Does the slot on the motherboard already exist for the WWAN modem? Why can’t I just buy a mini card and install it in the tablet myself? I haven’t heard anything from Fujitsu yet about availability. I don’t want to buy one only to find out that when it is released in the US, the mod is not retro; and I would have to buy a new one.

It looks available in Germany. In more than one laptop.
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.de/mobility/umts_produkte.html

Steve, Cingular offers HSDPA currently in the U.S. and they advertise the speeds to be roughly equivelent of Verizon’s EV-DO network. They’re in the midst of the rollout, but a fair number of cities are supported now. Look on their site for what they call Broadband Connect.

Does anyone know more about speeds and vendors for HSDPA here in the US?

The Singapore press release says:

Supports single band UMTS (HSDPA): 2100 MHz. Up to 1.8Mbps.
Supports quadband EDGE/GPRS/GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. Up to 216Kbps.

Who offers HSDPA? And how does the speed (upload and download) compare to EVDO (or the new improved EVDO Rev A)? I currently get 1Mb down/100kb up almost everywhere from Verizon, and from what I’ve been reading, the upload will probably average more like 500kb when I gett a Rev A card.

I bought my 1610 as soon as they were available, knowing that I was going to experience serious regret once the WWAN was released, but also knowing it would probably turn out to be a while and I’d reget it if I waited, too.

I’m delighted with my 1610 and Verizon EVDO combination, expecially since with the extended battery I can just leave the EVDO card on all the time, letting the PC go into standby when I’m not using it, ans still get all-day use.

Even so, I would *love* to not have the Verizon card sticking out of the PC card slot. And having a voice-phone embedded (which is what I’m assuming the SIM card and “quadband EDGE/GPRS/GSM” would essentially give you) would be great too.

Thanks for any insights.

My information still has the US release of the 3G option on the P1610 as early April. That is based on conversations I have had with my Fujitsu corporate representative within the last 3-4 weeks.