CF-53 w/ Gobi 2000: AT&T sim card reads as Verizon wireless

I have a CF-53 (CF-53AAGZA1M) with a Gobi 2000, running on Windows 7, 32 bit (somewhere I read that the Gobi software is incompatible with 64 bit, but I'm happy to wipe it and go back to 64 if that turns out to be the only way to solve my problem). I successfully installed the Gobi 2000 driver packages from the Panasonic site. (I had the side-by-side error, but just installed the AT&T communication manager directly instead)

I installed an activated AT&T card today, and the computer recognizes that there's a card in there. BUT, my available networks shows that I have "Verizon Wireless." I'm baffled, and so are the Panasonic people.

Is it possible for the Gobi I have (which I imagine is old as dirt) to have been manufactured with carrier data and I'm trying to use the wrong carrier? The guy I got this from was using it on AT&T, so that doesn't seem right. Did I fail to install one of the drivers?

 

exact model number of card?

 

Welcome to the Panasonic Toughbook on NBR.
This is what you 53 had installed when it left the factor new...
Model Number: CF-53AAGZA1M
Status: DISCONTINUED
MSRP: $2,229
Description: Win7, Intel Core i5-2520M 2.50GHz, vPro, 14.0" HD, 320GB(7200rpm), 4GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, TPM, No Bluetooth, Gobi,
Multi-drive, Toughbook Preferred, replaced with CF-53AAGZE1M & CF-53AAGZ11M

Did this card come from a Toughbook? Toughbooks don't like other brands like Dell, Acer, HP or Leveno. To get them to work is almost impossible. Others will tell you the same.

 

this may not be exactly correct ... however ...
while i researched different options for cards-n-carriers it looked like AT&T and verizon used the same format for doing things .
it might be possible that one can be used on the other .

 

I have limited knowledge of WWAN and GOBI, but isn't the GOBI 2000 multicarrier?
The carrier is changed via the software/firmware package you install.

http://business.panasonic.com/support-computerstablets-otherdownloads-wirelesscarrier#csa

 

and that would further explain the situation .

 

Yes, the package offered on the Panasonic website is under the "multicarrier tab" - I tried to install the CSA, but that came up with an installation error that couldn't be resolved even after I did a fresh install of windows. So I just installed the AT&T communications manager, since that install also came with the package.

As for the model number of the Gobi, the device manager says "Device 250-F" - is that enough information to work with? Because I don't know if I'm quite ready to bust this thing open (I'm in IT and it's my client's computer)

 

As Toughasnails asked---Where did the card come from? This is VERY important.

Did you enable the WWAN in the BIOS?

 

The card was installed on the Toughbook when they, my customer, received it (this customer receives them pre-built from a vendor, and since this unit is several years old, I doubt anyone knows any more than that). The WAN is enabled in the BIOS, yes.

I called Panasonic - they were saying that I should just be able to give the Gobi's IMEI to AT&T and it can be activated that way. Has anyone done this? It seems reasonable, except that I worked on a newer Toughbook with a Gobi 5000 for the same company, and that one took the SIM card no problem - there didn't seem to be a need to skip the SIM card.

Alright, after very many hours, I had a breakthrough. It's my Gobi that's reading as being Verizon, not my SIM card. Verizon doesn't have a record of this IMEI, so they can't release it but may not actually have a hold on it. Seems like the advice from Panasonic to give the IMEI to AT&T still seems solid.

This thing is driving me crazy.