2nd phone... an old Blackberry

[CatCanyon1]

Good day,

This morning I tried to hook up my new SIM card to my old BlackBerry.

Before I signed up for this 2nd account I checked the IMEI number and all looked well...UNTIL...I got a note on my phone saying that my phone was locked and I needed a MEP code. 🤔

I've been trying to unlock the phone, but, alas I can't get the code to do the required input... any ideas would be welcomed.

Thanks...

@CatCanyon1

AKA @CatCanyon

[CatCanyon1]

Thanks for your response. I appreciate learning the history.

In the late 1990's and early 2000's, my BB was terrific.

I traveled world wide. It worked great. However, as you're saying that was then.

I'm about to give up my fantasy of using it as a backup. Seems too complicated to get it going again.

Thank you.

[CatCanyon1]

I thought it was protocol... thanks for pointing out it is not necessary.

[SD08]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@CatCanyon1 wrote:

Do you know what magic Telus was able to perform?

I'm still looking for a solution.

@CatCanyon1 

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@CatCanyon1 out of curiosity, why do you tag yourself in your replies?

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@CatCanyon1  Yes, I'm also curious why you always tag yourself with every message. Could it be one of these reasons?

1. Since the tags are always at the end of your posts, maybe it's your way of putting a signature to each message.

It's unnecessary to sign a post, especially this way, as every message is already labelled with the author's username. Usually when a member wants to sign a post, they would write some part of their real name instead of their username, and not with an @ tag.  Since this is a public forum, it's best not to post any info that you'd rather keep private, even if it's just your name.  In that case it's probably best to skip the redundant signature altogether.

2. Tagging oneself results in being notified by e-mail of the mention and thereby receiving a copy of what one has just posted.
This is also unnecessary, as you can simply adjust your personal notification settings to automatically send e-mailed copies of every message you post, even if it doesn't have a tag.

[srlawren]

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@CatCanyon1 wrote:

Do you know what magic Telus was able to perform?

I'm still looking for a solution.

@CatCanyon1 

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@CatCanyon1 out of curiosity, why do you tag yourself in your replies?

[computergeek541]

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@CatCanyon1 wrote:

Thanks for your reply. Do you know how to achieve being the data working?

Suggestions would be welcomed.

@CatCanyon1 

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As stated before, you can't get data working.  Public Mobile does not support something called BIS, which is required for data services on the operating system that the Blackberry 9800 is using.

As for the actualy carrier unlocking, you need only to put your Public Mobile sim card in the phone and type in the MEP code.  If that doesn'' work, or if you want to unlock one of these types of devices, they could be unlocked without even having another carrier's sim card.  As quoted from https://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-unlocking-f157/how-unlock-blackberry-torch-9810-unlock-code... :

1) Go to Options -> Device -> Advanced System Settings -> Sim Card

2) Slide the physical keyboard out -> Type the letters "mepd" (without the quotes, you will not see anything on the screen when typing)

3) Once you see the Personalization Screen keep the alt button pressed and type "MEP2" (without the quotes, you will not see anything on the screen when typing).

4) Enter the provided unlock code when prompted!

It's been so long since I've unlocked one of these era of Blackberry devices, but the instructions do sound about right.

[Anonymous]

 @CatCanyon1 

The "magic" mentioned earlier was Telus unlocking their branded phone. You'll need to get Bell to do that magic.

As for data, you can't without a Blackberry BIS server. Although it sounds like there might be a hack to get around that for MMS but the person that mentioned it said they didn't actually do it so they can't say for certain.

Or are you meaning wifi?

[CatCanyon1]

Thanks for your reply. Do you know how to achieve being the data working?

Suggestions would be welcomed.

@CatCanyon1 

[CatCanyon1]

Do you know what magic Telus was able to perform?

I'm still looking for a solution.

@CatCanyon1 

[GinYVR]

@HomeWatchCanadaI like @bridonca 's suggestion but it depends on your technical accumen and your cost /reward / risk matrix. Assuming the place you want to add a router has current wireless standards eg 802.11n or ac with WPA2 encryption, adding an old router will increase your security risk since the old encryption method is broken and will never be fixed (the processors ~10 years ago just never had the horsepower).

The other problem is where do you find a decently updated browser in the ecosystem that can complies with standards that most recent websites need.

There are 2 ways to mitigate the security issue, switch your encryption to the enterprise version of WPA (which requires you to add an additional server, if you haven't one already).. AND/OR isolate the router from the rest of the network with a seperate VLAN with specific firewall instructions.

[computergeek541]

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@HomeWatchCanada wrote:

How exactly does it need to be reworked, tweeked, modified, et al to allow for Wi-Fi, Data etc?

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For Wi-Fi, you just need to turn it on.  As for cellular, data that will not work at Public Mobile using a Blackberry Torch.  There is no BIS service available.  You would have  to buy a new phone.

