Anyone use iPhone 3GS and Bold 9700 in Tandem?

AHDuke99

AHDuke99

macrumors 68020
I just sold my old Macbook Pro, and have about $600 to spend on something, and I was curious as to who uses both the Bold 9700 and iPhone 3GS together on the same plan, considering Bold's are going for $349 without a contract at AT&T? I know this has been asked before, but no one really explained if it was possible or not. I read I can put the BB Data plan on my plan and use the iPhone, but PUSH notifications, PUSH email, and visual voicemail do not work, and if I use the Bold with the iPhone data plan, the Bold is basically useless.

Is all of this correct? It sounds like, either way, one phone will be hindered, and I can't put both on my plan, nor switch data plans back and forth (I read I'd have to wait 4 weeks in between). I love my iPhone, but sometimes you want to see what the competition is offering, and I've never owned a Blackberry, but the $349 pricetag for the Bold 9700 is pretty nice, and I played with the phone in store and liked it.
 
AHDuke99 said:
I just sold my old Macbook Pro, and have about $600 to spend on something, and I was curious as to who uses both the Bold 9700 and iPhone 3GS together on the same plan, considering Bold's are going for $349 without a contract at AT&T? I know this has been asked before, but no one really explained if it was possible or not. I read I can put the BB Data plan on my plan and use the iPhone, but PUSH notifications, PUSH email, and visual voicemail do not work, and if I use the Bold with the iPhone data plan, the Bold is basically useless.

Is all of this correct? It sounds like, either way, one phone will be hindered, and I can't put both on my plan, nor switch data plans back and forth (I read I'd have to wait 4 weeks in between). I love my iPhone, but sometimes you want to see what the competition is offering, and I've never owned a Blackberry, but the $349 pricetag for the Bold 9700 is pretty nice, and I played with the phone in store and liked it.
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All of your information is correct, except I think you can change plans however many times you want--no waiting. I could be wrong, so wait for others to respond.
 
So either way, I guess it's impossible to have the best of both worlds. I guess if I switch data plans each month or something, it will be alright, but I swear I read that they make you wait a month to change it back and forth. I'd hate to use either phone without push notifications.
 
I used to use both iPhone 3g and Bold 9700 with AT&T and The bold will not work on iPhone's plan, and the iPhone will not work on the BB plan. Data, that is.

AT&T lets you switch back and forth between iPhone and BB plans without waiting (since they're the same price). It takes about 3 minutes + a restart.
 
View said:
I used to use both iPhone 3g and Bold 9700 with AT&T and The bold will not work on iPhone's plan, and the iPhone will not work on the BB plan. Data, that is.

AT&T lets you switch back and forth between iPhone and BB plans without waiting (since they're the same price). It takes about 3 minutes + a restart.
Click to expand...

Really? And can I do it online or will I have to call each time I want to switch them?
 
I just got one Saturday. They sold it to me with no questions asked, and didn't force me to change my data plan on the spot. I do have to call them though, as it can't be done online.

One more question, before I switch them, is whether there is some sort of hack I can use to get push notifications back via jailbreaking? My phone is already jailbroken, and I see things about "push fixes" on Cydia for T-Mobile users without iPhone plans, and was curious as to whether it also worked with AT&T users without iPhone plans? If not, I guess I can just switch plans back and forth when I need to. I hear VVM works now on BB data plans, but I'd hate to lose push notifications on my iPhone. The Bold is useless on the iPhone plan though, except for calls. I can't even download App World on it.
 
I don't understand how you've gotten that the iPhone's push notification system will not work if your plan has a Blackberry data plan, because it will. In fact, this is what I'm doing right now. My primary phone is a Blackberry 9700 on AT&T, with the Blackberry Personal Data plan with unlimited text ($30 data plan + $20 text....same as the iPhone plan), with the no charge Blackberry Visual Voicemail (this is relatively new and most CSR's don't even know about it, so call in to get it activated for free on a Blackberry data plan with the 9700..it's feature code is either BBVV or BBVM, I forget exactly). When my SIM is in the Bold 9700, everything works as it should (push email through BIS, visual voicemail, web browsing, etc). When I put my SIM in the iPhone, everything still works just as it should (web browsing, push notifications like Yahoo instant messenger, Sportacular...any push notification works fine). And, since AT&T has added the Blackberry Visual Voicemail feature, believe it or not, when the SIM is in the iPhone, it also lets the iPhone still use Visual Voicemail. I've been doing this "Blackberry plan yet using an iPhone" for about 9 months now(first with my Bold 9000, and now with my 9700 since mid-November), and obviously losing Visual Voicemail on the iPhone used to be a downside. But since the recent addition of the Blackberry Visual Voicemail feature, it works on the iPhone as well. I've been using my Blackberrys throughout the weekdays for work, and my iPhone 3G (and now 3GS) on the weekends for "fun" since approx. the end of March 2009. There has been no ill effects or automatic plan switching by AT&T. I did get the "your data plan is not correct for your iPhone" text message once (I forget the exact wording), but there was no switching to a different plan on At&T's part. I left it just the same as it was, and the Blackberry and iPhone both work to full potential to this day.
 
