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Macbook Air Internal EVDO Broadband Card Mod

Posted by timothy on Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:42 AM
from the evdo-wants-to-be-free dept.
Wireless Networking Businesses Hardware Hacking Portables (Apple) Upgrades Hardware Apple
Sastira writes "Jordan Bunnell has successfully modded his Macbook Air to use an internal EVDO Broadband card. In order to make everything fit, he had to sacrifice the WiFi and bluetooth cards, but considering the portable nature of the laptop, it is a small price to pay for being truly wireless." (You'll need to scroll down past the sketchy-looking top section of that page.) Sastira also links to this InsanelyMac forum thread on the mod.
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Submission: Macbook Air Internal EVDO Broadband Card Mod by Sastira (1281272)
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  • My external EVD0 card is portable, too. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mbone (558574) on Tuesday April 29 2008, @11:49AM (#23240172)
    Uh, my EVD0 USB dongle from Sprint is about 2.5 inches long, and weighs 2.01 ounces. I carry my MacBook around all of the time with it attached and in use. I sure wouldn't give up WiFi and Bluetooth to put it inside.
    • Pardon me for being an ignorant T-Mobile user... can't you just tether to your phone with Bluetooth? I find it unlikely that someone with an Air would lack a cell phone with Bluetooth...

        • I would imagine that MBA owners would be somewhat likely to own an iPhone.

          iPhone, for some inexcusable reason, can't tether via bluetooth.
          nore would you want to live with the dialup speed the current iphone gets..

          without 3g support the net connection on the iphone is pointless

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by dave024 (1204956)
          Yeah but you can use wifi to setup a network between your iPhone and computer, and get on the internet on your computer using EDGE.
        • Two problems with that theory:

          1. You can hack the iPhone to tether. If you are willing to crack the Air open and jury rig it for EVDO, you are probably willing to hack your iPhone.
          2. iPhone is AT&T (or hacked for T-Mobile) and won't work with EVDO. If you have EVDO, you are probably on Sprint or Verizon.
        • In addition, when you are using your phone for data, the phone cannot also work. This means that if you are using the data and your phone rings, the data gets cut off to answer the call. At least thats how AT&T's Edge works.
    • my EVD0 USB dongle from Sprint is about 2.5 inches long, and weighs 2.01 ounces

      You should peel off the sticker and get it down to two ounces even! :-)
  • So when the internal, non user-replaceable battery dies on this laptop, which it will, I get the feeling Apple might not be too happy about replacing it...

    • So buy a replacement battery online, unscrew the 6 screws in the bottom of the laptop, and pull out the old battery, and plug in the new one.

    • So when the internal, non user-replaceable battery dies on this laptop, which it will, I get the feeling Apple might not be too happy about replacing it...
      Yyyyyeah. If you're okay with killing your bluetooth and wifi in order to get internal EVDO, I have a feeling you're going to be okay replacing the battery yourself [slashdot.org].
    • I wouldn't worry about the battery so much. This person clearly has the chops for opening up the case and replacing the battery, a task that only takes a screwdriver [appleinsider.com] and a few minutes' time [appleinsider.com], since the battery isn't soldered in. Even if it was soldered, I doubt that'd be a problem for this guy. When he needs a replacement battery, he'll have no trouble getting an after-market one.
      • In Apple's eyes, cracking open the thing just because you have the "chops" till doesn't make it ok. What if he has to have the MB replaced?
    • No. No MiniPCI nor PCI-X. No room for the cards either. His USB EDVO was smaller than a PCI-X card, and he used a dremel to saw open more space.

  • Jordan Bunnell has successfully modded his Macbook Air to use an internal EVDO Broadband card.

    ...because even for the humungous amount of money you pay for an Air, there's not even an RJ-45 wired network connector in it!

  • Drop WiFi? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by alanmeyer (174278) on Tuesday April 29 2008, @12:00PM (#23240342)

    In order to make everything fit, he had to sacrifice the WiFi and bluetooth cards, but considering the portable nature of the laptop, it is a small price to pay for being truly wireless
    Losing bluetooth is OK perhaps, but losing Wireless is far too big of a price to pay. Even the best connection via Verizon is slow, relative to wireless. Too bad
    • The summary suggests that he removed two cards, but Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on the same card in a MacBook Air. It's all or nothing.

    • Losing bluetooth is OK perhaps, but losing Wireless is far too big of a price to pay. Even the best connection via Verizon is slow, relative to wireless. Too bad

      As someone who owns a EVDO Sprint card, I could see why someone would want to use this:
      1) The nature of my work and hobbies requires frequent, flexible access to reliable network connectivity. The whole reason why I pay a premium for Sprint EVDO service (and the hardware) is to virtually guarantee that I can be anywhere in my city and have access.
  • Swapping a 10ft cable for a 15ft one is neither more, nor less, wired. Swapping Wi-Fi for EVDO is neither more, nor less, wireless. Lets call it truly wireless when no cords, including power cords, come in the box, or are required, ever.

