I currently have a macbook and a blackberry bold. I am going to be in a location for the next 7 weeks with work that will not have internet access so I am wanting to use my blackberry bold to tether a connection. How easy is this? What are the best programs to use that do not rape me as far as extra cell phone fees goes? Maybe like one that just uses regular minutes or something. Any help here?
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Tethering with my Blackberry
- Thread starter sjohnson4382
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I have a blackberry curve and can do what your asking by using bluetooth. Basically you need to make your blackberry discoverable, then from your macbook open system preferences, bluetooth, then click the "+" in the lower left hand corner to open the Bluetooth Setup Assistant. Follow the instructions from there, pair your devices, and set your blackberry up as a generic dialup device. You will also need to know what number to dial to. Alltel is #777, and the account name and password fields are not required. Obviously if you use a different carrier, your requirements will vary. You can google for the specifics.
Some people have reported outrageous bills from their carrier after doing this. Perhaps they did not have unlimited data plans? You might research this as well.
Good luck
Some people have reported outrageous bills from their carrier after doing this. Perhaps they did not have unlimited data plans? You might research this as well.
Good luck
how do I set up my blackberry as a dial up service? I am very new to mac computers. Also does anyone know the number to use for AT&T?
Use your blackberry as a bluetooth modem
Be aware that you may be charged on your wireless phone bill for data usage. I take no responsibility for anyone who incurs charges by following these directions. You have been warned.
1. On your BlackBerry, turn bluetooth on and make your phone discoverable. This may vary with each model, for the 8130 this is done by using the Set UP Bluetooth App.
2. On your MacBook go to System Preferences, and click on Bluetooth under Internet & Wireless.
![blackberry-001.png]( "blackberry-001.png")
3. Click Set Up New Device.
![blackberry-002.png]( "blackberry-002.png")
4. Select your BlackBerry and click Continue.
![blackberry-003.png]( "blackberry-003.png")
5. Enter the passkey into your BlackBerry.
![blackberry-004.png]( "blackberry-004.png")
6. Set Phone Vendor to Generic, Phone Model as Dialup Device, and User Name, Password, and Phone Number as required by your wireless carrier, then click Continue. The next screen should confirm that all is set up correctly. Exit if it does, if not go back and see if you missed something.
![blackberry-006.png]( "blackberry-006.png")
7. In System Preferences go to Network, and connect the Bluetooth DUN to use. Select the "Show modem status in the menu bar" check box to connect and see the modem status from the menu bar. You can also click Advanced for more modem options. Once you have completed the set up procedure, you need only turn you BlackBerry bluetooth on, and connect to the Bluetooth DUN as shown above.
Note: This tutorial was preformed with a MackBook Unibody, Snow Leopard 10.6.1, and a BlackBerry Curve 8130. Your may have to make adaptations depending on your devices.
Be aware that you may be charged on your wireless phone bill for data usage. I take no responsibility for anyone who incurs charges by following these directions. You have been warned.
1. On your BlackBerry, turn bluetooth on and make your phone discoverable. This may vary with each model, for the 8130 this is done by using the Set UP Bluetooth App.
2. On your MacBook go to System Preferences, and click on Bluetooth under Internet & Wireless.
3. Click Set Up New Device.
4. Select your BlackBerry and click Continue.
5. Enter the passkey into your BlackBerry.
6. Set Phone Vendor to Generic, Phone Model as Dialup Device, and User Name, Password, and Phone Number as required by your wireless carrier, then click Continue. The next screen should confirm that all is set up correctly. Exit if it does, if not go back and see if you missed something.
7. In System Preferences go to Network, and connect the Bluetooth DUN to use. Select the "Show modem status in the menu bar" check box to connect and see the modem status from the menu bar. You can also click Advanced for more modem options. Once you have completed the set up procedure, you need only turn you BlackBerry bluetooth on, and connect to the Bluetooth DUN as shown above.
Note: This tutorial was preformed with a MackBook Unibody, Snow Leopard 10.6.1, and a BlackBerry Curve 8130. Your may have to make adaptations depending on your devices.
Excellent post ^^^^^^ -- I printed it to a PDF and saved it in my Documents because I know I'll be using it at some point soon.
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
Hmm, I was tethering using AT&T last month (with a Sony phone, not a Blackberry) and didn't need to enter a phone number (there's a field, but I was able to leave it blank).
Instead of choosing "Dialup Device", I chose "GPRS (GSM/3G)", which was the default. Those are the same settings that I use in NZ, and they provide full HSPA speed etc.
Instead of choosing "Dialup Device", I chose "GPRS (GSM/3G)", which was the default. Those are the same settings that I use in NZ, and they provide full HSPA speed etc.
Very good. I can confirm that GPRS (GSM/3G) does in fact work with the BlackBerry 8130 and our carrier. Download rates are comparable, 35-40 KB/sec. Can you think of any advantage of using the GPRS (GSM/3G) vs. Dialup Device setting?
I'm not aware of any difference. Someone told me that dialup is limited to 921 kb/s but I just tried it and didn't run into that limit. Of course, with AT&T you're not going to get that high anyway
I have done this set-up for a buddy of mine and although it's not nearly as "automatic" as tethering my iPhone, it works reasonably well. Up here in Canada, Bell Mobility charges $8/MB (MEGAbyte!) for BB data tethering. This is ridiculously expensive and there is no "tethering included" package. (This is because Bell doesn't want people unplugging their Sympatico home internet to tether wirelessly, apparently...) So if by chance you're in Canada, you need to realize that your monthly data tethering bill will easily run into the $1,000's. Download iTune 9.0.1? 87MB x $8/MB = That'll be $696 please. So yeah clearly somebody doesn't WANT you to tether with you BB and my $30/6GB iPhone data plan (tethering included) is looking pretty sweet right now! 
$8/MB?! I can roam there for less than that!
Edit: I can roam on Rogers. With Bell I can only use voice and text.
I just looked up the 8130 and it seems to be a CDMA/GSM world phone. Are you using it on CDMA or GSM? Is the GPRS option working in CDMA mode? I only have one CDMA phone on-hand and there's no data plan on it so I can't do any testing with CDMA.
Edit: I can roam on Rogers. With Bell I can only use voice and text.
I just looked up the 8130 and it seems to be a CDMA/GSM world phone. Are you using it on CDMA or GSM? Is the GPRS option working in CDMA mode? I only have one CDMA phone on-hand and there's no data plan on it so I can't do any testing with CDMA.
We are on a 1xEVDO Rev A network (CDMA). I'm unfamiliar with any GRPS options, can you explain?
If your system is the same as NZ's then you'll always be using CDMA when available, and it'll only fall back to GSM/GPRS if you go overseas. EVDO is much faster than GPRS anyway, I'm just surprised that tethering works with GPRS selected. Surprised, but good to know