3 Mobile Broadband on my Tablet PC
One of the reasons I bought a tablet PC was so I could be truly mobile in my computing. An important part of mobile computing is to have Internet access wherever you go. And the obvious and most reliable way to get that access is to have your own mobile broadband connection.
Last year I got that connection from 3. I bought from them a USB mobile broadband modem and signed up for a prepaid month-to-month data plan.
[Source: PC World]
This year I went one better. I bought and got Lenovo to preinstall an internal broadband modem (the Qualcomm Gobi 2000) when I bought my tablet PC.
I did that because I didn’t want to carry around a USB modem that I’d have to plug in every time I was out and about and wanted to connect to the Internet.
My plan was to transfer my existing 3 connection over from the old modem to the new one. I considered going to a 3 store and asking them to do that for me but then realized that, being a technology geek, I could probably do all that (i.e. the SIM installation and network configuration) myself. And I was right :)
So, here’s how you do it…
First, Get a Connection
If you don’t already have a mobile broadband connection it’s pretty easy to get one from one of your local mobile carriers.
If you go with 3 in Australia, for example, you:
- go to one of their stores,
- sign up for an account (in my case, a prepaid one),
- tell them you’ll be using your own modem, and
- pick up the ‘3 Mobile Broadband Prepaid Starter Kit’ (which will include your SIM card).
Do read the BYO Modem page on their website before you go ahead and do that, though.
In my case all I had to do was take the SIM out of my USB modem.
Insert the SIM Card
Inserting the SIM card into your laptop (or tablet PC, as the case may be) is really easy.
In the Lenovo ThinkPad X210 tablet PC – as in other ThinkPad X-Series computers – the slot for the SIM card lies behind the battery bay (click images for larger photos):
Take the card, orient it according to the etching on the metal plate below the slot, and push it all the way in:
Then put the battery back on and you’re done.
Power-On the Modem
Assuming that you actually have a broadband modem installed in your computer and that all your drivers are up-to-date, you now need to turn your modem on.
To turn it on, use Lenovo’s Fn+F5 keystroke to bring up the ‘ThinkPad Wireless Radio’ window and press the ‘Power On’ button for the Wireless WAN Radio:
That should change the colour of the ‘Wireless WAN Radio’ text to green and should also light up (again, in green) the WWAN status indicator light just below the screen:
[Source: Laptop Mag]
If this doesn’t happen you probably don’t have a modem installed (check in Device Manager in Windows) or your modem isn’t configured properly (run Windows Update to get its latest drivers).
Configure the Connection
Next, you need to set up the connection to 3’s mobile network.
Since I use Lenovo’s Access Connections utility to manage my connections that was pretty straightforward to do. All I had to do was create a new Location Profile by clicking on the ‘Location Profiles’ tab:
And then pressing the ‘Create’ button:
Since I already have a Location Profile for my connection – called ‘3 Mobile Broadband WWAN’ – I’ll show you what its configuration is by clicking the ‘Edit’ button instead.
Under the ‘General Settings’ tab I’ve:
- named my profile,
- said that I want to connect using ‘Mobile Broadband’, and
- selected the Gobi 2000 modem (the only option in the list):
Under the ‘Mobile Broadband Settings’ tab I’ve said that this is an HSDPA/GPRS network that requires ‘Custom Settings’:
These ‘Custom Settings’ (which you get to by clicking the ‘Edit Settings’ button) are:
- the ‘Known WAN service providers’ option is ‘Other’,
- the ‘Custom service provider’ name is ‘3MobileBroadband Prepaid’ (this will be ‘3Mobile Broadband Postpaid’ if that’s the connection you signed up for),
- the APN is called ‘3services’:
There’s no need to change any advanced or additional settings. Click all the ‘OK’ buttons and you’re done.
Connect to the Network
Go back to the ‘Connect to the Internet’ tab and you should now have ‘3 Mobile Broadband WWAN’ listed in your Location drop-down list. Select that and click the ‘Connect’ button next to it.
In this screenshot I’ve already clicked ‘Connect’ so that button has changed to ‘Stop’:
It should take about 10-20 seconds to connect…and off you go!
If the connection doesn’t take place then something hasn’t been configured properly or your account with the mobile carrier hasn’t yet been activated. I can’t help you with the former (because I’ve already told you all I know) and the latter you should already have worked out with the salesperson at the mobile carrier’s store.
If further tweaking fails and you can’t find the answer on the Internet then you should take your laptop to the mobile carrier’s store and ask for help (or, alternatively, call them up and get help over the phone).
But if all this has worked then you should now be connected to the Internet via your mobile broadband connection. Yaay!
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Hi, thanx for a great article about x201t.
I have one also and are trying to work with tre-mobileboadband.
After following your guide, my computer says “SIM card is not present. Insert the SIM and try again.”
Do you have any suggestions. I live in Sweden. The card works in my cellphone.
