Add 3G Card to Asus Eee PC, 3g, asus, asus eee, asus eee pc, cellphones, eee, hack, how to, hsdpa...

How To Install an Internal 3G Card in the Asus Eee PC

Hardware hacking genius and electromagician JKK has published a video tutorial showing how to add an internal 3G HSDPA card to the Asus Eee PC, allowing you to connect at high speeds to the internet from anywhere in the world with 3G cellphone coverage. We talked with JKK, and according to him "it works great" and "the hack is doable by any amateur with a soldering iron." Indeed, it looks easy enough for our sausage fingers in the video:

(UPDATE 2 DEC 28 10:20 EDT: New information with all the answers about connectivity and supported networks after the jump)

JKK told us that the "signal is super," saying that it is amazing how good it works: "it was big suprise to discover that those antennas are so good." He added that the total cost of the hack is $291 (200 euros), not including your own time doing the soldering. Not bad at all for the features you gain.

JKK is the same genius who hacked his Asus Eee PC with a touchscreen. His mini-wonder is now $850, which includes the 3G modem and his touch panel display.

~~Be sure to check if your Asus Eee PC has an internal PCIe connector, however. According to site Eeeuser, there's a batch of the 4GB models (named 7B) that don't have this connector inside.~~ UPDATE: JKK says that this hack works in every currently shipping Asus Eee PC 2G/4G/4G Surf models. No PCIe connector required. Awesome indeed. In fact, he told Gizmodo that it works in all models except the old 7A: "It works in all but the first ones... on those models (7A) you would have to desolder the PCIe connector away to make enough room for the 3G module. Either that or you have to cut 20 millimeters from the modded PCB [printed circuit board.]"

After talking again with JKK, he told us that the card used works with all networks. According to him, he typically achieves about "60kbps in GPRS, 200kbps in EDGE, 350kbps in 3G (UMTS) and 2,000kbps in 3.5G (HSDPA)" data transfer rates. Not bad at all. [jkkmobile]

10:00 PM on Thu Dec 27 2007
By Jesus Diaz
30,533 views
35 comments

Comments

mrgarylee at 07:55 PM on 12/27/07
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Add 3G really makes me reconsider whether or not I should even wait for the apple ultraportable laptop. Even with the limited hard drive size, this would be the perfect laptop to carry around for bloggers such as myself! My macbook is looking more dell-ish every day!
telecomz at 08:10 PM on 12/27/07
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I'd love to see similar hack on the OLPC XO....
bjarnia at 08:17 PM on 12/27/07
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Forgive me my 3G ignorance... But when you say that you can connect "anywhere in the world" where there is 3G coverage.. How does that work? Does your phone company have to have deals with the local cell providers (that run the 3g network?) I assume so?
Because I was thinking that this computer, being really small and lightweight, would be really super handy to travel (read: semi-backpack) to countries in asia/africa/samerica... Allthough i just realized that most of these continents that i mentioned probably have very, very limited 3G coverage, if any :P
Jesus Diaz at 08:20 PM on 12/27/07
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Yeas, it's called roaming. You will pay an arm and a leg unless your usage is worth a world data plan. But in your country, a data plan should be cheap enough.

Also, if there's no 3G available, this will use GPRS.
bjarnia at 08:23 PM on 12/27/07
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Thanks... That is pretty sweet though. If my plan was to travel with it, I'd obviously get a good data plan beforehand.
strider_mt2k at 08:46 PM on 12/27/07
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Wow.

If I ever get around to getting one of these beauties it's REALLY nice to know there's info on some VERY cool hacks available.
Windhawk at 09:04 PM on 12/27/07
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This is great. Having anywhere 3G(-ish) makes the EEE PC pretty much the ideal traveling companion.