As for Telus acheiving the impossoble to unlock this phone for you, why would this have been any more difficult than unlocking any other phone?  If anything, unlocking an old model would be easier because unlock codes are so readily available.

[bridonca]

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@HomeWatchCanada wrote:

Same boat still afloat. We needed a quick emergency cell and did not want to put out a thousand dollars for a BUZZ FILLED system. Found an old Torch 9800 Blackberry hardly used that had been sitting in a drawer since 2010. Thought we would try. Well thanks to Telus they worked hard to get this phone unlocked. They achieved a miracle. Still a really good phone. HOWEVER the Wi-Fi is of old with apparently no updates anywhere. The phone hooks into a Wi-Fi network and lights up for about 2 seconds and then the unit says UNABLE TO CONNECT Wi-Fi. Have tried everything we know but unless we drop the security level on our router the old Blackberry Torch 9800 just cannot hold the connection on today's notably smarter and more sophisticated routers and Carrier system. Telus say they could dumb down so we could connect but for a purely side phone we do not want to sacrifice current router connections with laptops, other cell phones (newer of course) etc.

Anybody know how to solve this delemia? We believe there is nothing we can do for the phone other than do telephone calls and text. Actually fine with that but having full Wi-Fi compatibility would be a bonus.

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Gwt another router, You can get them for $10 at a thrift store.  Connect it to the current router, and set up the wifi for the 9800.  You do not need a new router either,  You can still use the wifi on the other router for your other devices

[HomeWatchCanada]

How exactly does it need to be reworked, tweeked, modified, et al to allow for Wi-Fi, Data etc?

[HomeWatchCanada]

Same boat still afloat. We needed a quick emergency cell and did not want to put out a thousand dollars for a BUZZ FILLED system. Found an old Torch 9800 Blackberry hardly used that had been sitting in a drawer since 2010. Thought we would try. Well thanks to Telus they worked hard to get this phone unlocked. They achieved a miracle. Still a really good phone. HOWEVER the Wi-Fi is of old with apparently no updates anywhere. The phone hooks into a Wi-Fi network and lights up for about 2 seconds and then the unit says UNABLE TO CONNECT Wi-Fi. Have tried everything we know but unless we drop the security level on our router the old Blackberry Torch 9800 just cannot hold the connection on today's notably smarter and more sophisticated routers and Carrier system. Telus say they could dumb down so we could connect but for a purely side phone we do not want to sacrifice current router connections with laptops, other cell phones (newer of course) etc.

Anybody know how to solve this delemia? We believe there is nothing we can do for the phone other than do telephone calls and text. Actually fine with that but having full Wi-Fi compatibility would be a bonus.

[srlawren]

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@bridonca wrote:

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Oh my, you are right.  I did not know RIM was so nasty!  There is a hack of course, but I have never tried it.  https://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-7-f245/guide-how-enable-mms-without-bis-1105542/

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@bridonca when BlackBerry was first creating their smart phones way back in I guess it was the late 90's or so, you have to remember that the world was a very different place.  There were no iPhones or Android phones and the work even predated Windows Phones.  At the time, and GPRS or maybe at most EDGE were the mobile data flavours of the day--and they. were. very. very. slow.  Back then there weren't a ton of data-consuming apps like YouTube and modern mobile browsers like Chrome or Safari, no Netflix or Spotify, Web 2.0 was barely a sparkle in someone's eye.  Back then the infrastructure for mobile data was awful, and RIM made decisions which made sense at the time, looking through the lenses of that era.  They added their own proprietary data compression between the mobile carrier and the user's BB.  Data networks were so slow that squeezing every payload down to as few bits as possible made a big difference.  By today's standards, it was a backward setup, but it made sense then. 

IIRC, the last device released with BB 7 was the Bold 9900 back in May of 2011, and by then the iPhone was at least a couple of generations old, Android was starting to take hold, and mobile data was relatively mature and into 2.5 and 3G technologies like CDMA 2000 with EVDO and HSPA over the GSM stack were in the wild and constricting data through a proprietary middle-tier to add compression and encryption just didn't make sense any more.  EDIT: but, the BIS/BES infrastructure was so ingrained in the legacy BBOS architecture, that it wasn't feasible to rip them out without a rewrite of the OS, which they did with BB10 which finally launched in I believe Feb or March of 2013.  But of course we all know that the battle had already been lost for RIM by then, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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You need those eyeballs checked then 🙂 The 9320 is on the Curve line.

I was just going from gsmarena. I wasn't doing an in-depth analysis of all variants.

Edit: I edited my post to make one Curve line. I'm aware from going through them on gsmarena that some of the same-name models had different number variants. I didn't list them if they didn't have the PM 3G freq's.

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You're right that I missed that, but it looks as if you see partly see why I did, the other part of it me not looking carefully enough.  Lol.  But, the list is missing the Blackberry Curve 9310.  

The part about there being multiple variants of some models was my main point.  

