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How to use your Blackberry as a modem (with NO additional fees)

Posted in Geeky, Tech by Dan at 11:43 am
closeThis post was published 2 years 8 months 7 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.

We previously covered how to use your Blackberry Pearl as a modem on your Mac, but here is a method to use the Pearl as a Modem on any computer, WITHOUT incurring any fees.

Now granted this is a hack, and probably breaks your TOS with your service provider – so use with caution.

  • Start your BlackBerry Desktop Manager and it should be running in the background. there is no need to click on any options. just open it. This is required to use BlackBerry as an external modem.
  • Conenct your BlackBerry using USB cable to your Computer.
  • Click on start->Control Panel -> Phones and Modems->Press Enter
  • Click on Modem tab-> select the standard modem -> click on Properties -> Advanced and add only ONE of the following Extra initialization command line That applies to your carrier. APN Settings:


Cingular Blue/AT&T Users
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”proxy”

Cingular Orange
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”ISP.CINGULAR”

T-Mobile
+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”wap.voicestream.com”

Verizon USA – Blank

Nextel USA – Blank

Sprint USA – Blank

  • Press ok until all windows are closed. now click on Start -> Connect To -> Show all connections -> Create a new connection.
  • Click Next
  • Select “Connect To The Internet” then Next
  • Select “Set up my connection manually” then Next
  • Select “Connect using a dial-up modem” then Next.
  • Check only the Standard Modem (if prompted).
  • Give the connection a name such as “BB Modem”, then Next.
  • On the next screen, pick one of the following phone numbers, depending on your carrier:

For GSM Phones such as Cingular , AT&T and T-Mobile use phone number *99#
For iDEN phones such as Nextel use phone number S=2
For CDMA phones such as Verizon, Sprint use phone number #777

  • Click Next.
  • On the next screen, pick one of the following, depending on your carrier:

Cingular Blue, AT&T or Nextel:
User name: Blank
Password: Blank

Cingular Orange:
Username:ispda@cingulargprs.com
Password: cingular1

T-Mobile:
User name: TMobile.com User name
Password: TMobile.com Password

Verizon replace 8005551212 with your phone number:
Username: 8005551212@vzw3g.com
Password: 8005551212

Sprint:
Username: Sprint User name
Password: Sprint Password

  • Clear all check boxes (”Use…when anyone…” and “Make this the default…”)
  • Click Finish
  • Make sure under TCP/IP Properties (Advanced) “Use IP Header Compression” checkbox is unchecked. To verify this, do these steps:

  • Start Menu->Network Connections->”BB Modem”
  • Click Properties Button
  • Click Networking Tab
  • Select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”
  • Click Properties Button
  • Click Advanced… Button
  • Un-check “Use IP header compression” checkbox
  • Click OK until all windows are closed.
  • Uncheck all the following check boxes, if you see any of these checked:

  • Turn off “Enable Hardware Flow Control”
  • Turn off “Enable Modem Error Control”
  • Turn off “Enable Modem Compression

Finally, click on the “BB Modem” icon via Start Menu->Network Connections. start using Internet from your Blackberry.

Thanks for the writeup TJ!

12 Responses to “How to use your Blackberry as a modem (with NO additional fees)”

  1. Eric N. says:

    Another great tip! WTF?! THANKS!

  2. R says:

    How is it free? Its well known that one can use a BB as a tethered modem. Did I miss a part where it uses a mystery proxy so that it won’t be accounted with my data plan??

  3. In many countries and in many cellular companies APN use from a BlackBerry causes extra-charges that can be very expensive. I think that should be noted on your post.

  4. Matt W says:

    Funny….I just went thru this the other day. Only, I had to use an app called MobiShark (soft-modem) to connect, due to Nextel’s Blackberry 7100i not having any modem software onboard. Good write-up for those of you that can use it though.

  5. Alan Rager says:

    This works on any 3g capable phone, I believe. It’s a thing called “tethering” and most carriers get kinda ticked off if they catch you using it too much, as it costs money for plans that include this kind of access. Just be careful.

  6. Ferrin Riggins says:

    Hi. I have a blackberry 7100i and am a telus user. I live in Vancouver. Is this applicable there?
    Also if anyone knows anything about syncing my bb with Novel GroupWise I’m winding up with multiple contacts without any details. Just headings.
    Thanks.

  7. reed says:

    Verizon says passowrd invalid… did they fix this hole?

  8. Dan says:

    Prolly

  9. anonymous says:

    it’s not a hole. You’re allowed to use it. The password is not your phone number it is “vzw” for all phones. Only your username should be your 10-digit phone number.

  10. c.nelson says:

    Here in mont I get Tmobile from cellular one.what should I use for Tmobile user and password?

  11. tnarg says:

    I tried this hack and when I connect to the internet I keep getting a message to join Verizon’s program for internet. what am I doing wrong?

    I have the unlimited date plan

  12. Shanna says:

    Yeah I had the same experience as the person above. It connects just fine but if you try to go to another site it just comes up to the verizon site again.

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