XPS 1210 - sim card slot?

subway

theres a sim card slot underneath the battery on my new laptop.
does anyone know what its for or what it does?

sceptre

Wide-area networking with an attached service provider. Offered by Vodafone in the UK, no idea if they offer it here. Not cheap. Needs a WLAN card to be in the machine as well (also not cheap).

subway

there was no option for anything when configuring the laptop.
can you link to the wlan card your talking about,
i cant really find anyhting online about it

cheers

Random

This wouldn't support an O2 or Vodafone SIM card setup to work with a datacard? Or is it a different sorta slot Dell have?

Sparky

The new dell xps m1210 are mobile broadband ready.
Apperantly there is an internal card that works with 3G to offer you mobile broadband.
According to dell, it only works with vodafone and can be configured via dells own software to use the network.

You only get this is you have the model with the integrated camera on the screen

http://support2.jp.dell.com/docs/systems/xpsM1210/en/SM/cards.htm#wp1018592

Sparky

I got this laptop today and there is no card inside. Its capable of getting wireless 3G broadband but needs the broadband card, which is not available here in Ireland yet.

They have it on the UK dell site
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&sku=556-10002

I wonder when it will be available here. It would be nice to have.

SachaJ

As far as I'm aware the SIM card slot is so that you can use the mobile networks as your internet access.

At the moment we have 3G (up to 384 kilobits/s) as our fastest mobile speeds but by the summer we'll have HSDPA (up to 3.6 megabits/s) from both Vodafone and O2. Dell are advertising the 3G/HSDPA module as Vodafone but I'd be very surprised if it was network locked.

Unofficially we should have HSDPA in a matter of weeks.

Plums

I believe you can get 3G, 384k for about e40-50/month unlimited and if its available in the mountains of Donegal then its sure to be in Dublin etc.

Just found this ...

http://www.vodafone.ie/soho/price/dataroaming/3ggprsplans/index.jsp

SachaJ

Plums wrote:

I believe you can get 3G, 384k for about e40-50/month unlimited and if its available in the mountains of Donegal then its sure to be in Dublin

It's not exactly unlimited. There's an unofficial cut-off of 5Gb in a month. Don't know what they'll do about it if you go over though.

WizZard

Sparky-s wrote:

which is not available here in Ireland yet.

It is. I have a Latitude D620 here in front of me with an active card, and have seens an XPS 1210 which came with the card too, all you have to do is activate it with Vodafone
Handy!

Sparky

I wish Dell didnt lie.

See it's this that gets me worked up.

Dell tell me it is not advertised nor intended for "Eire" as the tele sales person put it. Even though I pointed it out to them that its advertised on dell.ie for vodafone.

I know Novotel Wireless make the card and that expansys will have it at some stage.
I seem to be hitting a brick wall trying to order it via dell.

SachaJ

Sparky-s wrote:

I wish Dell didnt lie.

See it's this that gets me worked up.

Dell tell me it is not advertised nor intended for "Eire" as the tele sales person put it. Even though I pointed it out to them that its advertised on dell.ie for vodafone.

I know Novotel Wireless make the card and that expansys will have it at some stage.
I seem to be hitting a brick wall trying to order it via dell.

HSDPA will be available in Ireland very soon and I see no reason what the inbuilt module would not work with Vodafone Ireland. Currently it should work on the 3G network.

That said I am a little suspect that the price of the module has gone from EUR179 to EUR9999 on the dell site (Latitude 420 Medium Sized Businesses). Just checked if you go in under small business the HSDPA module is still there for EUR179

Sparky

Is that with the laptop your checking it?

Vodafone contacted me after I contacted them and have informed me that a USB modem should be in the shops by the end of the month to save me getting a module.

Sparky

Right an update:

After 4 phone calls to dell, I got through to someone who I could just understand. So I ordered the module. It arrived this morning with step by step instructions and a Vodafone IRL sim card.

The good news for me is that the module works with an O2 sim card and gets 3G.

SachaJ

Sparky-s wrote:

Right an update:

After 4 phone calls to dell, I got through to someone who I could just understand. So I ordered the module. It arrived this morning with step by step instructions and a Vodafone IRL sim card.

The good news for me is that the module works with an O2 sim card and gets 3G.

Did you have to install the module yourself?

I'm thinking of buying a Dell Latitude D420 but in the Medium/Large Sized Business the module is €9,999.00 (as opposed to €179.00 in Small Business) and in the Small Sized Business I can't get the "Mediabase".

Might have to ring them so.

subway

just ordered the wwan [truemobile 5500 hsdpa/3g] card off ebay for 90 euro.
when it arrives do i just go to vodafone and buy their broadband package?