FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

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kode-niner
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#11 Post by kode-niner »

I have a little trouble understanding the philosophy. Why would Panasonic release region-specific laptops that do not allow certain bands to be used? Shouldn't the card installed inside it be the deciding factor for what frequencies should be bused over PCIe and piped to the OS? Why should the laptop interfere with that?

I sincerely and respectfully wish to understand.
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Rob
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#12 Post by Rob »

kode-niner wrote:I have a little trouble understanding the philosophy. Why would Panasonic release region-specific laptops that do not allow certain bands to be used? Shouldn't the card installed inside it be the deciding factor for what frequencies should be bused over PCIe and piped to the OS? Why should the laptop interfere with that?

I sincerely and respectfully wish to understand.
As I said it has nothing to do with Panasonic. Panasonic does NOT release region specific laptops. It's Sierra that releases different cards. Also the FCC here in the US has control of what bands and frequencies are used. This is why Verizon is the best in the US because they have the MOST FCC licenses for said airwaves. As such with the US government controlling the US wireless market the manufactures such as Sierra have to adhere to it by law.

And you are correct! The card installed the Toughbook DOES have the deciding factor for what frequencies are being used which is why there are tons of different card models!
~Rob - Vice President - Rugged Depot~
~Cell: (630)/300-8877~
~Owner - Toughbooktalk~
~Fully rugged Toughbook user since April 18th 2005~
~FZ-40ACAAHKM - Primary Toughbook / Workstation as of 7/29/22
~Win10 Pro (Win11 DG), Intel Core i5-1145G7 (up to 4.4GHz), vPro, 14.0" FHD Gloved Multi Touch, 16GB, 1TB Samsung SSD, Intel Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, 4G EM7690, GPS, Quad Pass (BIOS Selectable), Mic and Infrared 5MP Webcam, Standard Battery, TPM 2.0, Emissive Backlit Keyboard, Dual Batteries, USB A + HDMI + Serial X-PAK, Shoulder Strap, Flat~
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kode-niner
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#13 Post by kode-niner »

In that case you have misunderstood me. I have a Sierra card that works for my carrier in Canada. I live in Canada. this card works well in my CF-30 MK2 and CF-19 MK4 in Canada. However, it does NOT work with the LTE band I currently use it for inside the CF-31 I have just obtained.

This is what I am trying to figure out, and if a proper optional kit code is necessary to match the card and truly unlock the frequency bands I need.

Mind you, I might just have other technical issues or something.
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Rob
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#14 Post by Rob »

Sorry. No, the kit code has nothing to do with the bands at all. It is possible that it's picking up Band 7 which this card DOES support, however it's a congestion relief band. Putting is shortly the MC7710 is NOT the right card for use in Canada whatsoever so the fact that it worked on the other Toughbooks (Would ONLY be band 7) means you got VERY VERY lucky!

More details here about Canada from the engineering side (Because I'm a network engineer by trait):

If it works somewhat on HSPA/UMTS that's one thing but that's 3G, not 4G LTE.

Fido is owned by Rogers so they are the same infrastructure.

Frequencies shared by BOTH providers are as follows:

2,4,5,7, 12,13,17 (17 is a smaller subset of 12 BTW so if a 4G card supports B12 then it will also automatically support B17 but not the other way around),

Band 29 which Telus uses that Roger/Fido don’t use is the only frequency that is additional.

As such the EM7455 card will 100% work with ALL 3 of these carriers. The problem here is that that is the newest card and it will ONLY work in the following Toughbooks:

CF-33 MK1 (MK2 isn’t out yet anyways)
CF-20 MK2
FZ-G1 MK5
CF-54 MK3
CF-31 MK6

If the Toughbook is anything but those aforementioned units then an EM7355 will be needed which doesn’t support band 12, 29 or 7. Band 29 and 12 is used by Telus for RURAL areas as is band 12 for Rogers/Telus BOTH. Band 7 is the higher end band used for higher speeds and additional capacity in big cities.

It is safe to sell either card but ultimately there would have to be a VERY VERY specific area which would be VERY difficult to find which the EM7355 won’t work. The EM7455 covers 100% of everything though.
~Rob - Vice President - Rugged Depot~
~Cell: (630)/300-8877~
~Owner - Toughbooktalk~
~Fully rugged Toughbook user since April 18th 2005~
~FZ-40ACAAHKM - Primary Toughbook / Workstation as of 7/29/22
~Win10 Pro (Win11 DG), Intel Core i5-1145G7 (up to 4.4GHz), vPro, 14.0" FHD Gloved Multi Touch, 16GB, 1TB Samsung SSD, Intel Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, 4G EM7690, GPS, Quad Pass (BIOS Selectable), Mic and Infrared 5MP Webcam, Standard Battery, TPM 2.0, Emissive Backlit Keyboard, Dual Batteries, USB A + HDMI + Serial X-PAK, Shoulder Strap, Flat~
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~Gamber & Johnson Platinum Partner~

http://www.toughbooktalk.com
http://downloads.toughbooktalk.com/
http://www.rugged575.com - 300' UHF GMRS Radio Repeater
http://www.crete600.com - 310' UHF Linked GMRS Radio Repeater


