Waveshare SIM7600G-H 4G HAT (B) for Raspberry Pi Supports LTE Cat-4 4G/3G/2G GNSS Positioning Global Band

I did not know that there were phone modules that worked with 4G LTE networks, but here it is! This is made to mount underneath a Raspberry Pi Zero computer, and has the same footprint as that circuit board. It comes with a pair of PCB antennas for LTE, and a GPS amplified antenna on a 10' cable. It comes with an audio jack you can plug a headset into, allowing making regular voice calls with it easy without any other components, as well as using as a data modem. I didn't want to use a Pi Zero module, so my plan is to operate this from a Pi Pico board, but for my initial tests I just connected the micro USB jack on this module to a USB port on a Dell Latitude running Linux, and also running Windows 10. The phone worked on both operating systems, connecting using Minicom in Linux and PuTTY in Windows. Waveshare's website and Wiki were very helpful, and I was able to initiate and answer voice calls, send and receive SMS text messages, and connect to the Internet through the USB port, again with both Windows 10 and Linux. WIndows required a driver, but Waveshare tells you where to download that, and Ubuntu Linux found the device without needing a driver. I was also able to do voice and text on a MacBook, but there was no driver for the LTE modem option that I could find for macos. I tried this module with both a Verizon SIM card and a Mint Mobile card, which uses the T-Mobile network. Both worked just fine. Now I get to do the fun part, which is connecting a touch screen 2.8" LCD to the Pi Pico and making a decent user interface for it, and putting it in a custom case. Most fun project in a long time.OH! One thing you will want to know: the module uses what look like u.fl or IPEX connectors for the main antenna, the "diversity" antenna, and the GPS antenna. But these are actually IPEX-4 connectors, which are smaller and will not work with antennas that just say they have "IPEX" connectors, which in most cases means IPEX-1. The trick I discovered was that if you look for 5G antennas, these use IPEX-4 connectors, and they will cover the 4G LTE bands just fine. This is not a problem if you use the included antennas, since they already have the right connectors on them, and you can use one of the included IPEX-4 to SMA adapters to plug in any amplified GPS antenna that uses SMA.Honestly, I'm pretty sure Waveshare didn't really mean for this to be used in a phone - it's more for putting into computer projects that need a wireless Internet connection, but I think I can make the best phone since my Ericsson 388. Like I said, I got a Mint Mobile SIM card, which was because I occasionally need to stream video where there is no WiFi, and also wanted to have unlimited voice and text, which this did, but there are also decent plans from Boost Mobile (on AT&T or T-Mobile) and a number of data-only SIM cards that are really cheap if you just want to use it for low-bandwidth data on a wireless project, so have fun!

Not sure why companies think that they can just toss a bunch of components over the fence and think makers will figure it out. We will, eventually, but don't expect a good review if that's the case. I'm on my third Pi trying to get this to work. Amazon says "Frequently bought together," and shows the Pi Zero W 2. Guess what, that's the only zero (to date) this won't work with. I tried a Pi Zero W (v1) and the supposed serial port /dev/tty/USB02 doesn't show up, and none of the others work either. But don't worry, as the instruction clearly state, "you can connect it to the 4G HAT through the thimble." So, once you figure what that means, post what you did here in a review so everyone else knows too. Oh, and even though this is a HAT, the instructions they do have, are for a PC running Windows. Good Luck and Happy Thimble!Update: Nope. It's a $90 piece of toast. On a scale from 1 to 5, I'm giving this a "THIMBLE". Waveshare, if you want to make this right, send me one that works and I'll re-review it.