Using a sim card(WWAN) on a HP Elitebook 850 G8

[AlexMackenzie]

Hi! I have a HP Elitebook 850 G8 and a duplicate sim card. I would like to use this sim card whenever I do not have access to ethernet/wifi or if the connection is dodgy or highly restrictive. I'm fairly sure Windows should automatically detect the card and present the option for cellular connection. However nothing happens when I slide it in, and I also cannot find any WWAN drivers in device management. I tried installing both the Snapdragon and Intel drivers from the product page.

That is sp135945.exe  - HP XMM7360 WWAN-driver and sp138337.exe  - Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G WWAN-driver

I have also confirmed the sim card works on other devices.

I dug a bit deeper and found that this feature might require a separately purchased service contract. Does that mean that my laptop does not currently support this feature? And is that a hardware feature simply not installed? Or is this a feature locked by HP, unlockable remotely?

If I want to get this feature, do I have to send the laptop in to a hp repair center? And how much approximately would it cost?

Thank you in advance!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Every Elitebook 850 G8 has a SIM card slot.

What 90% of them don't have is the optional WWAN adapter that is needed to connect to the cellular service.

Your notebook needs to have either one of these two WWAN adapters installed.

Intel® XMM™ 7360 LTE-Advanced Cat 9
Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X55 5G Cat 20 

Go to the device manager.  Click to expand the Network adapters device manager category and if one of those adapters is present, then you should be able to connect to the cellular service.  If not, then you can't.

You can add a WWAN card but first you need to make sure that the antenna wires are present to connect to the WWAN card.

If there are, then you can buy either one of the WWAN adapters listed in chapter 3, page 20, item 20 of your notebook's service manual.

Maintenance and Service Guide (hp.com)

The card you buy must have the HP part number or it will not work.

Chapter 5 has the WWAN card removal and replacement procedures.

Since this is a peer-to-peer forum and we don't work for or represent HP, unfortunately I would have no idea what the service will cost you if you don't install the card yourself.

The closest HP parts facility to order online for you is in Sweden.

Here is the ordering information for either WWAN card.

HP Reservdelar – reservdelar till HP-datorer – reservdelar till HP-skrivare – reservdelar till Compa...

The Qualcomm model is on back order.

HP Reservdelar – reservdelar till HP-datorer – reservdelar till HP-skrivare – reservdelar till Compa...

You can see if you can find either WWAN adapter on places like eBay but search by the HP part number, not the model of the WWAN card.

You may be able to find one for far less money than what HP is going to charge you.