    • Lets call it truly wireless when no cords, including power cords, come in the box, or are required, ever.
      I also look forward to the day that batteries charge themselves through magic.
      • Clearly the OP wants some sort of nuclear powered laptop.

        Of all of the laptops on the market, the Air is really the closest to his vision. The only cord you need is a power cord.
        • I'm sorry but how is that different from my laptop which only needs a power cord? I have wifi and bluetooth built in. How is the Air closer to "truly wireless?"
          • Well, the fact that it accesses optical devices (CD/DVD) over the Wifi is a start. Not coming with any sort of wired ethernet connection is another (you'd be hard pressed to find a PC laptop without an ethernet port these days). I'm not saying these are necessarily good things, but they do reflect Apple's mindset about the Air.
        • The non-user-replaceable battery makes it LESS wireless than my Dell, though. Even than my TiBook (if the screen wasn't destroyed). You have to plug it in more often. My buddy still brags that he can go for over 6 hours of movie-watching fun on his TiBook (what, like 5 years old now?) by swapping the battery.

          IMNSHO, the MacBook Air, in its attempt to be less wired than any other computer in the world, still manages to be (in many important ways) less useful than the EeePC.

      • induction.. they are already starting to do it in japan for cell phones and ipods.. without much effort they could do it with laptops

        it isn't magic it is science
      • No magic required...

        they're working on it. [geek.com]
      • I also look forward to the day that batteries charge themselves through magic.

        Someone hasn't been paying to recent technological developments...

        http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-01/electricity-air [popsci.com]

        The key to wireless power is resonance. Think of a wineglass that shatters when an opera singer hits just the right note. When the voice matches the glass's resonant frequency--the tone you hear when you tap the glass--the glass efficiently absorbs the singer's energy and cracks. Using magnetic induction

      • truth be told, there's already some research going on to make some kind of wireless power connection possible. one of them even seems quite realistic. of course, we'll never have it everywhere, but it'll still eliminate that last cord from the laptop ;)

  • Bluetooth tethered phone? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by zerofoo (262795) on Tuesday April 29 2008, @12:12PM (#23240508)
    I have a Macbook Air and I solved this problem by tethering my Palm 700wx via bluetooth to my MBA. No hacking, no sacrifices (WiFi and Bluetooth still intact).

    Apart from the fun of moding - why would anyone else do this?

    -ted
  • Wifi runs at 2400 MHz, EVDO runs at 850, 1900 or about 2100 MHz, depending on carrier and implementation. So the fact that it works is fine, but I'm sure the signal isn't as good as it could be. Dell laptops have multiple antenna wires inside depending on which card you'll be using.

  • Q: Why would you pay a premium for something with limited functionality, then risk destroying it to swap in a different feature, when you could have had all those features for less money?

  • Explaining to airport security what all the extra wires they find in the X ray are.

  • You're not worthy (Score:3, Funny)

    by klubar (591384) on Tuesday April 29 2008, @01:11PM (#23241528) Homepage
    If apple wanted you to have verizon access... they would have built it in. If it's not there, you don't need it.

    Besides, if you want a computer that you can modify then you don't deserve to own a Macintosh.

    Nothing to see here. Go back to your boring gray PC please.
    • Wow they have them in gray now? Good-bye beige, time to upgrade!
      • Come join the the 21st century...I don't think anyone (other than "white box" companies) make beige boxes any more. I think everyone has (followed Apple) to black for desktops and gray/silver for laptops.

        Black is the new beige.
        • Where can i get my hands on a black apple branded desktop system?

          I missed that in the many recent releases of apple equipment.
  • it's nice to be truly wireless, till he reads his TOS and realizes that his EVD0 connection is limited to web pages and even the unlimited plan has a bandwidth cap.

    From their TOS [vzw.com]:

    Examples of prohibited usage include: (i) server devices or host computer applications, including continuous Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing applications that are broadcast to multiple servers or recipients such that they could en

    • I would have loved to use a Sprint card, as it really is Unlimited, but was only able to get maybe 250kbps download speed in my area. True, true, the Verizon card is about as restricted as they come! They've revised it to where it's now their "5GB Plan" (Or $39.99 for a whopping 50MB) Wow!
    • Guess he should've got the Sprint plan instead.
  • .. but when I see hack jobs like this I can applaud the user for trying but the crap workmanship is appalling. Gee, buy a decent soldering station.. Sorry, off my soapbox.
  • Sacrifice wi-fi? Isn't it already missing an ethernet port? Nice way to make it worthless in an office, or even a home LAN for that matter.
  • This may be off topic but it is funny because just a few days ago the CDMA network in Australia was shut down for good. If America wants to stay ahead in the wireless broadband race it better start upgrading its network.
  • Anyone have a solution for tethering via USB with Sprint PCS? I've been looking at the Air but so far the lack of this functionality is a showstopper.
  • And in a month the guy would have had a 3G iPhone he could have tethered to easily and automatically via Bluetooth. He should have waited.
  • I think it is time to get the macbook air. -ccdn

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