alienware m11x onboard sim?

[shmadz]

I almost necroed the m11x review thread to ask this question but I figured I might have a better chance of a hit here...

Just ordered m11x r2 today. saw the option for broadband providers and I thought it was just some kind of promo... "I don't need this, I already have broadband" I thought.

Then I found out that this little beast has an onboard slot for a sim card!!! This is freakin' huge for me as this will be my work computer and I need to connect constantly thoughout the day.

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THE QUESTION: Do I need to call dell to change my order to accept a telus card? or will any sim card work in this onboard slot? (I originally chose "no ISP" when I ordered...)

[JD]

AFAIK the SIM card slot doesn't do anything unless you have a mobile modem installed in one of the mini-PCIe slots.

My XPS m1330 has a slot for a SIM card too but it does nothing without the modem. I'd imagine you'd have to find a modem with Telus supported frequency bands.

[shmadz]

thanks for the quick response.

pcie modem sounds like the same or more trouble than the usb stick that my current solution uses (like a telus rocket stick thingy)

that's why I got all wet in my private spots when I saw the onboard sim card - I started to imagine how convenient an integrated modem for my sim card would be...

ah well, I guess you can't have everything.

[JD]

Yeah, I'd just stick with the USB.

It's hard to say if Alienware pre-wired the antennas for WWAN or not as well. I know in my m1330 they did though. And well finding a suitable WWAN modem would be the tricky part. Not sure if they're locked similar to cell phones or not.

[MARSTG]

there are some laptop that have the modem and the antennas already wired, you just pop in the simcard, configure the APN and you are good to go.