Can you even get W520s with internal modems anymore? [ Editado ]

[Growly]

So after some searching I've discovered that this is not a new issue, but I've also discovered that there are no conclusive solutions to the problem, either. 

I want a W520 with an internal modem. I don't think that's too much to ask. Every ThinkPad I've owned until now has had a modem. Lenovo took liberties with pretty much every aspect of the design but the modem - the modem is my rock.

So anyway, I configured what I thought would be My New Baby with everything I could. I jumped on a sale and EPP discount that my rational mind would have thought better of in a more complete state. When I looked at the order confirmation in detail some weeks later I saw the line "NO MODEM", which upset me. I received the laptop today and lo and behold, exactly as described by others in this forum, the RJ11 port is blanked out.

I called the post-sales team to complain; they offered me to take the laptop back and give me a refund. But I want a ThinkPad, just with a modem. They put me through to the sales team, which said that they couldn't even configure a W520 with a modem for me.

What gives? What is this nonsense? I had no option to configure a modem or other - but this has always been the case. Except, in the past, the implicit understanding was that my ThinkPad would come with a modem.

I guess the worst part is that, just as it happened with the T60p, my perfect machine is being pulled out from underneath me. (Back then, they discontinued the FlexView panels the week before I went to order. I was a very unhappy camper for a very long time. It engendered a sort of emotional void that I have spent many ThinkPads since trying to fill, unsuccessfully.)

[ZipZap]

Hi, Growly,

     I bought the 4276-37U pre-configured W520 which does indeed include a modem. I was thinking how odd and quaint that is, then I saw your post.

     I can honestly say I haven't used it. Of course, I don't even have a landline anyway.

W520 specs +

    Hey, does anyone know where I can get a W520 with  RS-232 and parallel printer ports?

                                                  Best wishes, ZZ

[nitrap]

---

What gives? What is this nonsense? I had no option to configure a modem or other - but this has always been the case. Except, in the past, the implicit understanding was that my ThinkPad would come with a modem.

---

Growly --- love your user name, some out here think I should be called Growly (or just Grumpy).  After suppressing my initial inclination to just blow this off (who uses modems anymore?), I realized that, for you at least, this is presumably not a theoretical question. You apparently live/work in a situation which requires a modem, and that places you in an awkward situation.  Dial-up connectivity is just not a widely held need anymore, and you will find this to be more of a problem as time moves on.  As I sit here writing this on my W520, I can honestly say that I have no clue if this laptop has a modem or not.  If I find that it does, I will disable it.

I am not trying to minimize your problem --- if you need a modem to do your job, live your life, whatever, this is a real issue for you.  Not unlike when I first got a T61p and went to test a serial-based device for a customer --- I won't say how long I spent looking for a serial port.  Newly educated, I promptly secured a supposedly "undesirable" laptop, complete with serial port, to have on hand for the sole purpose of configuring network switches and testing serial devices.

Sorry, I don't have any practical advice for you.  Someone has suggested that W520s are available with modems --- great, grab one. But when that W520 has exceeded its useful life, dial-up modems will likely be like serial ports --- occasionaly useful, but generally unavailable.

All that said, I am curious about what is driving your need for dial-up?

Update: I just checked, and while Device Manager reports a "Standard Modem", I think that may be for Bluetooth compatibility purposes.  Inspecting my laptop, I see a plastic blank in a shape suspiciously like an RJ11 jack on the back of the computer.  Again, not sure what your specific situation/needs may be, but it may be time to start looking ahead.

[Growly]

Thank you ZipZap. It seems obvious that it is not a design decision to exclude the modem, merely a sales one, which is a large part of my gripe. I could solder in an RJ11 jack, I presume, and affix the daughtercard myself. But I can't. Because the CTO model available online just won't let me. Don't be an Apple, Lenovo. That's not what I expect. I have been expecting a call back from one of the sales team managers but, unsurprisingly, am yet to hear anything.

And thank you nitrap for your compassion. I can't honestly think of any situation in which I'd need to use the 56k modem. I'll probably never use the VGA output, either. I've never used the firewire port on any of my ThinkPads. The card reader I need most is the one they never include: CompactFlash. The fingerprint reader is unreliable - I stopped using it when my friend's thumb and my index finger were deemed equivalent. The trackpoint mouse - haven't used that in years. I don't have an immediate use for the WWAN card, it's just nice to have. My need for the XM processor is overstated.

I'm an engineer, I get that progress can only be made if we don't insist on maintaining old technologies. But dial-up technology, though ancient, is still useful for many remote workers and especially in parts of the world where broadband is still not readily available (yes, they exist). For example, my grandmother's house. It's a nice backup. I really wonder how much it has saved them to take them out of the configuration, without telling anyone, hoping to geth away with it. What happened to "FOR THOSE WHO DO"?

All the design requirements are already in place! Get rid of it on the next model and use the space for something useful, if you have to get rid of it. I get that there are tradeoffs - but in this case they've lost one feature and replaced it with nothing.

Rant aside, this machine was an emotional investment. I wanted it to have all the quality things about ThinkPads that I loved - or at least, the ones that I thought were left. And now I can't play with my PABX

[nitrap]

---

Growly wrote:

...

Rant aside, this machine was an emotional investment. I wanted it to have all the quality things about ThinkPads that I loved - or at least, the ones that I thought were left. And now I can't play with my PABX

---

Growly, I agree.  I have personally owned at least four ThinkPads, and who knows how many ThinkPads my employers have supplied me with. Any search for a new laptop has always started with IBM (or Lenovo, whatever), but while I am generally pleased with my W520, I am no longer convinced that Lenovo truly differentiates itself with its hardware, support, durability, etc.

