Adding 4g Lte & Gps/glonass To A Laptop

[Paul]

I'm just wondering if anyone has done this before and if so what was the performance like?

[BroadAmbition]

Didn't even have to duck as that lot flew overhead, in fact if I had been on the ridge tiles of my hovel it would have still missed me by a mile

Griff

[grendel]

I have a gps antenna that plugs into the usb on a laptop, the only problem is mine is a linux laptop running foxtrot gps, it does however connect seamlessly, not sure about any of the rest.

[MauriceMynah]

I'm with Griff

[webntweb]

9 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

I'm with Griff

Same here

[grendel]

what, 3 separate households all together, you can get in trouble for that dont you know.

[Paul]

Don't be disheartened, I enquired with a couple of laptop retailers about a new machine with the capability, the companies who advertise the brilliance of their technical staff and how much they can help ..... Both came back "laptops don't do that". I had to point them to models on their website which could, though they are very limited and tend to be the "tough book" type of business machine or small screen machines. 

The UK market is way behind in this sort of thing. Try and find a decent tablet that will make calls and it's very difficult, the likes of Apple and Samsung want you to pay £800 - £1200 for their large screen phones, and why would you do that if you could buy a £150 tablet with better screen quality, longer battery life, faster processors, more memory that can make phone calls? These devices are common in the US and Asia markets but are largely kept away from Europe. 

The same is true for LTE enabled laptops, manufacturers don't offer the facility on UK and European models but the good news is that many laptops have the necessary expansion ports to add them. Some, like Lenovo even install the antennae ready. Sadly my machine is an Acer, and they don't install anything they don't have to. They would make the screws an optional extra if they could get away with it. 

I intend to fit a US brand LTE / GLONASS modem in my WWAN slot and use a suitable dual stage Molex antenna. Comanies like Verizon, AT&T and T.Mobile all offer them in the same way they they offer USB plug in modems in the UK and most are available unlocked and support UK 4G frequencies. In theory with larger receivers than found in mobile phones signal should be very good. 

[webntweb]

53 minutes ago, Paul said:

Don't be disheartened, I enquired with a couple of laptop retailers about a new machine with the capability, the companies who advertise the brilliance of their technical staff and how much they can help ..... Both came back "laptops don't do that".

Reminds me of back in the 90s my software RIP was playing up and not being very computer literate I went into a specialist computer store in Manchester to look for a replacement.

Me: "could you tell me which models will run Windows NT"

Assistant: blank look and "wot's that"

I said "I think its server software.

Assistant: "never heard of it, I'll ask the boss"

Boss: "I've heard of it but no idea what it will run on".

 

[rightsaidfred]

I know what Griff means, I though you had to stand on one leg and stick a finger in the opposite ear.

Fred

[thunder]

samsung a7 lte tablet 10.4in  £270 agree not a laptop

[Jonathan]

Paul,

There are the Microsoft Surface-Pro-X which does have LTE and GPS or the Surface Pro 7+ (might not have GPS but you can get GPS bluetooth devices).  I don't know much about them though and have not used either.

[Paul]

The problem with the Surface Pro, as with tablets is the small screen size. I need a 17" display (19 would be better but I think 19" lap tops have died the death). Added to that the Surface Pro only goes up to 512mb which is not enough, and that is £1800+

[grendel]

I know that we have toughbooks at work that have these functions, as they are used by our construction and jointing gangs to not only receive their work, but to repost back completion, so they must be connected, and the gps functions will be there too (though not maintaining the accuracy necessary for accurate records just yet)