happy with a f-3507g....you see, my laptop so far performs flawlessly in every area, so I am somewhat concerned about replacing its latest BIOS, or taping pin 20...

4. Finally, if I DO still need a hacked BIOS with the f3507g, do you know what functionality am I going to lose (either in the WWAN sector, or anywhere else)?

Your help is very much appreciated.

Best regards,
Christos

[EOMtp]

The MC8775 (updated with newest firmware) will operate close to 7.2Mbps and will not require a modified BIOS. The Ericsson F3507g will reach 7.2Mbps (if your WWAN provider can handle the speed) but will require a modified BIOS and taping Pin-20.

Taping Pin-20 disables the ability to control the on/off function of the module through software. The modified BIOS has no effects whatsoever on anything other than removing the prohibition on using "unauthorized" wireless cards. Since the X61s BIOS is now "mature", i.e., there will be no more updates, you lose nothing now, nor in the future, by using the modified BIOS.

[kokkolis]

Dear EOMtp,

I 've noticed you 've written " the MC5775 ........". Do you really mean MC5775 (as you 've originally quoted), or MC8775?

Many thanks,
Christos

[Peak2Peak]

kokkolis: Welcome to the forum!

OK - if you do not want to modify your BIOS, then according to the HMM your option would be the Lenovo MC8775 - FRU: 42T0901 aka 42T0931. I have never seen them locked and usually they are more expensive than their HP & Generic versions. Also there is a firmware update that supports 7.2Mbps - (MC8775 Firmware update to support 7.2MB - does it exist ?).

However, if you are willing to modify your BIOS, then you have the luxury of using non-lenovo cards like the Ericsson you mentioned and others too! I have been using a Huawei EM770 over the past year with my T60p (BIOS modified) and can confirm that it is a very stable & sensitive fast modem (3UK, T-Mobile UK & Vodafone UK tested) - I can even make "PC" Voice Calls via the T60p's internal mic & speakers too!

Also some useful info/links can be found in: Options for WWAN on X61

[EOMtp]

Do you really mean MC5775 ... or MC8775?

MC8775 (sorry for the typo; I corrected it above).

[fasterbybike]

A bit late to the party ... but,

I'm using a Dell 5530 (F3507G) in my X61. I had to tape pin 20, but am using the std x61 BIOS.
I run Ubuntu 9.10 and the card was recognised out of the box, and the configuration to my WWAN ISP worked first time

The only downside is that taping pin 20 means the card cannot be activated via the wireless switch on the front of the laptop - if want to switch to a power saving mode I need to use a terminal and type an AT command (a bit of a pain).

[raket]

A bit late to the party ... but,

I'm using a Dell 5530 (F3507G) in my X61. I had to tape pin 20, but am using the std x61 BIOS.
I run Ubuntu 9.10 and the card was recognised out of the box, and the configuration to my WWAN ISP worked first time

The only downside is that taping pin 20 means the card cannot be activated via the wireless switch on the front of the laptop - if want to switch to a power saving mode I need to use a terminal and type an AT command (a bit of a pain).

What if you put AT+CFUN=0
Then suspend the machine with pm-suspend or hibernate the machine?

For me - the card comes back up when coming back from suspend/hibernation some times. Bios settings are also overwritten when coming back from suspend. (eg the battery warning with loud beeps comes back even though it was disabled in bios before starting up linux at all)

[kokkolis]

Many thanks for the tip, I have to admit though that I have now purchased the Sierra MC8775 and it worked straight from the box (my only problem is that I need to replace the SIM card as I haven't used WWAN for 9 months, and it seems SIM cards "expire" if they don't get used for 6 months... Thanks though, Christos

[raket]

Many thanks for the tip, I have to admit though that I have now purchased the Sierra MC8775 and it worked straight from the box (my only problem is that I need to replace the SIM card as I haven't used WWAN for 9 months, and it seems SIM cards "expire" if they don't get used for 6 months... Thanks though, Christos

Is it possible to bond the MC8775 card with the Linux bonding driver as it does with f3507g?

In cases where HSDPA 7.2mbit is not present, the f3507g will put wwan0 on a own 3g-link to the net and then you can bond wwan0 and ppp0 over two vpn-tunnels host over the net and go up to about 400-450kb/sec (or you could use multipath routing - but if you want it in one logical interface the bonding is the way to go)


Edit: typo

[kokkolis]

To be honest I am not familiar with Linux at all, so I can't comment on this one..but I can say that it has worked pretty well on Windows 7 without faults or issues.

Cheers,

Christos