Sierra Wireless AirCard 250U User manual

AirCard 250U Modem
User Guide (Windows)
2131331
Rev 1.0

Preface
Rev 1.0 May.10 3
Important
Notice Due to the nature of wireless communications, transmission and reception of data
can never be guaranteed. Data may be delayed, corrupted (i.e., have errors) or be
totally lost. Although significant delays or losses of data are rare when wireless
devices such as the Sierra Wireless modem are used in a normal manner with a
well-constructed network, the Sierra Wireless modem should not be used in
situations where failure to transmit or receive data could result in damage of any
kind to the user or any other party, including but not limited to personal injury,
death, or loss of property. Sierra Wireless accepts no responsibility for damages
of any kind resulting from delays or errors in data transmitted or received using
the Sierra Wireless modem, or for failure of the Sierra Wireless modem to
transmit or receive such data.
Safety and
Hazards Do not operate the Sierra Wireless modem in areas where blasting is in progress,
where explosive atmospheres may be present, near medical equipment, near life
support equipment, or any equipment which may be susceptible to any form of
radio interference. In such areas, the Sierra Wireless modem MUST BE
POWERED OFF. The Sierra Wireless modem can transmit signals that could
interfere with this equipment.
Do not operate the Sierra Wireless modem in any aircraft, whether the aircraft is
on the ground or in flight. In aircraft, the Sierra Wireless modem MUST BE
POWERED OFF. When operating, the Sierra Wireless modem can transmit
signals that could interfere with various onboard systems.
Note: Some airlines may permit the use of cellular phones while the aircraft is on the
ground and the door is open. Sierra Wireless modems may be used at this time.
The driver or operator of any vehicle should not operate the Sierra Wireless
modem while in control of a vehicle. Doing so will detract from the driver or
operator's control and operation of that vehicle. In some states and provinces,
operating such communications devices while in control of a vehicle is an offence.
Limitation of
Liability The information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not
represent a commitment on the part of Sierra Wireless. SIERRA WIRELESS AND
ITS AFFILIATES SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM LIABILITY FOR ANY AND ALL
DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, GENERAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL,
PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUE OR ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR REVENUE
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE ANY SIERRA WIRELESS
PRODUCT, EVEN IF SIERRA WIRELESS AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR THEY ARE
FORESEEABLE OR FOR CLAIMS BY ANY THIRD PARTY.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event shall Sierra Wireless and/or its
affiliates aggregate liability arising under or in connection with the Sierra Wireless
product, regardless of the number of events, occurrences, or claims giving rise to
liability, be in excess of the price paid by the purchaser for the Sierra Wireless
product.

AirCard 250U Modem - User Guide
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Patents Portions of this product may be covered by some or all of the following US
patents:
5,515,013 5,629,960 5,845,216 5,847,553 5,878,234 5,890,057 5,929,815 6,169,884
6,191,741 6,199,168 6,339,405 6,359,591 6,400,336 6,516,204 6,561,851 6,643,501
6,653,979 6,697,030 6,785,830 6,845,249 6,847,830 6,876,697 6,879,585 6,886,049
6,968,171 6,985,757 7,023,878 7,053,843 7,106,569 7,145,267 7,200,512 7,295,171
7, 287,162 D442,170 D459,303 D599,256 D560,911
and other patents pending.
This product includes technology licensed from QUALCOMM®3G.
Manufactured or sold by Sierra Wireless or its licensees under one or more
patents licensed from InterDigital Group.
Copyright ©2010 Sierra Wireless. All rights reserved.
Trademarks AirCard®and Watcher® are registered trademarks of Sierra Wireless. Sierra
Wireless, AirPrime, AirLink, AirVantage, TRU-Locateand the Sierra
Wireless logo are trademarks of Sierra Wireless.
Windows®and Windows Vista®are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Macintosh and Mac OS are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the
U.S. and other countries.
QUALCOMM®is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. Used
under license.
Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Contact
Information
Consult our website for up-to-date product descriptions, documentation,
application notes, firmware upgrades, troubleshooting tips, and press releases:
www.sierrawireless.com
Sales Desk: Phone: [phone]
Hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time
E-mail: [email protected]
Post: Sierra Wireless
13811 Wireless Way
Richmond, BC
Canada V6V 3A4
Fax: [phone]
Web: www.sierrawireless.com

