Patent ID: 7821987

Claim:
A wireless wide area network (WWAN) mobile gateway comprising: a local area network (LAN) interface configured to exchange data with at least one user device; a wireless wide area network (WWAN) device interface configured to connect to a WWAN modem card of a plurality of WWAN modem cards, each of the plurality of WWAN modem cards configured to communicate with the WWAN device interface using a communication protocol of a plurality of communication protocols and comprising a WWAN transceiver configured to exchange WWAN signals with a WWAN communication system, the plurality of communication protocols comprising a default communication protocol enabling an execution of a set of default functions by the plurality of WWAN modem cards and an enhanced communication protocol enabling execution of at least one enhanced function in addition to the set of default functions by an enhanced feature WWAN modem card of the plurality of WWAN modem cards; and a controller configured to send an inquiry message through the WWAN device interface requesting a communication protocol identifier to the WWAN modem card and to execute, in response to determining that no response to the inquiry message was received through the WWAN device interface, the default communication protocol to communicate with the WWAN modem card through the WWAN device interface.