These modems would often slot into a Mini PCI-e slot in the netbook motherboard. [delokaver] figured out how to use these 3G cards over USB instead. It’s actually a fairly straightforward hack.

Mini PCI is a subset of the PCI interface that uses a significantly smaller card form factor. Supporting only 3.3 volts and 32 bits of the PCI specification, Mini PCI was designed for peripherals ...

The common hardware interface in PCs, Macs and other computers for connecting peripheral devices such as storage drives and graphics cards. PCI Express (PCIe) was introduced in 2002 as "Third ...