We’re currently Cingular subscribers (though our year-long contract with them is almost up). A few weeks ago, we added an “all you can eat” data plan to our account – to be used in conjuntion with the Sierra Wireless Aircard 860 PC Modem. The PC card, itself, is good enough – although the flimsy antenna can be rather annoying at times.

I threw Windows Vista RC1 on my ThinkPad T43p last week. Though the CPU never seems to relax, the OS has generally been stable for me. I had to do some fancy footwork to get Sierra’s software to work on Vista – but even though the 3G Watcher was operational, I couldn’t get Vista to recognize the card. I submitted a support request to Sierra (avoiding talking to Cingular altogether, for good reason).

A few hours later, I heard back from someone named Sam. He suggested I download a driver that had not yet been uploaded to the new Windows Update. The AC8x0 Windows Vista Driver 2.0.0.21 is available for anybody who needs it right now. But, if your machine is anything all like mine, you won’t be able to get everything to work without another software update. This time, Sam suggested that I “try the new 3G Watcher. Don’t update the firmware.” That did the trick!

I can now use my Cingular Sierra Wireless Aircard in Windows Vista, although once I’m connected – the CPU spikes and stays at 100% for the duration. I sure hope all these CPU performance issues get licked before Vista goes gold.

Sierra Wireless 3G on Vista