Thread: Hibernate my Aircard

All of Sierra's cards seem to have hibernation issues, even their express card models. When I was with Sprint, I got so tired of it, that I switched to the Novatel Merlin express card, and it works perfectly with hibernation. Basically Sierra and Novatel took different routes with the way they implement the internet connectivity. Sierra has it setup up as though your connecting to a Wi-Fi network. Novatel on the other hand installs as a ethernet connection which seems to make a world of difference. Only thing I notice is that when waking up, it takes the Novatel about 6 seconds before it reactivates, but thats not a big deal.

If you do what you propose, you may cause more issues. The card would continue to send data to the PC, and the PC may think, what the h3ll, I thought I cut power to this device already, and then the PC ends up hanging because it cannot sleep correctly. I would just get rid of the Sierra card, if its fairly new, I would take it back and threaten to leave Sprint if they do not give you a proper hibernating card like the Novatel. Also dont mention that its for a car pc, because they will make up $h!+ so you cant trade the card. The reviews say the Novatel isn't that good with internet, but upon testing, it worked better then the Sierra card with things like internet radio, signal strength, basically anything that doesn't use a internet browser, worked better on the Novatel. When it comes to internet browsing the Novatel is weird. Sierra right away starts to load bits up, where as the Novatel seems to wait till most of the bits are downloaded before it displays on the browser. So the Sierra is steady loading the page, but the Novatel seems to hesitate, but the hesitation is only like 2 to 3 seconds compared to the Sierra. The reviewers thought that 2 second issue was enough to condemn the Novatel, which is bull$h!+.

Originally Posted by Rich9999

Let me check and get back to you on which types of cards my company uses. But still that's great. So certain aircards will work better with hibernate than others.

If it turns out that they use Verizon, you can go for the Verizon Wireless V740 ExpressCard. Under Sprint, its the Merlin EX720.

Originally Posted by Rich9999

V620 and the PC5740... I thought we were having problems with both but now that I know there might be a difference between them I'll need to pay closer attention.

They are both the big sizes, bigger then express card, I can never remember the name. The first is Novatel, so it may work. The Second though is Audiovox and I dont trust anything from them.

Originally Posted by Rich9999

You're right. Sorry it's been awhile since I had looked into this problem. They are cards for PCMCIA Type 1 Type 2 slot. Not the express card. My mistake.

So if I need to replace these cards, do you or anyone else know for sure which cards would work for this slot? We need seven cards so I like to get it right on the second try.

I had mentioned the Sierra earlier because when I did a search for aircard and hibernate, their name came up as the only one that supported that feature.

I think the cards youi listed came out before the cards I told you about, so I am not sure if they fixed the issue in those cards. You can also use express cards with PCMCIA slots. 99.9% of expresscards come with a adapter so you can use it on the PCMCIA slot. Not to many people seem to bring up hibernation when testing cards, so the reviews do not help. I would ask your card provider if you can test the card out because you have to check if the card supports proper hibernation. I would try the Novatel card first.

Originally Posted by Rich9999

You've been a great help. Let me take a few days and gather the info we've talked about here. I'll get back with you shortly. Thanks.

Your very welcome...... Hope it all works out, I am sure thought you will be happy with Novatel.