Sierra Wireless AC880E User Manual

®

AirCard

800 Series

Wireless Network Cards

Installation Guide

Includes:
AirCard 880 Wireless Modem
AirCard 881 Wireless Modem
AirCard 880 ExpressCard Wireless Modem
AirCard 881 ExpressCard Wireless Modem
AirCard 875 Wireless Modem
AirCard 860 Wireless Modem
AirCard 850 Wireless Modem

2130623

Rev 3.9

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 or its affiliates. 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
HAVE 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.

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 D442,170
D459,303
and other patents pending.

This product includes
technology licensed from:

Licensed by QUALCOMM Incorporated under one or more of
the following United States patents and/or their counterparts
in other nations:

4,901,307 5,056,109 5,101,501 5,109,390 5,228,054
5,267,261 5,267,262 5,337,338 5,414,796 5,416,797
5,490,165 5,504,773 5,506,865 5,511,073 5,535,239
5,544,196 5,568,483 5,600,754 5,657,420 5,659,569
5,710,784 5,778,338

Manufactured or sold by Sierra Wireless or its licensees under
one or more patents licensed from InterDigital Group.

Copyright

Rev 3.9 Jul.07 3

© 2007 Sierra Wireless. All rights reserved.

AirCard 800 Series Installation Guide

Trademarks

Contact
Information

AirCard modem® and Heart of the Wireless Machine® are
registered trademarks of Sierra Wireless.

Sierra Wireless, the Sierra Wireless logo, the red wave design,
the red-tipped antenna, and 3G Watcher are trademarks of
Sierra Wireless.

Other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

All product specifications are subject to change without notice.

Sales Desk: Phone: [phone]

Hours: 8:00

E-mail: [e-mail]

Post: Sierra Wireless

13811 Wireless Way
Richmond, BC
Canada V6V 3A4

Fax: [phone]

Web: www.sierrawireless.com

AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time

Consult our website for up-to-date product descriptions,
documentation, application notes, firmware upgrades, trouble­shooting tips, and press releases:

www.sierrawireless.com

4 2130623

Contents

Introducing the AirCard 800 Series Wireless Network Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

AirCard 800 Series wireless network cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Services supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Your account and coverage area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

AirCard modem software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Frequency band support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

AirCard Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

The SIM Card and Your Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Attach the antenna to your AirCard modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Install Watcher software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Setting Internet Explorer to use the AirCard modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Configuring Your Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Setting up a profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The AirCard modem as a network card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3G Watcher Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Launching 3G Watcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Frequency band selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Care and Maintenance of Your Network Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Stopping and ejecting the AirCard modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Removing a SIM card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

AirCard 850 and 860 modems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

AirCard 875, 88x, and 88xE modems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

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AirCard 800 Series Installation Guide

Regulatory and Safety Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Important notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Safety and hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Important safety/compliance information for North American users. . . . . . 24

Information pertaining to OEM customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

EU regulatory conformity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Radio frequency and electrical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Environmental specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

6 2130623

1: Introducing the AirCard 800 Series

Wireless Network Cards

• AirCard 800 Series

wireless network
cards

• Your account and

coverage area

• AirCard modem

software

AirCard 800 Series wireless
network cards

The AirCard 800 Series 3G wireless network cards are modems

for your computer that allow you to connect to the Internet,
send and receive e-mail, connect to a corporate
network/virtual private network (VPN), or view streaming
video, without the need of a network cable or phone line.

1

Caution: Do not insert your
AirCard modem into your
PC Card /ExpressCard slot
before installing the software.

The AirCard PC Card modem (AirCard 850, 860, 875, and 88x)
fits into a standard (Type II) PC Card slot available on
notebook computers.

The AirCard ExpressCard modem (AirCard 88xE) fits into a
standard ExpressCard-34 slot available on notebook
computers.

Services supported

The services supported on your AirCard modem depends on
the model of AirCard (see www.sierrawireless.com for details)
and your service provider.

When establishing a connection, your AirCard modem uses
the fastest available service. If, for example, you are using an
AirCard modem in an area that has GPRS and EDGE service
but not UMTS or HSDPA service, the AirCard modem
connects using EDGE service.