Now if they would just sell them out of the box like this...!
slingblade at 09:07 PM on 12/27/07
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So you need to have a data plan to get this baby to go?
androgenous_wombat at 09:17 PM on 12/27/07
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The only downside is having to remove the RAM to get at the SIM card. Looked easier to get to than almost every phone I've ever had.
Jesus Diaz at 09:20 PM on 12/27/07
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@androgenous_wombat: You don't need to remove the SIM card. Just order a copy of your SIM card and you are gold. Install and forget. I think the hack is pure genius.
Reilaos~ at 09:39 PM on 12/27/07
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Coolness. Is there something about the Eee PC that makes it more appealing to hack besides perhaps the price?
Joseph at 10:02 PM on 12/27/07
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CAn you put this in an iphone ?
Stacky Botrus at 10:18 PM on 12/27/07
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Wow, not only is this guy a sleeper, I discovered that the US dollar isnt worth shit.
zimstyles at 10:55 PM on 12/27/07
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@jesusdiaz: What about edge?
herbthehammer at 11:34 PM on 12/27/07
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Either I've lost my mind completely or this "shouldn't" work as good as it could. For CDMA sprint/verizon, they operate on 1.9ghz and 800-900mhz (cell and 3g). If they are using it instead of wifi, using it's antenna, the built in one is for the wrong frequency, 2.4 ghz. Anyone that knows about antenna building, could tell you that it's too short and the swr's are probably through the roof and might even burn up the output transistors on the 3g card eventually. I would be willing to bet that a usb 3g card would perform better, with stronger transmit and receive signal strength available to use.
WE_DELIVER at 12:20 AM on 12/28/07
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Wait... how does this work on the 8G models? It shouldn't
The 8Gig SSD should be in the slot where that modem is shown. The 4G/2G/Surf models should work since the SSD is soldered to the motherboard elsewhere.
rospaya at 01:02 AM on 12/28/07
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The dollar is on it's lowest, but the EEE still costs more than 300 euros in Europe (at least where I live).
karnak at 01:09 AM on 12/28/07
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There's the hack I was waiting for. It's getting pretty close to OQO (with HSPDA) as far as versatility, and still about half the price.
MrBlahBlah at 01:17 AM on 12/28/07
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if this was apple they would totally bring down the hammer
whiskey at 02:52 AM on 12/28/07
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I wanted one then... I crave one now!
Jesus Diaz at 04:36 AM on 12/28/07
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@zimstyles: I think it will work in EDGE networks too, but you have to see the specs for the card. As far as I know, the chipsets support multiple standards but I don't know about this one for sure.
Jesus Diaz at 04:36 AM on 12/28/07
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I will ask JKK
secretmanofagent at 10:13 AM on 12/28/07
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@JESUSDIAZ

Here's something odd, the 8G Eee PC is gone from NewEgg, it says "We apologize for the inconvenience, but the item you are looking for has been deactivated. Here are some similar products that you may wish to consider:"
[www.newegg.com]

Any idea what's going on?
Jesus Diaz at 10:29 AM on 12/28/07
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@zimstyles: New answers for your questions in the article.

@WE_DELIVER: Clarified. Hack is for 4G/2G.
Kaiser-Machead at 10:42 AM on 12/28/07
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Damn I need to get an EeePC
zimstyles at 11:10 AM on 12/28/07
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@jesusdiaz: Thanks Jesus
WE_DELIVER at 11:14 AM on 12/28/07
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@jesusdiaz: Thanx for looking into that :-)
OldSchoolGadgetLover at 12:03 PM on 12/28/07
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I suck at mods... even simple ones. Can JKK or some such handy person just open up a service and start modding the EEE for folks like me?

I'm sure there's plenty of money to be made.
herb at 01:30 PM on 12/28/07
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Network: 1900/850 MHz GPRS • Transmit frequency: 1850-1910 MHz and 824-849 MHz

EDGE = 800, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

UMTS specifies the bands 1900-2025 MHz and 2110-2200 MHz for 3G transmission

3G/3.5G UMTS/HSDPA - 850/1900/2100 Mhz

How does this work well on a 2400 mhz antenna (b/g wifi)? If the modder is using the built-in wifi antenna, it's too short and wouldn't work without degraded signal strength and risk of burning up the output transistors on the broadband card. Any amateur radio geek could tell you that. Did he actually go to the trouble of making his own antenna for it in the proper frequency band(s) and put it inside the lid of the palmtop? I highly doubt it! Nice idea but I certainly wouldn't have done a half assed job and used the 2.4ghz antenna.
auroragb at 01:48 PM on 12/28/07
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@Reilaos, Original Asus Fanboy: It's the cheapest for the weight. Nothing in the weight class comes close in functionality and price. So, if you brick one, you're just out $400 instead of $1500 on the UMPC
celloids at 02:25 PM on 12/28/07
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Nice hack, but if given a choice, why go through all that soldering? unlike the touchscreen hack, I don't see the economic benefit for this hack for mass adoption.

Why not buy a usb hsdpa datacard where you can unplug and share the card with other PCs and devices?
OldSchoolGadgetLover at 02:39 PM on 12/28/07
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@OldSchoolGadgetLover: True... I should just man up and give the mods a shot I guess (I secretly want the 10" model coming out anyway).
tnkgrl at 02:06 AM on 12/29/07
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Nice hack JKK... You beat me to it!

I was going to publish a very similar mod using a Sierra Wireless 875U HSDPA modem. Unfortunately, lack of time kept me from doing this in time for the holidays :)

PS: Giz, in the picture above you incorrectly labeled the RAM as the HSDPA modem - you may want to fix that.
zxdxz at 02:03 PM on 12/30/07
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JKK great hack...

I'm wondering what's in Palm's CEO mind now...
paulinsf at 12:39 PM on 02/04/08
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I added 3G an easier way. I just broke open a Verizon USB720 dongle and took out the mini-card that it contained. It is a plug in replacement for the wifi card in the Eee. Yes, I used the existing antannas, that seems to work fine. The obvious downside to the method I used is, of course, I no longer have wifi capability, but for my uses that is fine.