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Verizon V740 on Mac OS X: It just works
I just got a Verizon V740 wireless broadband card for use with my MacBook Pro. The packaging included a bright yellow “Activate Your Phone” guide, a VZAccess Manager CD-ROM, and a manual that instructed me to install Verizon’s software before plugging the card into my computer.
But then I noticed page six, which says:
Mac customers are not required to use VZAccess Manager to use the ExpressCard. Drivers for the Verizon ExpressCard are built into the Macintosh operating system.
The conflicting instructions spurred me to search Google for clearer information. I found a couple of Macworld articles about the WWAN Support Update 1.0 that Apple released last year, and decided to live on the edge and plug in the Verizon card before installing any software. Daring, I know.
As soon as I inserted the card, I saw a Mac OS X dialog that said:
You have inserted a WWAN card that has not been activated. Would you like to activate this card?
So, I clicked “Activate” and waited a minute while OS X (apparently) activated my card with Verizon (really?!) and displayed this dialog:
When that was finished, I opened the Network preferences pane and saw a new service in the left-hand menu: “Novatel Wireless CDMA.”
I clicked on the new service and saw that the “Account Name” and “Password” fields were already filled in with my info. So I clicked “Connect” and before I knew it, I was connected to the internet via my new Verizon card.
New technology can be painful and complicated, but sometimes, it just works.