Both the fact that wip_bearerOpen can return WIP_BERR_BAD_STATE, and the cause of that return, are undocumented.
That link for the new forum is now: https://forum.sierrawireless.com/t/wip-beareropen-returning-wip-berr-bad-state/3517/9
See also: https://forum.sierrawireless.com/t/wip-beareropen-fails-if-not-called-in-most-priorized-thread/3820/1 for another scenario that can cause this undocumented return code!