Vaio Z: wireless broadband in europe?

Hi all,

I'm thinking of getting myself a Z13 (US model) and I'd like to ask about the wireless broadband option? Most of my travelling and my need for it will be in Europe and I can say with certainty that i'll never have to use it in the US.
So my question is... is the US model is locked to verison and if not or if there's a workaround, will I be able to use in Europe with a local carrier's 3g SIM card?

Also what's the difference with the model that's not configured with the wireless broadband hardware-wise? The one without doesn't have a GPS module?

 

Europe is a big place.

I am moving to Russia and wimax is supposed to be big, but few laptops have that as an option. One of their main carriers has this sweet device called an egg, it is basically a wireless hotspot combined with a wifi router. Curiously enough I just saw a commercial for a similar device for the US yesterday .

My search was a little skewed though because I wanted an option that would get me online with my laptop, but also potentially Xbox - meaning a wimax or built-in option was not as preferred in the end.

I think your options will be different in different countries. Whether the wireless broadband built-in option is locked, I do not know.

 

See these posts, yes it can be used in most countries in Europe.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6520183-post6519.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...lution-tested-works-new-z-win7-64bit-pro.html

I believe all countries in Europe can use GSM. However, some countries in Eurasia, Eastern and Central Europe may have their own kind of implementation. Like in Turkey you need to buy an imported wwan mini pci card so cannot use the Gobi card.

 

thanks a lot for the info! Very useful stuff.
In ur signature u say gobi EU. Is there any difference to the US version?

 

I believe the hardware is identical but the US version is locked to a carrier. However, you can install OneClick from Sony Europe to unlock the card.

 

For my model there is a difference not in the Gobi card but in daughterboard. My daughterboard has a sim card holder and the North American models did not. It used to be like this with the VPC-Z1 but now Z3 North American models come with a sim card holder.
Btw, it's speculated that new Z's should be revealed in January and launched the following month so may be now is not the best time to purchase your laptop.

 

Well, I didn't know that..
I guess I can wait a couple more weeks since a customized Z would not be ready for shipping before the new years anyway.
Thanks again for the info

 

So just another question to clarify things a bit..
The Z without the built-in broadband does it have a gps or not?
Also does the gps work only when the 3g broadband is active?

 

Are you sure that the US version isn't CDMA? I thought it was a Verizon/Sprint card...

Also, just to throw this out there...The US has 4G now. The card wouldn't work over 4G (only 3G) so you'd probably end up getting a USB adapter anyway.

 

I just found another thread that was 16 pages longs on the same subject. All my questions are answered now so thanks everyone.
I don't think i'll be getting the built-in broadband version.. It has too many perks in order to use it and I probably I would end up using it like once every couple of months anyway

 

perks? Can you link the thread?