DIY tuning: remove the 3G modem inside the laptop

It so happened that lately I need access to the Internet quite often, and the “workplace” can catch me anywhere, even “itch in the open field”.

My faithful Acer Aspire One A110 netbook is small, cheap and unpretentious, it has (more precisely, had) one drawback - the lack of a 3G modem. The Wi-Fi connection via the phone rather quickly put the battery in, and the external USB modem sticking out from the side in non-room conditions was constantly trying to break the USB port.

It was not possible to agree with the toad on the purchase of a new laptop, because the argument that communication was necessary was the only one, and the cost of a suitable laptop with 3G immediately raised the bar to an average of 15-18 thousand, which is glaring compared to the costs of 5500 for A110.
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Further, about how we went to the world with the toad and everyone got his own.


Option Aspire One A110 with a built-in 3G-modem existed on the Acer website, but they were not officially shipped to Russia at that time.

Then, almost by chance, it turned out that in these motherboards there were actually not three USB ports, but five, but in the Russian configuration, two of them were simply not decoupled, most likely in order to reduce the cost of the final cost (and maybe some other limitations of time on netbooks, as was the case with the valid screen resolution).

Digging both on thematic communities mod-book.ru , aspire1.ru , aspireone.ru , and on foreign ones, showed that some enthusiasts have already successfully implemented all sorts of hard-core “buns”: the addition of Wi-Fi (in models without them), bluetooth, 3G and even GPS.

Actually, why am I worse? I know how to solder, I can distinguish plus from minus, and Google is always there.

So, we proceed

There was no problem with disassembling, because a year earlier, under the flag of memory upgrade to 1.5 GB, the netbook was almost completely dismantled from youtube video (yes, to simply add memory in this model, you need to disassemble everything except the screen, big hello to designers ) and assembled back with no extra parts left. Even, oddly enough, after the assembly, he then earned from the first inclusion.

Unscrewing a dozen small screws and clicking off almost the same number of latches, we end up in the holy of holies — the motherboard (all the following pictures are clickable).



The display with the controller and the keyboard while we set aside.


Here are the unsoldered Mini-PCI-E and USB. The pins of the missing jumper for powering the Mini-PCI are highlighted in green (there are also pins on one of the USB ports on its pins).


And here is the donor - Huawei E1550 USB modem, branded with a megaphone. As a bonus, there is a microSD card reader.



The interior of the modem. The plastic “cap” is some kind of tricky three-dimensional foil antenna.


She's a close-up. It seems that this is only necessary for “folding” the required antenna length into a minimum volume.

With this size, the board doesn’t pose a problem with a modem inside the netbook - thanks to the use of a compact SSD drive, there is enough space (in the same case there is a A150 version with a conventional 2.5 ”hard drive, there is already a tight space there).


8GB Intel SSD drive. There is enough margin for the system, and for the data on the motherboard there are two SDHC slots.

However, the first problem arose - to replace a SIM card or MicroSD, it would be necessary to completely disassemble a netbook each time, which is an impractical procedure, albeit an infrequent procedure.

Another option is to place the modem in the lower compartment of the netbook, where the UMTC modem is located in European models. It is easily accessible - just two screws on the cover.


The second problem turned out to be that the insides of the plastic case were covered with copper dusting - apparently, for shielding interference. For an already small modem antenna, this is a clear signal loss, virtually zero. Quick experience showed that the 15-centimeter section of the wire instead of the antenna not only did not degrade the quality of communication, but also added one division on the indicator. I do not know how correct this is for transmission, but for reception, an increase in the antenna area, plus a vertical orientation, will obviously benefit.


Top cover netbook. At the top of the camera and microphone. There is enough space on the side of the display for one more wire - the antenna.

We didn’t have to hang up the modem via the Wi-Fi switch (there is one unused position) - the time was later, there were no transistors at hand - well, and a fig with it, let the modem be constantly powered, if there is no connection, the consumption is low. And the switch seems to be soft, which is not clear how to use in Linux.


Fitting in the bottom pocket. Included remarkably, SIM and MicroSD are easily accessible when needed. The USB connector had to be unsoldered - the rack holding the motherboard was in the way.


Modem connection There were no connectors on hand either, so only soldering.


Fixing the modem in the compartment using a drop of hot melt.


We remove the antenna (red wire) from the shielded case to the top cover of the display ...


... and fix it with scotch tape in the top cover of the netbook.

That's all. It remains to collect all the details back, not leaving any extra and not confusing the sequence. Well, check the performance:


There is! We are on the Internet. And nothing sticks out on either side, which is quite pleasing.

Next time, if I’m still ready, I’ll add bluetooth to it as well, since the donor is still lying around:


The fee will already be inside, I think, even if due to shielding, the communication range will be reduced, there will still be 20 centimeters, but there is no need for more.
Well, of course, there will be a new photo report.

So, out of the costs, only a USB-3G modem worth 700 rubles (well, if necessary, a microSD card), and an evening spent. From acquisitions - the convenience of use and the long-forgotten pioneer "I can!". Toad pleased. So do I.