Tuesday, October 07, 2008

How-to: Internal 3G to Dell Mini 9. The easy way


Click to see the video





Easy but not perfect... that will come later..



Novatel Wireless EU850D 3G mini card at Mobilx

Details, News and Links for Dell Mini 9






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35 comments:

Anonymous said...

great job as always! please do this for the acer aspire one. If posible using the 3g not soldered slot so as to keep wifi as well.

JKK said...

Thanks!

I don't have Acer here, but tnkgrl is doing it so we should get info soon..

http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Can you give a more technical reason why the pin #20 mod works, JKK?

JKK said...

pin 20 is used for enabling and disabling the radio.

on the dell mini, it defaults to disable the radio and you can enable it only with the dell software.

..but it is writen to only enable the cards they use.

so by taping the pin 20, the 3G card does't get the "radio off" signal ( +3.3V ) and thats why we can use it.

Unknown said...

It's a great alternative for wifi but is there any way to have both, wifi and sim broadband? Is the sim slot behind the battery not connected to anything?
Thanks

Anonymous said...

I tried this on eee 7XX but it wouldnt power on

Anonymous said...

The 'easy way' is to plug in a 3G USB dongle :P

Anonymous said...

jkk your mod's are pretty cool man like you vids. has any ask you how to mod touch screen on dell mini yet i would love to see video of that.. but your 3G mod was very easy

thanks again

Anonymous said...

jkk

will a eee pc 1000h take this mod?

Unknown said...

You rock! I knew it wouldn't be long to you started moding it. Now if you could try it on the mini running the msiwind.osx leopard on the dell and see if it would work with Mac. Please.......lol
Great job can,t wait to see what you do next to the mini 9 I love mine.

Kathy said...

Excellent! Definitely useful. Hope you feel better.

Anonymous said...

Great mod - but I'm still left wanting to do it 'the hard way' and make that WWAN space functional as it should be!

NS said...

That's very cool.

Are there any 3g cards that have wifi on them as well that would work?

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Can we have both 3g and GPS mod on the same machine ??

JKK said...

yes, bith 3G and GPS is possible

Anonymous said...

Is it possible to use the Dell Wireless 5520 Mobile Broadband MiniPCI Express Mini-Card?

Unknown said...

do all 3g cards work like this? because I've been pulling my hair out trying to get a Verizon 3g card to install in the miniPCIe slot in the Vaio UX280. The card doesn't get power. Any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

I have tried the 'pin 20' method on my eeePC900 to fit a non authorised Wifi/BT dualcard. As the eee boots to the BIOS the wifi LED momentarily glows blue then switches off. It does this twice. In the BIOS the Wifi is not showing so the mod does NOT work for eee. Any ideas JKK to make a non approved card be recognised by an eee wit teh stupid pci-e lock?
Thanks, Adam Elphick

JKK said...

this way doesn't work on eee pc..

asus has bios locket the wifi slot so you can't use other cards.

only bios modding would help... i cant help on that, sorry

same goes with many other computers, if it doesnt power on, it is locked..

you could solder the pin 52 to 3.3v ( to force power to it )... but i havent tested that..

Anonymous said...

I am looking for the ability to use the SIM slot beneath the battery and am looking for what needs to be done to go about finishing what Dell left open. Without an internal antennae what would I have to do to get a complete product that has Wi-Fi and 3G(maybe GPS as well if possible)(http://www.gearlog.com/2008/09/3g_support_for_the_dell_inspir.php)

What's up with the "Easy but not perfect... that will come later.." Any and all info would help, thanks in advanced.

Leopard is installed on my Mini, but I am simply looking for a solution of what you can, I am awaiting the "Perfect" solution for the Mini and its missing 3G.

Anonymous said...

would this work with the EU870D?

Anonymous said...

Are there any 3g cards you can recommend for US users using AT&T/T-Mobile? Preferable from a site selling in $USD.

Thanks!

Rick Gomes said...

I'm guessing that EU870D would work since it is just an updated model of what jkk used here. And it supports both the European freq and the AT&T frequencies for 3G. But unfortunately doesn't come with the embedded SIM slot.

Anonymous said...

I just recived my Dell 5520 WWAN MiniCard PCI, but now I see it has no SIM Slot ...

Does anybody know a way to use it?

Anonymous said...

will this work with T-Mobile?

Ric_ said...

So this is the easy way. I take it the hard way would be to solder a connector onto the unused wlan compartment? Would that work?

Anonymous said...

Very impressive video instruction. Just about to take delivery of Dell Mini 9 and order the 64 SSD and 2 MB ram. Ships from Vodafone in UK with £G but no WIFI. Can WIFI be added.
Dave L UK

Anonymous said...

Great vid, thanks. Just won a vodafone 3G enabled mini 9 (8GB) in a competition which comes wi-fi enabled. Looking forward to adding more memory to it, thanks to your tips.
Gruffalo, UK

Anonymous said...

Hi JKK,

What about the harder way ? :)
I've just bought a Dell Mini 9 and would like to have both wifi and 3g.
3G I see how to install in place of the original WIFI card.
1. For WIFI instead of original 3G what WIFI card should I acquire ?
2. Is your video applying for any Dell Mini 9 model ? (the ones prior to mobile operator restricted 3g versions)
3. Can you make an article like the one in the eeepc forum with all the cookbook items ?

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

I'm vacillating between the Dell inspiron 910 and the Acer Aspire One.

The Dell is said to have an instant on feature that could make the difference for me. I assume that's Linux on the motherboard, perhaps with Firefox easily available as part of the instant on. If that's the case, I'd love it. Instant on with Firefox would suit me most of the time, and I'd boot into XP on those rare occasions that I need Windows.

Anonymous said...

why don't you siply buy it from Dell with built in 3G modem just for 449US$ because the modem listed here will cost 150US$ and we will remove the Wi-Fi

also Dell offers for the US if you activate the Broadbad service with AT&T you will get 350 US$ in rebate

Anonymous said...

The US 3G edition costs $449 (£350).

If you buy the "Vodafone Business" Mini 9 on a 12 month contract, using the £105 cashback at www.quidco.co.uk, it will cost £287-£105=£182.

Factoring in the £15 (including VAT) monthly charge, is an extra £180.

Total is £362. Comparable price, you don't have to import the US edition and you get a year's mobile Internet access.

See, www.vodafonebusinessshop.co.uk/LaptopsWelcome.html

Anonymous said...

if the mini dell came with a att 3G card in it's slot - couldn't you just replace that one with this Novatell card?

Would that work?

Anonymous said...

Hi, is there a 3G HSDPA Modem available for the Dell Mini 9 for more connectivity?


If its available then its good

Anonymous said...

KJ,
How can I have Wi-Fi and 3g for an Acer Aspire One that has Sprint and the data plan provider as they are a CDMA system. I found this out the hard after intially purchasing the Aspire with the biult in 3g modem that will only be able to be used with a GSM provider to my sincere disdain (for the salesperson of course). I have a Blackberry Tour cell that I will be connecting with the neccessary Sim card as this is the only phone that Sprint or Verizon make with a SIM card, as they are both CDMA. Pleas advide on how to have both features possible to a non-3g equipped netbook or any other suggestion. Thanks

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