Low-cost 3G interface for Raspberry Pi?
Tom wrote 11/21/2016 at 16:21 • 1 pointWhat's the cheapest way of getting 3G onto a Raspberry Pi?
I'm designing my own hat for it anyway, so placing a SIM5320 or similar on the board is not out of the question, though I'm not that confident about getting the RF traces right. But the cheapest I can source them is over £20. - and since I can get a USB 3G dongle for about that anyway, there doesn't seem a lot of point. To get one on a breakout board that doesn't require me to do RF design is looking rather nearer £60.
There are a variety of SIM800 breakout boards which look pretty easy to integrate and which can be had for less than £10, but AFAICT they are 2G only - and we move too much data around for that to work.
mini-PCIe 3G modules designed for a laptop are easy to come by for about £10, but of course the Pi has no PCIe bus.
What other options have I got? Am I really best off sticking with my USB dongle?
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Ah, thanks, I'd not come across them.
Any idea how to use it as a network interface on raspberry pi? I can more or less guess how to wire it up, but can't find details on driver's anywhere.
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Hello i hope this one can help you: http://www.instructables.com/id/Running-mini-PCI-e-3G-card-with-USB-mini-PCI-e-t/step2/Soldering-the-WIRE-to-the-mini-PCIe-card-pin/
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Hello, the mini-PCIe Moduls run over USB and have acssess to sim over the PCIe Conector you can simple use it.
Adapter to usb: https://aliexpress.com/item/Mini-PCI-E-Wireless-WWAN-Card-to-USB-Adapter-Card-with-SIM-Card-Slot-87917/32698290088.html
EDIT: The m590 Modul has no 3G
Or you use a M590(E) modul from Aliexpress for ~$2 US:
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/5pcs-lot-GPRS-module-SMS-module-SMS-module-GSM-module-M590-gsm-module-SIM-module-TCP/32302295850.html
https://hackaday.io/project/16375-sms-for-orangepi-raspberry
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