The antenna I used is very cheap, about 14 to 20 Euros + shipping here in germany. Lots of ebayers selling it and also some shops for electronic-parts or wireless-stuff. I haven't done any tests with the regular antenna in place, but there is really much shielding at the bottom-cover. The plastic itself has a metal layer on it, you have the mainboard, the metal below the keyboard, the keyboard and most of the time your hands shielding the signal.
Maybe you could place a smaller modem directly in the lid, but I suspect it'll be to thick.

I used the cable that came with the antenna. I didn't take any pictures of it before disassembling (shame on me). I already ordered a new one (for my other UMTS-Card), so I'll take a picture of this new one which is the same model. The antenna comes with about 30-40cm cable and a MC-connector, so I just shortened the cable leaving the connection to the antenna untouched. With this antenna-model you can easily pull the cable trough a hole in the bracement of the antenna once you have removed the MC-connector. Btw: They didn't have any pull relief inside the antenna, bad engeneers

http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0976.JPG

Last edited by BenniG. (2008-04-01 3:13:28 am)

I connected the shielding to the ground. At the antenna itself the shielding is connected to the lower "rectangle". The inner wire (don't know whats it called technically correct in english) is connected to the upper rectangle. I could take a picture of the other side the next time I disassemble the eee. But I already wondered about this "strange" wiring.

I'dont know much about this high frequency stuff, maybe here is a HF-expert somewhere, who can explain us the antenna-design

Last edited by BenniG. (2008-04-02 2:26:13 am)

Hi, Great mod by the way.

I just bought one of these myself the moment Three slashed the price here in the UK. I would consider placing it in side, but the only thing that concerned me is the device's power usage. Mine shipped with on of these two port USB cables (an additional connector for more voltage), and I wondered if the additional voltage effects the signal significantly. Ill test it when I have the chance I suppose, and is worth considering. For this reason I'm holding back until I can get some kind of switch in place to easily disable additional and potentially power hungry devices such as these.

Okay, my multimeter says the following:
Voltage at an unused USB-Port 4,82V
Voltage at the USB-Port with the Huawei attached:
4,8V (umts disconnected)
4,78V (modem idle but connected to the network)
4,70V-4,72V (downloading)

I tried to get some more power from another laptop and also another port of the eeepc.
That raises the voltage while downloading to 4,97V (other laptop) or 4,79V (other eeepc port). But this had no effect to the transfer speed. I found no tool to monitor the signal strength, so I can't say if more Voltage really helps. With my tests I couln't find any difference..

http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0939.JPG


The coax should be grounded at the card.

Last edited by barry99705 (2008-11-10 10:04:13 pm)

Hi BenniG!
Quite like your mod.
Have you found anyway to prevent battery drainage through USB-connedted 3G-modem?
Is there anyway to make the USB-ports to shut down, just doing the "safe disconnect" does not work (not on the 901 anyway).
BIOS etc?

BenniG. wrote:

Hi People
Last weekend I added my Huawei E220 (Vodafone Easybox II) into my eeepc.

First of all I put the UMTS-antenna into the lid.
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/Antenne.jpg
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0925.JPG )
On this picture the speaker is still installed, I removed it later, because you couldn't hear anything from it. And maybe it causes some interference to the antenna.

You have to remove this fitting (in the center of the picture) before reassembling the lid
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0929.JPG

After putting the lid together I did a first test with another laptop and the external antenna soldered to the E220. The modem works quite good (getting about 2MBit download speed). I had to fix the sim-card somehow, so I decided to use hot glue. I'll take a look if its still in perfect place, when I disassemble the eee next time.
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0931.JPG
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0931.JPG )

Some more testing with the modem under the motherboard, to ensure the unit is working in this position.
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0935.JPG

Here is a picture of the antenna connection. I'll probably do a second try in a view days, this connection isn't famous right now. The signal strength isn't that bad, but this antenna did a slightly better job while connected to my other umts-card (Option ExpressCard).
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0939.JPG
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0939.JPG )

Okay, starting to connect the eeepc to the modem. First of all I stipped down a usual USB-cable with mini-USB connector.
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0942.JPG

I decided to place the modem near the fan. I've a Surf-Model, so I have no cover in the chassis bottom, this gives a bit more space.
I used a 2007 calendar for electrical shielding to the mainboard (An ecologist would be proud of me ). On the bottom-side of the modem, I only shielded a large SMD-component (I don't know what its for). The metal shielding of the modem has direct contact to the bottom chassis for better thermal transfer.
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0966.JPG
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0966.JPG)

I tried to use the USB-cable with all the shielding and isolation around it, but this didn't work. The cable just uses to much space. As you can see, I use the left USB-connector for getting the USB-signal. You can also see my USB-Stick above the RAM. The Micro Vault Tiny from Sony isn't very fast, but very small.
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0948.JPG
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0948.JPG )

So I did a second try with the "naked" USB wires. As you can see I use the modem-port for interrupting the 5V-line. A UMTS-Modem uses up to 500mA ;(
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0965.JPGhttp://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0959.JPG
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0965.JPG + http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0959.JPG )
Btw: The small pcb in the right picture is a Hama/Trust Nano Bluetooth adapter connected to the cam-port. The Surf doesn't have a cam so this connector is dedicated to this. You can even enable/disable the BT-Stick with writing 1 or 0 to /proc/acpi/asus/camera at runtime.

With the naked USB-cable I was able to put the motherboard in place, but whats with the antenna? I didn't want to use a plug ( the main reason was, that I had none at home;) ). So I soldered the antenna-cable directly to the modem (as shown in a picture above). The cable is passed around the mainboard near the mic/line jacks. So you can easily pull out the mainboard to the right.
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0968.JPG
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0968.JPG )

To remove the mainboard completely you have to disconnect the mini USB-plug:
Here a picture of the old version with shielded USB-Cable
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0945.JPG
(Hi-Res: http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0945.JPG )
In my final version the modem is flipped around (bottom to top). Having the modem the old way costs too much space for the USB-Plug, the mainboard didn't fit in.

Putting all together and sending a prayer to the "god of magic smoke" did help, it worked:
http://gniza.org/e220/thumb/DSCF0956.JPG
(Readable http://gniza.org/e220/DSCF0956.JPG )

What I've done:
-Stripped an external UMTS-Antenna and placed it in the lid.
-Stripped the E220 (there is a screw under the glossy-stuff, you have either to remove it correctly or use more force )
-Used a regular USB->miniUSB cable to connect the modem to the left usb-port
-Placed the modem at the place where the bottom cover is in the non-Surf versions

Hints:
Do not try to use a USB-cable in its originally shape, remove the isolation and shielding to save space.
Do not use hot glue to fix the modem on the bottom-cover. It works but you'll probably have problems reassembling the eee. Being able to move the modem a few millimeters while assembling it will help much.
The eee is getting hotter (much hotter if you have bad signal strength an the modem needs to run at full output power). Do not disconnect the fan, if you use a UMTS modem in the eee.

To do:
Reattach the antenna for better signal strength.
Modify my fan script to run the fan every 5Minutes for about 30seconds if UMTS is connected. (I use the xandros kernel module which allowes to control the fan through /proc/eee/fan_speed.)
Get a bigger battery for maximum UMTS fun.

Feel free to ask, if you have any questions.

Benni