T400 with medianet unlimited sim?

Did anyone try this yet? Instead of using mobile broadband, insert the at& t medianet sim for using internet?

 

It should work. I've used medianet unlimited during the "treo 650 era" with my laptop and it worked just fine.

 

It works as long as you set it up right it will work. If you a post paid customer on a contract it can cause problems for you though. ATT doesnt want you to use medianet unlimited for laptop or even pda usage. I have heard rumors that att will either cut off your media net package and charge as pay per use or cut your account completely for using media net on a laptop. Remember those are rumors and I have no personal experience with that situation.

 

thanks for the info guys. Nice to know it can be done.
So the sim card can only be used if I have a wwan module in my pc card slot?

 

Dear Weasel (just like me),

I can confirm this does work.

You cannot use the built-in software; you have to set-up a "dial-up connection" for the card. Instructions are here: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=893355&page=35

A lot of that thread talks about Bluetooth tethering, etc. The bottom of post #520 in that thread is what you need.

I've seen 600-700k down and up, so it's 3G for sure (albeit not as fast as their claim, due to coverage).

Forewarned, AT&T can drop the hammer on your account for this if they find out you are doing this.

That said, it works. Not as fast as Sprint EVDO, but decent enough in a pinch.

 

The SIM slot on the T400 is in the back, under the battery, not in the PC Card slot. You should order this option when you order your T400; at $50, it's a no-brainer. As a bonus, you get true GPS, and ot work great (without a SIM.)

Also, do NOT use the AT&T connection manager software - it does not support the built-in card, and pukes up the laptop. There is some special Lenovo client that comes with the T400, but you can ignore it.

The only downside of the dial-up is you can't see signal strength, etc., but for $20 a month, on demand, no contract, you can't have it all. ;-)

 

Anyone try tethering their iPhone and Netshare with the laptop?

(Netshare was an iPhone app that was released and then quickly pulled from the App store as it allowed you to connect your iPhone directly to a PC/Mac and use the internet)

 

@mikec thanks a lot for the explanation. I do have the sim slot under the battery but whenever I insert a sim in there, it doesnt show a message like "new hardware found" or "new modem device found"
I have setup dialup connection for my gprs phone using phone's bluetooth modem, but I am not sure how to setup connection with only sim in my t400. Also, how do you turn on gps without SIM? In other post I read gps only works if you have wwan card plugged in.

thanks

 

THanks...rep accordingly!

The hardware is already installed, so no new hardware is found.

Read that thread/post I linked to - it tells you how to set up a dial-up connection. (they mention XP, but it's similar in Vista).

Make sure the SIM is inserted properly.

GPS will work ANYTIME, with or without the SIM. SIM NOT required for GPS to work.

 

Ive gotten gps to work without a sim sometimes, but most of the time it wont work if no sim is in the slot. the sim doesnt need to be activated, just put any sim in the slot.

Ive gotten it to work on an ATT gophone sim and tmobile postpaid using tzones with the lenovo access connections prog. you just need to make sure your settings are for the correct service provider.

 

I've never needed the SIM to make GPS work.

I'm curious what setting you are using to get the Lenovo Access Connection program to work; when I run it, it just wants to sign me up for a new account. Any hints/specific pointers would be great (for both gophone and tmobile tzones.

How well does tzone work? Is it 3G now, or still just EDGE? Can you get it on a prepaid plan?

AT&T 3G is woefully behind Sprint in terms of coverage and speed.

 

Sorry for the late reply, been travelling.

using tzones i get about 300kbps down and 80kbps up. the data card is unlocked, but doesnt support the 3g frequencies used by tmobile so youre going to be limited to edge, at least in the chicago area. no idea if it works with tmobile prepaid. i have never been able to in the past, but they have been makeing changes to their network lately, so it may work now.

on att, i get 3g with about 1meg down and 300k up. this is in the chicago suburbs.

for tzones i used to use wap.voicestream.com for the apn, but now use epc.tmobile.com. for att i use wap.cingular for the apn. no passwords or anything

 

Do you mean the Ericsson F3507G card that comes with T400 is an unlocked card? Which software do you use for mobile data connections?
thanks