Could you link this? It seems like Framework’s wifi card uses a B+M m.2 slot?
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I’ve been keeping an eye on the framework for a while now, the thing that would tip the scales for me to upgrade from my (now a few years old) X1 carbon would be a modem expansion card. I like everything else about the framework, this connectivity option (especially in the form of a swappable expansion card!) would be a game changer.
I hope someone is able to materialize this, I’m encouraged by some of the recent updates on this thread! Thanks everyone who is providing constructive ideas, I’m rooting for someone with the means to make this happen to take an interest in it, and for something to come out of it!
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Any idea if these upcoming Qualcomm modules include a SIM slot?
Many others in this form factor don’t, and expect to be connected into a mainboard that provides the SIM slot (which won’t be the case on a Frame.work).
Okay, I gave this a serious thinky time, and here’s my conclusion:
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The current Framework can’t be retrofitted with an LTE module without a serious modification, and
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An LTE expansion card would be useless.
Physical size is an issue - all the LTE modem modules out there are mini-PCIe, which is a lot the Framework doesn’t have, or m.2 3042, which is far larger than the spot for the WiFi card. If you put an LTE modem in the WiFi slot, you wouldn’t have WiFi. If you put it in the NVMe SSD spot, you wouldn’t have, you know, any storage, unless you booted off a storage modules.
The size issues come down to the physical size requirements of the analog parts of the radio. Digital stuff gets smaller, but it was early in 4G that cell modem makers started seeing significant limits to how small you could make the analog portions of a radio, even when shifting as much as possible to digital. And with more frequencies becoming part of the 5G spec, that’s more analog frontends required to get the higher performance.
Like, this is the iPhone 14 radio board:
Images from iFixit, highlighting the RF chips. Look at those passives, that is crazy dense. That’s never fitting in an expansion module.
But even if something crazy happened and you did get a modem in a module or in the laptop, there’s another problem: Antennas. The Framework laptop has a 2.4 GHz antenna and a 5 GHz antenna, used for WIFi and Bluetooth. You’d need to install another antenna for the modem, or if you used the WiFi/BT antennas, it’d kinda work but you’d get worse range and signal strength than a proper antenna.
External antenna? Well if you have to have an external dongle, why not just get a USB-attached cellular modem or a mobile hotspot?
LTE modem in the module, add a third antenna? There’s no hole to run the antenna to the module. You’d need to drill a hole in the case.
So the only way a current Framework laptop gets built-in LTE is to use the SSD m.2 spot, boot from a storage module, and install a third antenna behind the screen.
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I’ve been able to fit it internally just fine, using dual sided assembly, just most compact modules are either quite expensive ($100+) or out of stock.
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Don’t they have smart watches that connect to 4G/ 5G? I feel like you could fit the PCB of a smart watch into an expansion slot. It might not be the fastest connection, but sending an email or arguing with people on the Framework forum from the field would be excellent. 
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That’s a really excellent thought. Those slipped my mind because I had been searching for add-in modules designed for laptops etc.
On one hand, something like a Qualcomm 315 5g modem-on-a-chip looks great. On the other hand… There are so many reasons these are hard to mess around with. Not just in terms of datasheet access and NDAs, but regulatory. Creating legal RF devices is expensive, which is why you see entire modules to provide stuff like WiFi and Bluetooth.
Legalese side note, in the US, the FCC has separate classification tiers for intended radio transmitters like WiFi and Bluetooth radios than it does for incidental transmitters like digital logic. A purely digital device (like a Framework laptop mainboard) can be exempt from certification, and then you just add a WiFi card that e.g. Intel has already gone through the trouble of certifying. I think as long as the resulting system doesn’t change the behavior of the WiFi card as certified and cause harmful interference, the mainboard doesn’t need certification even if it’s sold with the module installed.
See also: Raspberry Pi moving from WiFi chips and full-board certification in the Pi 3 and Zero W to the module-in-a-can WiFi used on every Pi since then.
This isn’t even touching the electrical engineering side. Or the software side, writing drivers for embedded cellular radios that a carrier will allow onto its network… Yikes.
I do wish that had been the magic bullet, though.
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@Josh_Cook would love to hear/see some details on how you fit it and got it working!
$100+ is nothing compared to the premium you typically pay for a laptop with integrated 4G/5G if you can even find one!
The way I did it with my 5th gen Lenovo X1 was to find the manual for installing the optional 4G kit, took the part numbers from there, found the parts on Ali Baba, ordered them and installed it myself.
But of course, the Lenovo X1 was already designed to fit a 4G modem, had an external port for inserting the SIM card, and channels for the wires and dedicated areas for the antennas. Which is why I’m curious about how you handled all these details.
Here’s how the packaging is set up in my Lenovo X1 Carbon - clearly designed for 4G from the start, not an afterthought (antennas at the corners, come with shielding, dedicated SIM card tray in the back):
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Just double-checking, I mean an expansion card not using the WiFi slot, I can’t exactly go into detail due to NDA, I’m just waiting on when the actual module I’m planning on using will become available.
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Ah, okay - I thought this was a solution you hacked together with existing parts. Excited to hear more when you’re able to announce what you’re using!
A single SMA mounted antenna takes up a lot less room than an external dongle. An antenna shouldn’t extend any further out than the power cable you probably have plugged in does, while a dongle would be several inches long.
I just started designing a LoRa expansion card and my plan is to have an SMA mount. It should also be possible to have a chip antenna for backup. I will have to look deeply into the FCC requirements - hopefully Semtech’s certification extends to boards built with LoRa ICs, but I don’t know.
That’s rad, Josh! Let us know whenever your mysterious partners go public with this project!
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Will a 4G (or 5G) sim card slot be available? I’m in the market for a new laptop, but a sim card slot is a must have.
There is no 4g or 5g option from Framework, but there is a 3rd party 4g card in the works.
Iirc there is also a second one in the works by a different person.
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Tbh I’ll be waiting for a 5g one
To be honest, I don’t think a redesigned mainboard made to be able to accept an M.2 LTE card would be breaking compatibility that much. You might not be able to use Wi-Fi anymore, but from what I have read from this thread, having an LTE card would be better anyway. It may be a bit of a ways off, but it may be the best option. Correct me if I am wrong though; this is my first reply to this thread, and I am also not as knowledgeable with this in particular as the rest of you seem to be.
Can someone explain to me how servicing an LTE modem would work? How do I register it and pay fees to the cell tower companies to turn it on? I’m pretty confused about this.
You get a SIM from the provider you want. Then activate the SIM through whichever option the provider offers, often it’s a page on their website. Usually you can find the option(s) by googling “[service provider] activate” or “[service provider] activate sim”. It varies from provider to provider, if in doubt, contact their customer service and ask about activating a laptop LTE modem.
Often you have to enter a IMEI number when activating a SIM. This is the device’s identification number and will be found on your modem and / or on the box or paperwork.
Once in a while, a provider might not accept IMEI numbers that aren’t on some “whitelist” they have. You can often work around that by using an IMEI from a different device. This works because the SIM is the primary way a device shows it’s authorized, service is attached to the SIM. For example, if you put the SIM in a different device, the service comes along with it (assuming the device has the radio bands and technology to support that service provider).