Thursday, December 11, 2008

Dell 5520 WWAN Card

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I bought a Dell 5520 Mobile Broadband card to fill that empty space in my M1330's belly.

So I got it, and popped it in. The Dell site had a few choices of drivers etc. for it...I chose the generic version...it didn't work. So I looked at the device info and it said it was a Cingular version.

So I use the Cingular branded software. Now I figure it won't work for my purpose. I stuck in a Boost Mobile SIM card, but it wouldn't log into the network. So I picked up a throwaway T-Mobile phone and tried that (BTW you have to shut down the computer to change SIMs or they won't be recognized...that is probably why the card holder is behind the battery). It saw the card, but I needed to figure out what APN to use...
So the internets had the list. I set the account up for Sidekick (due to the data plan) and it connected but I couldn't get on the internet. Then I changed the account to Pay by day...changed the APN also. But still can't really surf the web...it only wants to visit wap sites and show that data (I guess). I now have a European SIM card with a data plan...I will see how that works next week.

The following pictures show the various settings and connections I got. Overall it is a success because the WWAN card is not locked, and setting it up and connecting was straight forward...however I don't have an actual internet plan, so I couldn't surf.

Note: Click on EDIT>PROFILE MANAGER
Note...Create NEW or EDIT one you already have...but not the AT&T one.

All I had to edit was the APN code...every company uses a different one...my European one uses "mobiledata"


Finally, note the connection, and the data in/out...I have no idea what was coming in...never saw anything.

2 comments:

Gutfeelings said...

So you didnt end up getting the Dell 2250 wireless card working at all?

bubba zanetti said...

It is the 5520, and yes it works. My problem is nobody so far will actually sell me a data plan. Without a data plan I can't view anything other than wap pages for cellphones.

T-mobile says I need to have another line first to get their data plan. I haven't researched At&t yet. Sprint uses propriety hardware.