Blackberry 6710 Help Please

June 30, 2005 5:57 PM

I have an old unlocked 6710 Blackberry with 8meg RAM and a BES server 4.0. The Berry works as a cell phone, and I even get gprs in lowercase on the display, but it does not send and receive emails. Apparently it needs to belong to some service provider company (e.g. Cell phone company) and the PIN needs to be in their system for it to work. (OS version 3.6) Any ideas? And - can I upgrade to handheld version 4.0?
posted by bright77blue to computers & internet (3 comments total)

You might find more help for your question if you include details like cellular service provider and the exact plan coverage you have with them, and information on your current setup. That said, I have no clue about blackberries.
posted by angry modem at 7:45 PM on June 30, 2005

and information on your current setup

By this I mean your current device settings, like POP server, etc.
posted by angry modem at 7:46 PM on June 30, 2005

He doesn't need a POP server if he's already got BES installed. BES copies emails that hit your inbox on your mail server to your handheld unit. You can do the same without BES, but it requires a desktop client redirection, meaning that you need to have a workstation set up someplace in the network running a mail client to redirect the mail to your handheld unit.

That being said, BES redirects your mail to the RIM network. The RIM network has identified your handheld unit by a combination of the number on your SIM card (installed underneath your battery) and the PIN that's been generated when you installed the handheld Desktop software (the PIN is ...essentially... the key to your crypto).

Once RIM gets your email, it wants to know to what GPRS network you subscribe. If you don't subscribe to one, you're not going to get your email. The major networks out there that support Blackberries are T-Mobile and Cingular (once AT&T Wireless). Wherever I take my unit, I can typically rely on GPRS coverage from one or the other of those networks. The smaller companies chime in every now and then, but mostly all I can get is GSM coverage from them.

So, without a data plan with one of the 2 cell companies mentioned above, you're probably SOL.

T-Mobile services my office units. Data plans for each of our units run at 29.95 a month. That's unlimited bandwidth usage.
posted by thanotopsis at 9:23 PM on June 30, 2005