X61s (Re: [ltp] Self-install or commercial install?)

[Theodore Tso]

On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 08:00:31AM +0100, David Bremner wrote:
> Life is simpler with GSM based WWAN cards. I bought an unlocked Sierra
> Wireless 875 PCMCIA card for $100, bought a sim card for 15 euros
> (purchases on different continents), plugged it in, and it works (in
> my x61s), no Windows required.  I haven't used it very much, so I
> don't know of any required updating process, but I doubt it. 
> But Ted's point not to buy the builtin WWAN card stands.  And in the
> US and Canada high speed GSM coverage is apparently not very good.

At least for the laptops sold in the US, Lenovo doesn't even bother
selling GSM-based connectivity options.  In the US, if they say WWAN,
they meed Sprint or Verizon EVDO.

I do have an "all you can drink" T-mobile GSM network connectivity
option, which I access via bluetooth from my laptop to my cell phone,
but I rarely use it, because it is ghastly slow (as in dialup modem
speeds on a good day), and the coverage is pretty horrible.  I used to
use it as backup when EVDO service wasn't available, but these days
that's actually pretty rare.  I probably should drop it from my
T-mobile account one of these days....

(And yes, I have a recent cell phone with HSPDA support; the problem
is in T-mobile's network and their support of HSPDA.)

						- Ted