Vodaphone 3g PCMCIA Data Card and Mini Express Slot

I have a 3g Vodaphone Data Card (PCMCIA). It is an E620 made by
HUAWEI.

I have now got a HP Pavillion Laptop and the slot I assumed was a
PCMCIA is in fact a PCI Express - possible known as a Mini Express.
The slot width is 54mm as per PCMCIA, but the connector is to one side
and only about half the width.

Is it possible to obtain a converter which which would fit in the Mini
express slot and allow me to use my PCMCIA modem card.

It is always possible, that the Vodaphone software would not recognise
the modem card in a converter even if one was available.

Any pointers or information, gratefully received, otherwise I will have
to resort to my old 10 ton, Dell laptop.

Thanks

Richard

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[email protected] wrote:
> I have a 3g Vodaphone Data Card (PCMCIA). It is an E620 made by
> HUAWEI.
>
> I have now got a HP Pavillion Laptop and the slot I assumed was a
> PCMCIA is in fact a PCI Express - possible known as a Mini Express.
> The slot width is 54mm as per PCMCIA, but the connector is to one side
> and only about half the width.
>
> Is it possible to obtain a converter which which would fit in the Mini
> express slot and allow me to use my PCMCIA modem card.
>
> It is always possible, that the Vodaphone software would not recognise
> the modem card in a converter even if one was available.
>
> Any pointers or information, gratefully received, otherwise I will have
> to resort to my old 10 ton, Dell laptop.
>
> Thanks
>
> Richard


Hi,

I'm not aware of Vodafone selling PCMCIA to PCI slot converters
directly however you could always look on the internet. Ebay are a good
resource for IT products:

http://computers.listings.ebay.co.uk...istingItemList

[email protected] wrote:
> I have now got a HP Pavillion Laptop and the slot I assumed was a
> PCMCIA is in fact a PCI Express - possible known as a Mini Express.
> The slot width is 54mm as per PCMCIA, but the connector is to one side
> and only about half the width.

That's an Express Card/54 slot -- see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Express_Card to clear up the terminology
here.

> Is it possible to obtain a converter which which would fit in the Mini
> express slot and allow me to use my PCMCIA modem card.

Googling is not inspiring:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22...en-US:official
e.g. from http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/de...oel.3.378550.2

It sounds like Express Card is quite different internally, so I suspect
you will be out of luck looking for a simple adaptor. I think the
mobile firms had better pull their fingers out and get some Express
Card data cards out on the market.

[email protected] wrote:
> Is it possible to obtain a converter which which would fit in the Mini
> express slot and allow me to use my PCMCIA modem card.

Further to my other reply the other day, I was talking to a colleague
the other day when I spotted something on his desk that I commented on.
Coincidentally, it's exactly what you want: a PCMCIA Cardbus to USB2
adaptor, and he has it for the same reason you do: using a Vodafone 3G
card in a laptop fitted with Express Card.

Now the bad news: it cost him £125 and took over six weeks to be
delivered. It seems there is something of a shortage of them. I can
find out more information if you want, like where he got it from.