Preface
Rev 1.0 May.10 5
Revision
History Revision
number Release date Changes
1.0 2010 Initial release

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Rev 1.0 May.10 7
Contents
Introducing the AirCard 250U modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Feature summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Wireless modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
TRU-Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
TRU-Locate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
CDMA 3G services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Watcher auto-update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Additional features of the modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Package contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
System components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Your host computing device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
The USB modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
The modem drivers and enabling software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
CDMA service provider account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
The CDMA wireless network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Care and maintenance of your modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
The AirCard 250U software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Account activation and configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Installing the modem and software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Removing the modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Account configuration procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Activation Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Manual activation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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Watcher Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Starting and closing Watcher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Components of the Watcher window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Window controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Interpreting icons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Minimized icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
GPS Monitor window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
LED operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Radio frequency and electrical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Environmental specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Regulatory Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Important safety/compliance information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Rev 1.0 May.10 9
1
1: Introducing the AirCard 250U modem
•Welcome
•Feature summary
•Package contents
•System
components
•Care and
maintenance of
your modem
Note: This document applies to you, only if your wireless device is the
AirCard 250U modem from Sierra Wireless.
Welcome
The Sierra Wireless AirCard 250U modem is a wireless USB modem
for cellular and PCS networks, and the GPS frequency band. The
modem enhances the functionality of your mobile computing device
by adding 2-way messaging and high-speed mobile data in extended
areas, compared to wireless local area networks.
This modem allows you to do the following (subject to feature
availability), without using a wireline phone or network:
•Connect to the Internet, VPN and corporate networks
•Send and receive large e-mail messages
•Send and receive SMS messages
•Use location-based services
•Conduct video-conferencing
•Access streaming, real-time media
•Play games online
Note: You can view this guide online or print it to keep on hand. If you're
viewing it online, simply click a topic in the Table of Contents, or a page
number in the Index, or any page reference or section reference. (Most text
that is blue is a clickable link.) The PDF automatically displays the appro-
priate page.
Feature summary
Note: For step-by-step
instructions to access
features of the modem,
consult the online help
available with the
Watcher®software
(page 28).
The USB modem is designed to provide a wide range of capabilities
using CDMA and WiMAX network technology. Implementation of
these features depends on the particular service provider and
account features you have chosen.

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Some features described in this manual may not be supported by your service
provider or may not be available with your network account. For details of the
services and accounts available, contact your service provider.
Wireless modem
Once installed and configured, the modem can connect to the CDMA network or
WiMAX network automatically. You just insert the modem, allow Watcher to
autolaunch and authenticate your account on the network, then launch your
Internet browser (which you can also configure in Watcher to launch
automatically)—you’re online!
Alternatively, you can make a high-speed data connection without running
Watcher—simply by launching whatever application you want to use (such as
your web browser or e-mail application). For details, see the online help topic
“Autoconnect behaviour”.
The modem also allows you to dial up a modem (such as a corporate server).
TRU-Install
TRU-Install™ is a Sierra Wireless feature that installs the necessary software and
drivers the first time you insert the modem into your computer. An installation CD
is not required.
TRU-Locate
With TRU-Locate™, you can use location-based services (GPS) to query, for
example, the network for information on points of interest (POI) that are near your
current location, or display driving instructions.
Note: TRU-Locate is subject to feature availability.
Your modem requires an unobstructed view of GPS satellites (in the sky), and,
like any other GPS device, might not perform well within forested areas or near
tall buildings.
Depending on your account, you may be charged for each position fix or after you
have performed a certain number of fixes. For details, contact your service
provider.
Depending on the mechanism that the network and your modem use to obtain
location information, GPS may not be supported:
•If Network Mode is set to “EVDO Only”
•If you're roaming
•If you do not have network coverage
•Due to other reasons.
If you’re having problems using GPS, contact your service provider.