Well I can definitely feel your pain. I originally bought a Novatel S620 PCMCIA air card, but eventually needed a USB adapter for my Q1. So I opted to get a Sierra Wireless 595U USB wireless modem. After having to deal with the USB modem for a while it started to annoy me at how it stuck out so far and put stress on the USB port. I reverted back to my S620 card and my ThinkPad X41 so I had my service transferred back to the S620 card. Well one day I had the same issue you had in this article and I was pretty much stuck with no connectivity unless I used my cell phone. Instead I remembered the SW 595U was still in my bag and had Sprint move the account and re-activate the 595U, I was back in business for a while. It turned out that the S620 bit the dust (as 2 others that I had before did as well), but having the 595U in my bag was a life saver. I eventually had an itch to carry my HUGE (compared to my Q1 and Toshiba Libretto U105) MacBook Pro 17″ around and decided to get a Novatel U720 Expresscard modem and the PCMCIA card adapter. So far I have had not issues, but I still keep the 595U for emergencies.

This might make the future a little less scary, or maybe it’s already part of your normal routine, James….still:

I had a similar woe. Called Verizon (by the way…some of the best phone tech I’ve experienced – hey, credit where credit is due). We did all the uninstalls/installs…a whirl of reboots. Finally got it working. Anyway, one of the things this guy said that the documentation makes no mention of is:

–You know the “check for updates” option in the Manager…in the usual place, under “Help”? According to this guy (and an earlier tech dude) it doesn’t report back accurately or is unreliable. Don’t bother. Do it through the Setup Wizard under Options or go to the Verizon site and download updates manually. This may be fixed in newest version…I haven’t checked.

–It’s apparently very beneficial to run the Activation wizard under Options from time to time. I was having tech trauma for 2 months because of quirky connect routines, slow speeds and frequent dropped connections. Even Verizon tech was bamboozled. Then this guy had me re-Actvate…and – boing – back in the real world. It must clear out conflicts and temp files and dlls and other crap that makes me sound like I know what I’m talking about but it’s a sham.

Might help. I hope you’re healthy and groovy, JK.
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>>>Like yours, a few tries in alternate machines seems to finally get it working again.

What if somebody doesn’t *have* even *one* alternate machine? Is there any other way to bring it back from its autistic state?!

I’ve had the same situation before with various modems. I still use the U720 from Verizon and it has done the same thing on occasion; I know that the U720 is really an ExpressCard in a USB case, so maybe it’s that line of devices.

Like yours, a few tries in alternate machines seems to finally get it working again. Oh, and I always have backup connectivity through my xv6700 or even my hacked RAZR throught bluetooth at worst.

I have this same problem 2x per week and follow the same diagnostics you described. I have the full size Verizon aircard in my Motion LE1600. Funny this is that we have another LE1600 with the same aircard that NEVER has the problem. In any case, I run the aircard wizard first, then try uninstalling the device, and sometimes powering the aircard off and on. I was once told it was a conflict with Hotsync for Palm, but have not believed that to be the case.
Just wanted to comment as I felt your pain, also! Keep up the great posts!

I guess the best backup plan for you would be tethering on your 8830. Though that will, of course, add an additional $15 a month to your existing cellular bill. Though it should be mentioned that you can add and remove that feature at will. At least it would provide you with something.

See, you have that OTA for-pay goodness. Now imagine bringing everything with you to a free public WiFi hotspot only to discover the damned hotspot is down!! (Yes, I’m looking at *you*, LMDC!) Cue screams.

It could have been worse…You could’ve had all your documents stored in the cloud.

I feel your pain, brother.