I just read that they wouldn't, push email and the like. If I read wrong, then wonderful. I won't have to worry about anything.
 
AHDuke99 said:
I just read that they wouldn't, push email and the like. If I read wrong, then wonderful. I won't have to worry about anything.
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It will, at least where I'm at (I have no idea if different regions of AT&T's network handle data and the associated plans differently though). The way to get everything to work correctly for BOTH phones is to have the SIM in the Bold 9700, call AT&T and have them set your data plan to the Blackberry Personal Unlimited plan (the $30 data plan), and be sure to have them provision for Blackberry Visual Voicemail, as this is NOT done automatically (again, feature code BBVV or BBVM). They will probably have trouble finding what code to add, so you can tell them it's one of these two. Then set up all your personal email as usual through the Blackberry, and make sure that it's pushing through correctly. Make sure your Visual Voicemail is working as well. Once everything is working fine on your Blackberry, you can pop the SIM in the iPhone (I'd recommend a reboot), and everything will work just the same as it should (visual voicemail, data, and push notifications). Mine has worked this way from the get-go with no trouble. The web browsing is fine on the iPhone, and like I mentioned, the push notifications come through perfectly. My iPhone is jailbroken, but no "push notification fix" has been installed. The push notifications have worked with and without jailbreaking.
 
chris975d said:
It will, at least where I'm at (I have no idea if different regions of AT&T's network handle data and the associated plans differently though). The way to get everything to work correctly for BOTH phones is to have the SIM in the Bold 9700, call AT&T and have them set your data plan to the Blackberry Personal Unlimited plan (the $30 data plan), and be sure to have them provision for Blackberry Visual Voicemail, as this is NOT done automatically (again, feature code BBVV or BBVM). They will probably have trouble finding what code to add, so you can tell them it's one of these two. Then set up all your personal email as usual through the Blackberry, and make sure that it's pushing through correctly. Make sure your Visual Voicemail is working as well. Once everything is working fine on your Blackberry, you can pop the SIM in the iPhone (I'd recommend a reboot), and everything will work just the same as it should (visual voicemail, data, and push notifications). Mine has worked this way from the get-go with no trouble. The web browsing is fine on the iPhone, and like I mentioned, the push notifications come through perfectly. My iPhone is jailbroken, but no "push notification fix" has been installed. The push notifications have worked with and without jailbreaking.
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I just had them switch it over. My email and all is working, and so is everything else on the BB, including VVM. I'll put it back in the iPhone and see if it works.
 
Everything works perfectly on the i iPhone too. I did just get a warning that I was on the wrong data plan via email and text message. Should I worry about overage charges? I find I'm hardly even using the BB, so maybe I should just change the data plan back. I don't want an $8000 bill or something like that. My online status still shows unlimited everything and nothing about overage charges.
 
AHDuke99 said:
Everything works perfectly on the i iPhone too. I did just get a warning that I was on the wrong data plan via email and text message. Should I worry about overage charges? I find I'm hardly even using the BB, so maybe I should just change the data plan back. I don't want an $8000 bill or something like that. My online status still shows unlimited everything and nothing about overage charges.
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From what I have heard, they will eventually add the iPhone plan on and remove the BB plan. Then you will just have to go through the motions again.
 
AHDuke99 said:
Everything works perfectly on the i iPhone too. I did just get a warning that I was on the wrong data plan via email and text message. Should I worry about overage charges? I find I'm hardly even using the BB, so maybe I should just change the data plan back. I don't want an $8000 bill or something like that. My online status still shows unlimited everything and nothing about overage charges.
Click to expand...

The one and only time I've received this message, while doing what we've discussed, I placed my SIM back into my Bold for about a week straight, just to have it in there in case of any follow up audits of my data plan. I've since been doing things just as I described earlier (Bold through the week, iPhone on weekends), and haven't received any follow up alerts nor an automatic change to the iPhone data plan. And don't worry, even if they did automatically switch your plans to the associated iPhone plans, they would net out to be the same cost. (the BB and iPhone data plans are equal in cost = $30, as well as the unlimited text =$20). You wouldn't have a huge data charge on your bill suddenly, because they would add the iPhone data plan, which is only $30 and is "unlimited" data.
 
chris975d said:
I don't understand how you've gotten that the iPhone's push notification system will not work if your plan has a Blackberry data plan, because it will. In fact, this is what I'm doing right now. My primary phone is a Blackberry 9700 on AT&T, with the Blackberry Personal Data plan with unlimited text ($30 data plan + $20 text....same as the iPhone plan), with the no charge Blackberry Visual Voicemail (this is relatively new and most CSR's don't even know about it, so call in to get it activated for free on a Blackberry data plan with the 9700..it's feature code is either BBVV or BBVM, I forget exactly). When my SIM is in the Bold 9700, everything works as it should (push email through BIS, visual voicemail, web browsing, etc). When I put my SIM in the iPhone, everything still works just as it should (web browsing, push notifications like Yahoo instant messenger, Sportacular...any push notification works fine). And, since AT&T has added the Blackberry Visual Voicemail feature, believe it or not, when the SIM is in the iPhone, it also lets the iPhone still use Visual Voicemail. I've been doing this "Blackberry plan yet using an iPhone" for about 9 months now(first with my Bold 9000, and now with my 9700 since mid-November), and obviously losing Visual Voicemail on the iPhone used to be a downside. But since the recent addition of the Blackberry Visual Voicemail feature, it works on the iPhone as well. I've been using my Blackberrys throughout the weekdays for work, and my iPhone 3G (and now 3GS) on the weekends for "fun" since approx. the end of March 2009. There has been no ill effects or automatic plan switching by AT&T. I did get the "your data plan is not correct for your iPhone" text message once (I forget the exact wording), but there was no switching to a different plan on At&T's part. I left it just the same as it was, and the Blackberry and iPhone both work to full potential to this day.
Click to expand...