~Emergency preparedness starts with reliable communication systems above all. Pretend the internet and cell phones didn’t exist, how will you communicate? If you’re interested in learning more, ask me!~

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kode-niner
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#15 Post by kode-niner »

First, let me slap myself in the face for a second.
:pat:
:stupid:

I have the MC7700 and NOT the 7710. I have it working on the Videotron network here in Quebec that uses the B4 AWS spectrum (1700/2100) for LTE and now B17 which I think the are leasing from Bell.

Sorry, it's been a while and I had successfully gotten LTE working on a CF-19 MK2 and CF-30 MK2 a few years back and was pulling close to the 100 Mb/s limit on speedtest. It was pretty impressive! I made a few guys here happy in finding out that it also works for what was back then known as Wind (now Freedom) Mobile on the west coast.

At any rate, them's the cards I'm dealt with, pun intended. Same card is working pretty good on my newer CF-19 MK4 and the one in this CF-31 was also a working card that I pulled out of the CF-30, so I probably have some other issue to figure out.

My apologies. :o
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Rob
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#16 Post by Rob »

Ahhh! Yeah and the MC7700 is specifically designed for use on ATT here in the US. It supports band 17 for sure but NOT band 12.... Remember what I said that if a card supports 12 it'll also support 17 but not the other way around. :)

MC7700 supports the following bands:

4G LTE:
B1
B4
B17

3G HSPA+ (They call it 4G but it's NOT 4G, it's actually 3G or "3.5G" - whatever you wanna call it:

B1
B2
B5
B6

FYI that Videotron is an MVNO (Mobile virtual network operator) which has VERY VERY limited spectrum and mostly piggy backs on Rogers. So as such whatever we're working with with Rogers should apply to Videotron too!

See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vid%C3%A9otron

"In 2013, Rogers and Vidéotron struck a 20-year deal, enabling Vidéotron to share its network with Rogers Wireless. This network sharing agreement enabled Vidéotron to deploy LTE on its network in Quebec in 2014, in partnership with Rogers. The agreement also enabled Vidéotron customers to use the Rogers Wireless network as a Vidéotron partner network in order to allow texts to be sent or received, calls to be made and for data to be used across Canada. In 2016, Vidéotron revamped its plans, allowing customers to make unlimited calls, send and receive texts and use data in the United States as well, due to partnerships with US carriers."

Thanks!
~Rob - Vice President - Rugged Depot~
~Cell: (630)/300-8877~
~Owner - Toughbooktalk~
~Fully rugged Toughbook user since April 18th 2005~
~FZ-40ACAAHKM - Primary Toughbook / Workstation as of 7/29/22
~Win10 Pro (Win11 DG), Intel Core i5-1145G7 (up to 4.4GHz), vPro, 14.0" FHD Gloved Multi Touch, 16GB, 1TB Samsung SSD, Intel Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, 4G EM7690, GPS, Quad Pass (BIOS Selectable), Mic and Infrared 5MP Webcam, Standard Battery, TPM 2.0, Emissive Backlit Keyboard, Dual Batteries, USB A + HDMI + Serial X-PAK, Shoulder Strap, Flat~
~AT&T Business 1GB Fiber 1GB/1GB business static line~
~Gamber & Johnson Platinum Partner~

http://www.toughbooktalk.com
http://downloads.toughbooktalk.com/
http://www.rugged575.com - 300' UHF GMRS Radio Repeater
http://www.crete600.com - 310' UHF Linked GMRS Radio Repeater


~Emergency preparedness starts with reliable communication systems above all. Pretend the internet and cell phones didn’t exist, how will you communicate? If you’re interested in learning more, ask me!~

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kode-niner
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#17 Post by kode-niner »

Thanks for the refresher, Rob. I pretty much studied the specs of the 7700 series when I was determined to make them work in a CF-19 MK2 and CF-30 MK3, but that was a few years back and my memory's foggy. This info should help anyone who stumbles upon this thread for sure.

I am still stuck with my original problem and I'll find the time this weekend to see what's going on or do an OS wipe or something.
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kode-niner
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#18 Post by kode-niner »

Well I've gone and done it. I bought a used CF-31WFNAB1M MK4 from a local supplier. 8400 hours on it but it looks brand new. Not a scratch.
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kode-niner
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#19 Post by kode-niner »

Looks busted. Well, I'm about to get an MC7355 and MC7455 to play with next week.
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kode-niner
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Re: FINALLY, ordered a CF-31

#20 Post by kode-niner »

What's the official kit code for the MC7455?
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