O2's PCi-Express card.

311

Can anyone recommend the pci-express card from o2 (E170)?
I'd rather not have anything hanging out of my laptop ,but I'm not sure whether it's a good one to go for ?

watty

If it has an external aerial socket it's immediately a better idea than an E220 USB modem (which often needs 2 x USB to power it).

311

I found a link on huawei's site ,
http://www.huawei.com/policy/simpleres.do?id=1041&type=abouthw

I'm not sure to hold off and get one of the newer USB slimmer sticks. Do internal cards like above generate any heat ?

jor el

The E170 is a USB stick. Specs look similar to E270. They don't seem to have any PCI-e cards listed.


edit: Ah, E870, expresscard. Still don't see it listed on O2 though.

311

The guy in 02 shop showed me it ,so I've come back to check it out first.
I may aswell go for it ,if it's only new.

311

Got this card running and it's a tidy little yoke.:)
Gave it a lash at a 50MB file ,got a constant 3+ MB DL speed . Uploading is around the 1.4MB mark on speedtest.net.

I'm not living very close to any masts (hilly area) ,nearest one is about 2 kilometre.

zilog_jones

I thought this thread would be about PCI Express Mini Cards (i.e. the internal cards in modern laptops), not ExpressCards (they're not called "PCI Express Cards").

Does anyone sell any HSDPA PCIe Mini Cards? I know they depend on suitable internal antenna connections, but I've never seen them besides being optional extras when buying a laptop (Dell do ones with Vodafone SIMs).

watty

Slots:
PC express card can use USB2.0 or PCIe bus. Most Modems use the USB2.0 feature. The USB 2.0 is slower than Cardbus and PCie is faster than cardbus. True Cardbus/PCMIA adaptor dongle available. CF adaptor works virtually all CF type devices

PCMCIA and CardBus use same slot, but are different speeds and performance. Most modern PCMCIA cards are Cardbus. Adaptor to PCexpressCard only works for USB type express cards. CF adaptor works virtually all CF type devices. True USB 2.0 adaptor up to 4 ports. More than one port may need external PSU. 4 Port USB 2.0 adaptor for card bus alwasy needs ext PSU if total current more than 2 USB at max.


CF card interface Smaller than PCMCIA. Not just Compact Flash memory. Many devices. Actual memory usually much faster than XD or SD at same capacity.


Bus cards at rear chassis in order of age:
S100 bus (Pre PC)
Apple II slots
8 bit ISA (PC)
16 bit ISA (AT)
VESA/16bit ISA dual connector (total rubbish, some 486s)
PS/2 bus (never popular)
EISA (ISA compatible answser to PS/2, only much used on servers)
PCI (3 different connectors and types. Only seen biggest kind on servers)
AGP (rubbish really, serious compatibility issues on early versions)
PCI Express (much less pins)


Minature Internal cards:
PCI express Mini card internal for PCIe Bus
MiniPCI is internal but more connections and similar to regular PCI bus. Comes in two types/sizes, but one is rare. Basically electrically PCI bus.
A few other rarer cards

If a laptop is not designed for internal GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA modem it may not work even with the 900/1800/2100 GHz aerial needed (850/1900 for some countries). Mini PCIe Modem cards are available. Not cheap.

zilog_jones

watty wrote: »

PC express card

The correct name is "ExpressCard" - there's nothing before it. The PCMCIA website has more info on the standard.

PCMCIA and CardBus use same slot, but are different speeds and performance.

"PC Card" was the name used for PCMCIA cards since version 2 (1991), and they're not necessarily the same slot - there's 3 different official thicknesses of PC Card (and at least one proprietary size), and CardBus cards have different notches so they don't fit in older PC Card slots.

If a laptop is not designed for internal GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA modem it may not work even with the 900/1800/2100 GHz aerial needed (850/1900 for some countries).

Indeed - for starters the motherboard also needs a SIM card slot somewhere! I built Dell laptops for a while, and they had PCIe Mini Card slots with specific labels for WLAN cards, "WWAN" cards (wireless modems) and sometimes "WPAN" or "UWB" cards - apparently for some ultra-wideband standard that doesn't seem to exist (anyone?), though either that or the WWAN slot could also be used for a "FCW" (Flash Cache Module a.k.a. Robson or Intel Turbo Memory) card which works with ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive in Vista. Only the low-end models (Inspiron 6400, 1501, Vostro 1000) didn't have WWAN card slots.

watty

Yes Zilog_Jones you have the pedant mode on

If you have two PCMCIA/Cardbus sockets stacked, you can put in the larger format (used for HDD originally) in lower slot.

I have an old ISA adaptor that only takes original PCMCIA. All my laptops ever took cardbus also. My newer PCI bus adaptor for desktop takes either like most laptops.

Some (many?) modules do have the SIM slot on board. Fine as long as you don't need to change SIM. Siemens have OEM module with SIM slot.