In my experience, this is a bad idea if you keep your BB device SIM in your iPhone too long. The battery life on the iPhone drains much faster. This happened to me when I switched from a 8300 to my current iPhone 3GS. I thought I was going to be clever and not get an iPhone data plan (and thus keep my non-contract status - duh, that didn't work).

My iPhone drained overnight, and I thought I had a battery problem and was prepping to return. However, when I just bit the bullet and switched my plan to my iPhone plan, the battery drain stopped.

This is conjecture, but it appears that Blackberries use some signaling to indicate when the device should pull mail. The iPhone doesn't know what to do with that message so it drops it. When the BB system doesn't get a response it keeps sending that message to the device telling it to hurry up and download mail.

This process seems to be the culprit. Now, I was using corporate email (BES), and that may be different from a personal plan of just using BIS, but I'd keep an eye out on your battery drain on your iPhone if you are still on a BB plan.
 
I haven't noticed any battery drain on my iPhone since using it with the BB Data plan. If they switch it automatically, that's fine, but I just wanted to make sure I didn't rack up any outrageous overages. I assume they'd show up on my account online if they existed, and thus far, nothing seems out of the ordinary.
 
I have been researching this for sometime and between Crackberry and other forums I think I know the answer. Yes it is possible with some work.

BB uses their own BIS/BES for data transfer. There is not another phone that can access this stream of data as it is secured for blackberry. So the BB needs this to work. Problem 1, will the iPhone work with this?

There is a post in the crackberry forums under iPhones that says there is a way you can JB and do some trickery to the iPhone that will allow you to access MOST of its data services (if not all) while using the BB data plan.

If you continue changing the plan on your account you are going to be prorated for each change which is a lot. Every time you swap data plan and vice versa there is a pro rate thing happening that is adjusting your bill to take into account how much data you actually used out of how much u were charged (based in days not usage) and add the new data package and charge you appropriately again. You do not want to keep switching these back and forth. Also using the blackberry data plan in the iPhone not changed you get that email about wrong data plan. It's all good for an emergency but AT&T will change that plan to the correct one at some point and then your SOL to start that changing process over again.

So you have to use the BIS data package, i'm sure the BES doesn't work. You need to modify some settings in the iPhone but unless there have been any significant changes in the last few months this idea should still work. I have no practiced or tested any of this on my own but did a lot of research. I ended up selling my iPhone to get the Bold 9700 and now have sold my Bold 9700 and am back with the iPhone. I too wanted best of both worlds but it just wasn't feasible.
 
I'll try to use my blackberry enough to keep AT&T off my tail, but I'll probably sell the blackberry at some point. I just doesn't do it for me like the iPhone does.
 
As stated it works fine if you have the bb data plan. I have Bes data and it works fine. You can't use a sim with iPhone data in bberry though as mentioned.
 
cdd543 said:
As stated it works fine if you have the bb data plan. I have Bes data and it works fine. You can't use a sim with iPhone data in bberry though as mentioned.
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I understand that, but it seems like AT&T is already up in arms about me not having an iPhone data plan, and I don't want to get caught or see ridiculous overages. If they change it back, that's fine, but I don't want to see something like a $1000 worth of data charges.
 
What exactly are they doing when they pro-rate my bill if I switch from the BB data plan to the iPhone plan and vice versa? I switched back to the iPhone plan because I feared overages, but now my BB is completely useless. Will it still be $30 no matter what, or are they charging me more if I switch them? I've heard people saying it doesn't run anything up because they are both $30 a month, but I want to make sure. Data doesn't work on it at all on the BB now. It worked the first time I used it on the iPhone plan though.
 
Call all smart folks!

Hi all, newbie here - I have a follow up question on using an iPhone on a BB plan. I work for a large corp, ONLY BB plan is allowed and I have been successfully using a 3G (JB & Unlocked) with my BB Sim for over 6 months - full access to my enterprise email/calendars/directories and full functionality (other than V VM)

I want to upgrade to a IP 4 - I cannot use the mini SIM as AT&T will not provision the mini SIM to anything BUT an iPhone plan - which is "greyed out" on our plan options on the AT&T csr screen.

So I must trim the SIM to fit the mini SIM slot - will the iPhone 4 "look" any different to the network, and as such, create any issues? In that I will now be using a locked iPhone will that present an issue?

Thanks ever so much!
 
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