Once the connection is established, you have access to all
Internet services.

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AirCard 800 Series Installation Guide

Your account and coverage area

Note: If you purchased the
AirCard modem from a GSM
service provider, you may
already have an account.
Otherwise, your retailer should
be able to provide you with the
names of companies that
provide this service.

Note: The fee for service is
usually higher when you are
“roaming” (connected to a
network other than the one
belonging to your service
provider).

You must have an account with a GSM service provider to use
the AirCard modem. To use the modem’s 3G capability, your
account must be with a service provider who offers HSDPA or
UMTS service. (The AirCard modem is backward-compatible
to 2G service.)

When you obtain your account, you are given a SIM card, also
called a “smart card” or “smart chip”. (Depending on how you
purchased your AirCard modem, you may already have an
account, and your SIM card may have been included in your
package.) The SIM card contains account information and
must be inserted in the AirCard modem anytime you use it.

Before you can use the AirCard modem, you must install the
AirCard modem software and ensure that your AirCard
modem is configured to use your account.

Once the AirCard modem is installed and configured, you can
connect to the Internet with the AirCard modem in any area in
which you can obtain GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, or HSDPA service.

Your ability to obtain service depends on these factors:

• Proximity to a GSM network—You must be within the

coverage area of a GSM network in order to use the
AirCard modem.

• Service provider—If you are within the coverage area of a

network that is not operated by your own service provider,
you can only obtain service if there is a roaming agreement
between your service provider and the network operator.

• Account provisions—Your account may restrict your

usage to certain networks or limit the amount of time you
can use the network.

• Frequency band—You cannot connect to networks

operating in bands not supported by your AirCard
modem, regardless of roaming agreements or account
provisions.

Most service providers have coverage maps on their web sites.

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AirCard modem software

AirCard modem software

The AirCard modem comes with this software (made by Sierra
Wireless):

• The 3G Watcher program that you use to manage the

AirCard modem and monitor your connections

• The driver software that forms the interface between the

network card and your Windows operating system

Frequency band support

The following table shows the frequency bands supported by
the various AirCard products

Table 1-1: Frequency band support

Technology Bands Products Location

2G 850 MHz (cellular band) All North America

900 MHz All Europe
1800 MHz All Europe and Asia
1900 MHz (PSC band) All North America

3G WCDMA 850

WCDMA 1900

WCDMA 2100

a. Receive diversity (AirCard 880 and 880E)
b. Receive diversity (AirCard 881 and 881E)

ab

b

a

AirCard88x
AirCard88xE
AirCard875
AirCard860

AirCard88x
AirCard88xE
AirCard875
AirCard860

AirCard88x
AirCard88xE
AirCard875
AirCard850

North America

North America

Europe, Asia, and
Australia

Rev 3.9 Jul.07 9

AirCard 800 Series Installation Guide

10 2130623

2: AirCard Installation

• System requirements

• Install Watcher

software

• Setting Internet

Explorer to use the
AirCard modem

System requirements

The AirCard modem is supported on:

• Windows

• Windows XP (Home and Professional versions)

• Windows 2000

For information on using the AirCard modem with other
operating systems, contact Sierra Wireless Technical Support
([e-mail]).

To install the AirCard modem, you require these system
resources:

Table 2-1: System resource requirements

Card slots 1 Type II PCMCIA (PC Card) slot for AirCard 850,

Disk drive CD-ROM

®

™

Vista

860, 875, 88x
1 ExpressCard-34 slot for AirCard 88xE

2

Note: Without a valid SIM card
and a valid account, your
AirCard modem will not work.

I/O resources 1 IRQ, 40 bytes I/O space
Memory 32 MB

The SIM Card and Your Account

To use your AirCard modem, you need a GSM account and a
SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card. The SIM card is a small
chip (about the size of a postage stamp) that you insert into the
AirCard modem. The SIM contains account information used
by the network to validate your access.

Depending on how you purchased your AirCard modem, you
may already have an account. In this case, the SIM should be
included in your package. Otherwise, your retailer should
direct you to a local company that provides GSM service.

Rev 3.9 Jul.07 11