Cellular modems come and go, and they can be tricky beasts to tame – yet, in every portable computer project I’ve worked with, “LTE modem” has been a top-three request from the audience. If you’re building a cyberdeck or a general Linux portable, then a cellular modem’s cellular data uplink, SMS support, and even voice calls, can be the killer addition you need to make your deck a true daily machine. These days, I see that the demand for cyberdecks is rising, my own projects could greatly benefit from modems too, and yet it sometimes it feels like informational drought. I think now is a great time to make a listicle, detailing a few modems you should keep in mind.
Testing out prospective modems can be costly and time-intensive – design a board, purchase a few sample modems at inflated prices, only to have your idea completely blocked by elusive firmware issues at the very last step. I’ve given some starting-from-scratch tips before, having shown how to use mPCIe cards for testbench purposes. Today, I’d rather give you a few battle-tested modems that others already use with great success, and describe the features you can get out of one.
