5G LTE expansion card

Creators & Developers Expansion Card
36

Case in point: I’m planning to have a Formula 1 party this weekend for the US Grand Prix. I’m using the outdoor grilling area at my apartment complex, which has a TV, but I’d prefer to stream the race over the F1 TV app (no commercials, more options, etc).

There’s no open/guest Wi-Fi in this area, so it’s going to have to be 4G/5G. I’ll bring my Roku TV down here, as I can’t access HDMI on the wall mounted TV. That leaves me with two options:

Option1: use my phone as a hotspot and connect the Roku TV to it.
Option2: stream the race on my Lenovo X1 Carbon, which has built-in 4G, and plug that into the Roku TV via HDMI.

I’m down here doing some testing right now and the results explain why this thread exists, IMO. Note: both devices are using Verizon, I used Fast.com in both cases for speed measurements.

Using my Pixel 5 as a hotspot:
Down: 520 Kbps
Up: 760 Kbps

Using the built-in 4G in my X1 Carbon:
Down: 4.1Mbps
Up: 160Mbps

In short, I was able to stream an hour of live content on F1 TV on my Lenovo, no problem. No buffering, no drops in quality - it was perfect. Using my Framework through my Pixel 5, I couldn’t even get streaming to start - the website refused to even try.

This is representative of what I often use 4G in a laptop for. Periodically, I’ll get together with my kids and parents on the weekend for a picnic in a park. My sister lives about 1000 miles away, so we’ll connect her in over Facebook messenger. I’ll bring my Lenovo X1 Carbon and a Logitech webcam, and AV streaming functions perfectly every time. I just set up the laptop on a table and it’s like she’s right there with us.

A phone doesn’t work because the screen is too small and the audio isn’t great. For 5 people, the laptop is the perfect form factor for this (though I could also see a 12-inch iPad Pro with 4G/5G working well for this also, but I don’t have one of those).

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37

So, is anyone close to building one out? Would love to support it. :slight_smile:

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38

No, I don’t think so. The challenge is that existing 4G/5G M.2 cards are too big to fit in an expansion slot. Ideally, for the best performance, you’d want a proper antenna installation inside the case of the laptop anyway.

Looking at the design of the 4G modem and antenna in my X1 Carbon, I think I could hack it into the Framework laptop, but I’d have to lose:

  1. The WiFi card, because I’d need that M.2 slot, and
  2. The speakers, because I’d need that space to install the antennas.

Loss of the speakers isn’t a big deal for me, I don’t use them very often. Loss of Wi-Fi could be fixed by adding an external USB dongle.

If I have some time in the next few weeks, I might try it.

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39

Wonder if a 2230 sized SIM/cellular module would fit in an expansion card? :thinking:

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Most of the smallest modules don’t actually incorporate the SIM card slot directly on the card, assuming the system manufacturer has one wired in elsewhere.

41

Option 3, get a GL.iNet router and use it with your phone via USB or connected to the wireless hotspot and enjoy a much faster wireless or longer range plus if going the USB route the ability to have your phone discharge more slowly.

42

Nah, I didn’t want to have to buy anything additional. I used the 4G built into my Lenovo X1 laptop and it worked great!

I’ve been looking for an LTE/Wi-Fi gateway for an annual conference I put on though, and some of these GL.iNet routers look like they might work for what I need.

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43

I know this is an old thread, but somebody asked above if there was a use case for a internal modem vs a hotspt; I have once stayed in an airbnb that didn’t have wifi, and for some reason, my mifi (hotspot device) was unable to get a signal, but my laptop’s internal modem WAS able to get a signal, with the same sim.

I get that it’s a bit of an edge case but by the same token, if you don’t have a mifi and you’re working on the road, can a mobile phone provide both a hotspot and be used for calls at the same time?

44

I’d also add that as far as I can tell, it’s going to be much easier to wait for an m.2 antenna that has bt, wifi and 5G, and just use the existing slot, and find a way to route the additional antenna along with the existing ones than it will be to spend engineering resources trying to fit a 5G modem and antenna into an expansion card, thereby using an additional slot as well.

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45

Wouldn’t it just make more sense to get Framework to add the antennas for LTE/5G built into the laptops, and leave an open PCIe based port on future motherboard designs, and allow it as an option? I just can’t see a module based LTE/5G device having practical antenna, or having some way to route out to the module without seriously altering the method in place now to work with existing modules.

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46

Not having LTE (neither onboard nor as an expansion card) was the reason I did not order a framework today. Definitely need it. Been using Lenovo for a while now, but not as flexible as framework.

Hope it will be available soon.

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47

Absolutely @Greg_Smith1 - it seems to me that taking advantage of the large size of a laptop frame is part of the reason my Lenovo with 4G is reliably 6x faster than using my phone as a hotspot on the same exact Verizon network.

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48

I’m new to this wireless world. But would having a antenna built into the framework laptop give a better performance of a 5G component compared to a small one that fits inside the expansion module?

49

Depends on where you place it. Having the antenna in the expansion module could block signals due to the top case being made out of metal (assuming the expansion module is 3D printed plastic) but would function nonetheless.

Having actual antenna(e) on for example the top cover would help if not placed under the display assembly / cover, as again this is made of metal.

The best thing I can think of is to do something like this.

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Or have coaxial connectors on the module and adding those big auxiliary connectors you’ve probably seen in those long range FPV plane videos. :grin:

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50

Having an SMA connector is a game changer, you can drop an antenna outside the windows and get a better signal.

I’m looking to buy an LTE-A router with an SMA connector just to do this. Of course, I would prefer a framework expansion card if such thing is possible!

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51

@nrp I’m looking for a modem expansion card compatible with Bell Canada Ontario LTE Advanced frequencies to provide network redundancy to a Bitcoin/Lightning/Radix Validation node, I’m hoping to repurpose my Gen11 frame.work mobo for this purchase after I upgrade.

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You do not need to post it to three different threads, one was enough.

53

I think there is often a forgetfulness that you can convert USB-A to USB-C. With that in mind, you can basically replace the USB-A head on a 5G USB Card with a USB-C head.

Something like this: Amazon.com

They would use the same pins, and you’d only need to route power.

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54

I’m sorry if i’m being dumb or something but could you replace the Wifi/Bluetooth m.2 card and put an LTE module in there? (using the already installed antennas)

55

wrong antenna, it might work but it will be far from optimal, if the connector even fits. Antennae are specific to the frequenc(ies) they’re designed for