Do you know of any programm that can access the SIM-card to test the SIM.
Hi, Jellberg. I’m not sure why that would be happening but I can make a few informed guesses.
Hardware issues: Is the SIM card pushed into the slot all the way? And is the card facing the correct way as well? Its orientation should follow the diagram etched into the metal strip next to the slot. In my case, the SIM card’s metallic connectors face downwards and the notched corner faces outwards.
Driver issues: Try rebooting your computer after you’ve put the SIM card in and you have activated your WWAN modem (using Fn-F5). If that doesn’t work, run Windows Update to make sure you have all the latest drivers for this hardware. Check your Device Manager (under the Control Panel) to make sure you have your WWAN modem listed in the ‘Network Adapters’ section (mine is called ‘Qualcomm Gobi 2000 HS-USB Mobile Broadband Device 9205′) and that this is working properly.
That’s all I can think of right now. If all else fails, you could call the Lenovo support line and they should be able to help you out further.
hi Ameel,
your article has just help me a lot. but it seems, my problems in not solve yet. at least some i know what is wrong with my x201. hopefully you can point me in the right way.
following your steps, when i insert my sim card, and press Fn+F5, there is no option to switch on wireless wan radio and there is no indication light on light on the front that it has detected my sim card.
however, when i open thinkvantage access –> tools, there is an option of mobile broadband that is in grey color, where i can’t click or do anything to it.
under device manager, i have the following network adapters:
Bluetooth Lan Access Server Driver
Inter(R) 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) Centrino (R) Advanced-N6200 AGN
Can’t seem to find any WWAN modem, or is one of the above is it already? The lap that i am using has the sim card slot.
Sorry for this long post, as this is driving me a bit crazy. I am from malaysia. My sim card, is a broadband sim card that can be used in my HTC Desire 2.
Hope you can shed some light in it.
Thanks and regards,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
It appears that you don’t have a mobile broadband modem installer on your tablet PC. If you did have one installed you should have had a fourth device listed there called “Qualcomm Gobi 2000 HS-USB Mobile Broadband Device” (or something like that).
Note that all X201 tablet PCs have SIM card slots in them. They have this slot regardless of whether you have a mobile broadband modem installed or not.
It could also be the case that your modem is installed but, for some reason, is not working or is not recognized by Windows.
In either case, I suggest you call up Lenovo support in Malaysia and ask for their help.
Hope things work out with you quickly!
hey Aimeel,
thanks a lot for your help. guess that’s what i should do.
do you know, if there is there any other way to check if my laptop have the WWAN card besides from checking it from device manager?
if there isn’t then, i have to go get the card and add it in.
Thanks..
Regards,
Jeremy
Jeremy: As far as I know, Device Manager is the only built-in way in windows to see whether you have some hardware installed on your computer or not. In fact, it’s supposed to show you everything that’s connected, even if that piece of hardware isn’t working.
Did you order this laptop yourself? If so, check your invoice or system order/configuration to see what optional hardware came pre-installed.
hi Aimeel,
nope, the office ordered it from me…guess i have to check with the IT guys to see if the hardware is inside..anyway, really thanks for your help Aimeel.
You have a great day….keep writing your blogs, you are really helping other people that computer drives them insane.. =)
Cheers mate….
Hi there, I am thinking about buying a android tablet off ebay, I am interested to know if I can plug my exsisting 3 wireless broadband usb key striaght into a tablet, will this work for the interenet?
thanks
I’m not sure. I suggest you check on the 3 website or call their help desk. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Hi,
I have a mid tablet with windows 7 and a sim card module that was working when I first got it. But somehow in setting up the computer I disabled it or didn’t configure it right. Then when I tried to fix it I just made it worse. Now it won’t detect the device. I have followed your steps up here, but I think I did something in the COM+ settings and now don’t know how to fix it. Can you help me?
Thank you,
Ashley Dutton
Ashley: I only know how to do this on Lenovo PCs so I’m afraid I can’t help you with your specific problem. Sorry about that.
Does your tablet manufacturer have a helpline that you can call? If not, try the help center or message board on their website.
Great! thanks for sharing. My broadband software is not working. Is there any solution to fix it?
Syafz: I’m not sure what you mean by ‘broadband software’.
Generally, there are two ways to access wireless broadband: (1) If you don’t have a built-in broadband modem, you get one from your service provider and plug that into your PC (usually in a USB port). (2) If you have a built-in broadband modem, you place the SIM card straight into your laptop (as described in this post).
For (1) you need a driver for your modem and some connection software. Both of these are usually included on the modem itself and, if those aren’t working, I suggest you get your broadband service provider to help you out (they’ll know much more about their own modem and connection software than I would).
For (2) you need a driver, which Windows or your laptop provider should have install for you already, and some connection software, which could be supplied by your hardware provider (otherwise you can always use Windows to manage your connections).
Let me know which of these connection methods you’re doing so I can try and help you further.