Even though it's a known fact that the Vaio P is locked down to Verizon Wireless in the US because Sony "decided not to fully utilize the opportunities of Gobi," the WWAN chipset that supports both EV-DO (Sprint/Verizon) and HSPA (AT&T/T-Mobile), a common question about the P is still whether or not it has a SIM card slot.
The answer is yes, the US models do have SIM slots . . . that are filled in with plastic and completely inaccessible. Well, sort of. As you can see in the photo above, I did manage to tear out the plug and get my AT&T SIM card in there.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
First things first. Where is the SIM card slot located?
That's an easy one: inside the battery compartment.
Now the hard part. How do you get that piece of plastic out of there?
Not easily. Oh, and with an x-acto knife and a pair of tweezers.
There was some definite wiggle room underneath the piece but none on top of it. My husband (who performed the extraction) couldn't get anything into the top; we thought the piece might have been part of the actual back casing, which is why we decided to saw it off.
I thought that maybe the part we could see was just a door/plug. If we could break that off, maybe everything I needed would be behind it. Maybe rather than manufacture two different versions of the internals (the UK versions have functional SIM slots), Sony just covered up the slot for the US.
Okay, maybe not.
But that sure looks like a SIM card imprinted on the board. I don't see any of the pins or brackets that should probably be there, but let me stick my card in anyway and see what happens.
Okay, that was dumb.
The plastic piece isn't a plug/door to the SIM slot; it's a portal to a cavernous underworld where things go in, but don't come out. Not without a piece of tape, anyway!
Fortunately, all I had to do was put the battery back on and the problem went away. No external evidence of any sort of tampering, prying, yanking, or scratching.
Just the Sony Vaio P and a couple of SIM cards that will never go back inside it.
:: Visit the Vaio P forum to connect with other owners and potential buyers, share tips, and troubleshoot. ::
Wow, that is a big dissapointment.
I can’t believe Sony USA actually crippled the device that bad….
Having a Gobi chip and nut being able to use my own SIM-cards would be a deal-blower for me.
I wonder how they locked the Japanese version, which is if I am not mistaken locked to NTT Docomo. (Unlockable of-course, but if there is not SIM, then… well…
Why do I think that Sony hates Americans (at least with respect to their handling of the Vaio P)? Crippled SIM functionality, no 1.6 or 1.8 Ghz options… Ugh.
According to Dynamism, the Japanese version doesn’t have mobile broadband at all.
Dynamism is both right and wrong. The WWAN models are to be released slightly later this month, all the shipments as of today do not have mobile broadband.
Sony claimed that you “must” use it with NTT DoCoMo, but I’m sure somebody would try to shove a Softbank sim card in there.
This is really a bummer. So no AT&T on the unit.
Well Sony looks like you just lost another costumer. No wonder you are showing losses for the first time, you are forgetting who buys your high end computers, International costumers who need to change sim cards to stay in touch with the world. I just bought a New VGN-TZ2500 and found the same problem. Thanks for F**KING us once again Sony.
So wait, do you make costumes or do you wear them?
hehe silly americans with their ‘locked’ phones buahaha!
Haha, nicely done.
Surely the logical (and easier) thing to do would be to remove the screws holding the bottom of the case on.
The P is completely encased so there aren’t any exposed screws. I also didn’t want to risk cosmetic damage to the outside of the device; I don’t care about scratches inside the battery compartment.
Thanks Jenn for taking the bullet for the rest of Future and current owners of the Sony P. Now if we can open up the case and put in a SIM Slot for the SIM Card then your ready to go.
By the way Fry’s has the Sony P the 899.99 in stock and they have them on display. I had already seen this Sony P but was looking at Sony Website the other day and didn’t show any 899.99 models available instock. So I had to hold back, was very hard not getting the Sony P yet. I’m going to sell my Aigo running XP and get the Sony P. Only problem is I also really like the Aigo for instant portable computing. 
I’m going to have make up my mind by the weekend.
If i got the Japanese version of the Vaio P, would i be able to use an AT&T Sim card from over here?
Amazon has some colors of the base model in stock through JR right now. You’re definitely leaning toward the HDD version?
Yeah all it would be for on the go access to Word, Excel, email, and internet. For work I use my MSI Wind and the SC3, and for video stuff I use my Macbook Pro.
Wow, Jenn… You might hit Wikipedia and read up on CDMA and GSM cellular tech — even if that had been a slot, the Vaio uses a CDMA radio, which is incompatible with GSM.
You could have saved yourself the destruction.
The Vaio P uses the Gobi chip, which is compatible with both HSPA and EVDO. So it’s designed to work with both GSM and CDMA networks. Unlike other Gobi-equipped devices (e.g., OQO Model 2+), however, the P is currently locked to Verizon. Since it *is* still Gobi, though, it was worthwhile to check out the SIM slot situation.
Jenn,
Are you by any chance still using the “Gophone” AT&T unlimited media net?
No, ATT discontinued that service in November. I was paid up until the end of January, though, so I was able to use it until then.
It’s still possible to keep it, as long as you don’t let it run out and INSIST to get it renewed by calling in to 611. I did, and renewed it last on Feb 3rd. I use it in my Aigo w/XP. However on Feb 11th it started charging for data.
So on the 12th I called in they said there was a problem and they would refund the $50 it had charged. Only yesterday did I get it back working, the person who called me back (from a 319 area code) removed the Media Net package only to put it back on as she thought that was the only way to “reset” it so that it wouldn’t charge me, thanks to this it now got renewed until 3/18, and she removed the $19.99 charge it charged for “adding” it again.
I thought I was getting the run-around because the first rep (I called) yesterday said the new terms were effective Feb 3rd. I just said, NO it was in Nov 2008, and if it was eff Feb 3rd why was my service added on that date and for a week or so nothing charged for data. At that the person said “this is the information I have been given” similarly when I renewed it on Feb 3rd I was told it’s not possible when I just wouldn’t take know as an answer the guy said “let me check with a manager” came back and asked “so you’re willing to pay for it?” I said…ah Yes!? ..and it was done (with credit on the account).
So the “reason” I was given yesterday was that “the towers in your area were not forwarding the info that you shouldn’t be charged” I had to bite my tongue to not say anything to that comment, I thought to myself my agenda at this point is to get it fixed and that’s it
Bottom line is that you can STILL have MediaNet unlimited on a the GoPhone IF you had it active constantly since Nov and INSIST to get it renewed when they say you can’t.
I wish I had known about this sooner. I just let mine expire at the end of the January because I figured there was nothing I could do about it. I assume you’ll always have to talk to an actual person whenever you want to renew the service, as the unlimited package isn’t offered by that automated lady I used to always have to scream at so she’d hear/understand me.
You can use SIM cards if you order from here, I think:
http://conics.net/catalog/product_info.php?currency=USD&products_id=401
I will not get my order until next week.
Hi
what if ill put sim adapter and solder it to mother board as there’s a place for it , will it work then ??
I did the same with Sony W series netbook and the sim holder was there. I opened it, than disconnected and unscrewed the motherboard which is safer. Afterwards it was easy to cut a slot in the plastic case. Ground yourself and be careful when disconnecting all the tiny wires. Do not do it if you’re not used to work with tiny little things.
what a mess