Dell Venue 8 Pro - Mobile Broadband

Im sorry to tell you that there is no mobile broadband option on the Dell Venue 8 Pro. The Dell Venue 11 Pro does have a mobile broadband option. 

That's not entirely accurate.  The current listing for the Dell Venue 8 Pro in the Home section does not show the cellular option.  But a cellular option is expected for this device.  Dell's own spec sheet for the Venue 8 Pro clearly states the following two WWAN cards:

Wireless WAN Dell Wireless 5570E (HSPA+) Mobile Broadband

Dell Wireless 5808E (4G LTE/HSPA/EVDO) Mobile Broadband (available in USA only)

Only time will tell when these options are made available.

Guess I'll be returning mine as I was clearly told in chat that it would have a sim slot and LTE radio. You guys have to educate your employees better.

That's not entirely accurate.  The current listing for the Dell Venue 8 Pro in the Home section does not show the cellular option.  But a cellular option is expected for this device.  Dell's own spec sheet for the Venue 8 Pro clearly states the following two WWAN cards: Wireless WAN Dell Wireless 5570E (HSPA+) Mobile Broadband Dell Wireless 5808E (4G LTE/HSPA/EVDO) Mobile Broadband (available in USA only) Only time will tell when these options are made available.

Hello JORDANMILLS and Steve_NYC,

Thank you for your interest in the Venue 8 Pro.  It will be available in a Mobile Broadband version in the near future.  As for an exact date, I do not have one.  I can only recommend checking back to the website often for updates in availability.

Dell Windows Tablets: http://dell.to/1hh4yNw

I wish I had more details!

-Don D

Guess I'll be returning mine as I was clearly told in chat that it would have a sim slot and LTE radio. You guys have to educate your employees better.

Hello ScarDad,

I am terribly sorry to hear you received mis-information that resulted in an incorrect order. We have since educated our online team to understand the Mobile Broadband option will be released at a later date. Coming soon! Please check your invoice date as there is a limited return time and check our site often for the broadband availability.

http://dell.to/1hh4yNw

-Don D

Im sorry to tell you that there is no mobile broadband option on the Dell Venue 8 Pro. The Dell Venue 11 Pro does have a mobile broadband option.

The Venue 11 Pro is available for purchase now but doesn't have the mobile broadband option either. And when Dell does offer it as an option it appears that one would have to choose AT&T as a service provider which is a deal killer as well. I gotta have T-Mobile.

[quote user="bamboozledguy"] Im sorry to tell you that there is no mobile broadband option on the Dell Venue 8 Pro. The Dell Venue 11 Pro does have a mobile broadband option.

The Venue 11 Pro is available for purchase now but doesn't have the mobile broadband option either. And when Dell does offer it as an option it appears that one would have to choose AT&T as a service provider which is a deal killer as well. I gotta have T-Mobile.

[/quote]It looks like it's available now.  But it's ATT only.  It should be trivial to unlock the card.  If it's not on contract with ATT, they're required to provide the pin to you at no cost (but you'll usually have to complain to the FCC to get a boot up their butt.

So if I type "butt" without masking, it converts it to "***" making it look like I said something else. The first time, I didn't notice this and I got hate mail from the forum admins telling me not to use character substitutions. I didn't.

Where do you see that it's available? Not anywhere from what I can see.

Any word on the "coming soon" date?

Hi Don, I noticed while reading the specs for the Venue 8 Android version that they mention a 3FF SIM slot, even though this option is not yet available. When an LTE radio is available, will Dell have an upgrade path for early adopters who bought the Wi-Fi version today, since mobile versions are not yet available? In other words, will there be a way for someone who buys a Venue 8 Android Wi-Fi version today to upgrade/install a WWAN card and upgrade it to 3g/4g LTE? Or will the mobile cellular radio be built in to motherboard? Note that I'm interested in the Android version being sold today, not the Pro with Windows 8. If you could ask engineering, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

Hey PtaWeston,

The Mobile broadband versions of the Dell Venue 7 & 8, will have the slots necessary to install a SIM card.  However, the WIFI versions do not have this slot.  There is also not a way to upgrade a WIFI version to be Mobile broadband.  They are actually different models with different motherboards.

Some thing else which may confuse Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro owners. The Venue 8 Pro running Windows 8, will only have a SIM slot if it is the mobile broadband version only.  The WIFI version will not have the slot or a path to upgrade.  The Venue 11 Pro on the other hand will have the SIM slot regardless of model.  Unfortunately on the WIFI only version, the slot is non-functional and not upgradeable. Only the mobile broadband Venue 11 Pro, will have a functioning SIM slot.

In know this is not your ideal but, as they are different models, the boards have different functions and features.

-Don D

Hi Don,

I noticed while reading the specs for the Venue 8 Android version that they mention a 3FF SIM slot, even though this option is not yet available. When an LTE radio is available, will Dell have an upgrade path for early adopters who bought the Wi-Fi version today, since mobile versions are not yet available? In other words, will there be a way for someone who buys a Venue 8 Android Wi-Fi version today to upgrade/install a WWAN card and upgrade it to 3g/4g LTE? Or will the mobile cellular radio be built in to motherboard? Note that I'm interested in the Android version being sold today, not the Pro with Windows 8. If you could ask engineering, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you!

Thank you for the prompt and honest reply.

I would like to know if we can expect to buy the Dell Venue Tablets series  with Mobile Broadband  and GPS for windows versions before the end of the year.

Sincerely yours,

Dear DELL-Don D,

I would like to know if the Dell Wireless 5808E (3G / HSPA) Mobile Broadband Card have embedded GPS.

If no, can i buy a Dell Venue Pro 8 with GPS?

Thanks in advance