As far as replacing unused functionality with new stuff, you have a logical argument, but as an engineer myself (OK, software engineer), it's a lot more than space....   Personally, I like simplicity, and the fewer "moving parts" the better.  I'd rather have a laptop with no modem than a laptop that failed because its unused modem went up in smoke.  Empty space is better than "failure" space.

If all the mobile broadband providers could agree on a spec, I would like having built-in WWAN capability, an obvious improvement to the old POTS dial-up capabilities.  But in the absence of that, (again) empty space is better than marginally useful space.  If I really need remote connectivity, my 4G/LTE phone hotspot is only a few clicks (touches) away.

[Growly]

---

nitrap wrote:

As far as replacing unused functionality with new stuff, you have a logical argument, but as an engineer myself (OK, software engineer), it's a lot more than space....   Personally, I like simplicity, and the fewer "moving parts" the better.  I'd rather have a laptop with no modem than a laptop that failed because its unused modem went up in smoke.  Empty space is better than "failure" space.

---

This is true enough, you make a good point. But we all seem to agree that the technology is old - and that also makes it more mature, as it prefers to be called. I've never heard of anyone on any of these forums complaining because their 56k modem failed! They're very simple by today's standards, especially as I'm pretty sure every ThinkPad modem was only a software modem, anyway...

As for the rest, I think I'm nearly done with Lenovo. I agree that they're at the mercy of the bulk customers and the rest of the companies vying for OEM manufacturing capacity, but switching to 16:9 was even more disgusting than switching from 4:3 to 16:10. The W520 is becoming more and more bland; the screen quality, keyboard quality, service, support, everything is dissatisfying. Slowly but surely, everything that impressed me about the T43p is being taken away (or at least, its modern equivalent). I try to tell them so they can fix it and they don't listen. I think I might end my collection with an ex-lease X301, then maybe find some working IBM pre-Pentium-M era thinkpads, erect a shrine, and never buy a laptop ever again...

Alas, I just want a **bleep** modem. They shouldn't've taken it away from me without telling me. Now there'll be a blank plate in the shape on an RJ11 jack in my soul there forever

[harrisb]

If you can't live w/o a modem, then just purchase either the USB accessory from Lenovo on the website or other vendors' websites. The costs range from $25-$50. Just plug and play with Windows 7 for the software variety. There are also hard modems that are fully functional w/o software for Linix users.

Now, if you just want the internal modem restored into your system, you can purchase the part assembly from the parts site which consists of the modem card, bracket+RJ11jack, cable and screw. I priced this out at one time and the cost was in excess of $80!

For all who contend that a modem shouldn't be an option, I'll remind them that the telephone wires are powered during power outages, but the cable modems, DSL modems, etc need electricity to function. Sometime there are outages that will cutoff communications for a while too. We've had a few here in NC this past summer. The modem came in handy. I don't think that using a hotspot in a cellphone is a good alternative based on the cost by the carriers of a tethered usage of $40+ a month. Modems are much more cost efficient for standby usage (unless your company is absorbing the charges).

YMMV

[Growly]

I just got off the phone again. The manager present on the sales line insisted that there was no way of configuring a modem, and that it had been taken out due to "business decisions". I pointed out that my model is listed in the tabook with a modem and that all product shots on the website include a modem, so really I haven't gotten what I paid for (but I didn't say anything about false advertising). Anyone who'd purchased a ThinkPad before now could therefore expect it to come standard, as there was no information otherwise. I suggested that they pay for the part and have it sent out to me, but being a weekend that helpdesk is closed. So I wait patiently.

I don't want an external modem, but I appreciate the suggestion. That is another thing to carry around.

(To me this is now a matter of principle. I'm genuinely sad to say that I will probably return this machine and not get another. Not until I had placed the order was it mentioned anywhere that this feature had been removed. A modem might be a trivial thing, but it's really the straw that broke the camel's back. Lenovo really wants to profit from the mass-market, and so it shall, at the cost of its once most-loyal proponents.)

Hopefully this thread at least provides some insight for anyone else who faces the same issue, at least until the W520 is replaced...

[PeterTWJ]

Hi ZipZap

Nowadays, OEM are phasing out out technologies such as RS-232 and Parallel Printer Port (LPT), even the latest docking station for Lenovo or others would not have these ports. The easiest solution is to get USB to RS-232 and USB to LPT cable. You should be able to get one of those in IT accessories shops.

Cheers 

Peter

=============================================
Does someone post helps you? Give them a kudos as a reward, as they will do better to improve 

Mark it as solved if the solution works for you, so it could be reference for others in the future 

Refunded Set: W510, 4876-A11

Current Set: W520, 4284-A99

Dolby Home Theater v4!:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Lapt​ops/W520-Sound-Enhancement-Thread/m-p/451401#M155... 

[ZipZap]

Hi, Pete,

    I was only kidding , in keeping with the tongue-in-cheek nature of the topic. However, I do use  USB to serial converters to hook up my lab instruments which have RS-232 serial connectors. Yeah, the lab equipment manufacturers are always the last to change.

    I  am not kidding that my W520 has a built-in modem. I could hardly believe it when I saw it. While I never have used it, I ran a diagnostic on it to see if it was really there, and sure enough! What will Lenovo think of next (or should I say least)?