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The 9310 doesn't appear to be on gsmarena. Like I said...it wasn't an exhaustive everything list. I just whipped through the ones on gsmarena. So sue me 🙂

[computergeek541]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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You need those eyeballs checked then 🙂 The 9320 is on the Curve line.

I was just going from gsmarena. I wasn't doing an in-depth analysis of all variants.

Edit: I edited my post to make one Curve line. I'm aware from going through them on gsmarena that some of the same-name models had different number variants. I didn't list them if they didn't have the PM 3G freq's.

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You're right that I missed that, but it looks as if you see partly see why I did, the other part of it me not looking carefully enough.  Lol.  But, the list is missing the Blackberry Curve 9310.  

The part about there being multiple variants of some models was my main point.  

[bridonca]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@bridonca wrote:

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You will get data and MMS on this phone.  It does need work to configure it properly though. 

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@bridonca do you have access to a BES server through your employer or something?  As already noted, BB7 and older needs a BIS or a BES for mobile data (WiFi of course is fine but you can't do MMS over WiFi).  

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Oh my, you are right.  I did not know RIM was so nasty!  There is a hack of course, but I have never tried it.  https://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-7-f245/guide-how-enable-mms-without-bis-1105542/

[srlawren]

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@bridonca wrote:

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You will get data and MMS on this phone.  It does need work to configure it properly though. 

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@bridonca do you have access to a BES server through your employer or something?  As already noted, BB7 and older needs a BIS or a BES for mobile data (WiFi of course is fine but you can't do MMS over WiFi).  

[JackQuint]

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@mh1983 wrote:

The best kind of "vintage" BlackBerry phone to get these days is a BB10 phone; as others said, they don't require BES or BIS for data/MMS. They work on any given smart phone plan, provided the service provider allows them on their network. (PM does. I use a Q10 without issue.)

Caveats: BB10 is end of life, BB World along w/ other services are shutting down at the end of the year, and it's not 100% clear that BB10 will continue to work as it does today. It'll likely be okay, but there's dependencies on BlackBerry IDs which call up certain servers, so you may not be able to do backups any more. And you can't get apps unless you sideload them (native BAR files or install Android APKs directly; mileage, again, will vary). I love BB10, but proceed with caution if you go that route.

Better yet, if you want the BB keyboard experience w/ a modern OS, go for something in the Key series. They natively run Android and all the most common apps will work. 

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This ... the Key2 is an excellent phone (although at its MSRP should have a bit better internals and wireless charging) but nonetheless, a very good product.

[Anonymous]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CatCanyon1 wrote:

Thanks for the information... I'll post my findings.

Love my old dear blackberry! 😉

@CatCanyon1

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So I flipped through all the BB's listed on gsmarena to find what might work here. Assuming they're right and complete, it wasn't until OS10 that LTE showed up.

So the list would be:

Bold 9000, 9700, 9780, 9790, Touch 9900

Torch 9860, 9800, 9810

Pearl 3G 9100, 9105

Curve 3G 9300

Curve 9360, 9380, 9320

Porsche Design P'9981

?? 9720

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Just from eyeballing it, I can see that Blackberry Curve 9320 is missing from that list.  More imporantly, many of those devices had different variants, each supporting different 3g freqencies.  For example, a Blackberry 9700 from Wind Mobile or T-Mobile (u.s.), or even factory unlocked variants meant to be sold elsewhere in the world would not work at Public Mobile.

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You need those eyeballs checked then 🙂 The 9320 is on the Curve line.

I was just going from gsmarena. I wasn't doing an in-depth analysis of all variants.

Edit: I edited my post to make one Curve line. I'm aware from going through them on gsmarena that some of the same-name models had different number variants. I didn't list them if they didn't have the PM 3G freq's.

[computergeek541]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CatCanyon1 wrote:

Thanks for the information... I'll post my findings.

Love my old dear blackberry! 😉

@CatCanyon1

---

So I flipped through all the BB's listed on gsmarena to find what might work here. Assuming they're right and complete, it wasn't until OS10 that LTE showed up.

So the list would be:

Bold 9000, 9700, 9780, 9790, Touch 9900

Torch 9860, 9800, 9810

Pearl 3G 9100, 9105

Curve 3G 9300

Curve 9360, 9380, 9320

Porsche Design P'9981

?? 9720

---

Just from eyeballing it, I can see that Blackberry Curve 9320 is missing from that list.  More imporantly, many of those devices had different variants, each supporting different 3g freqencies.  For example, a Blackberry 9700 from Wind Mobile or T-Mobile (u.s.), or even factory unlocked variants meant to be sold elsewhere in the world would not work at Public Mobile.

[Anonymous]

 @mh1983: I still use a Z30 which took over from a still working Z10.

It would be my opinion that the phone should keep working after the end of this year. I think using it as a phone and texting and some browsing (being aware of security issues) will be fine. I find some security issues blocking me trying to connect to some wifi's (which may be for the better anyway). Some websites don't work.

Sure...no backups (who does those anyway 🙂 ), no new apps, limited 4.3 Android runtime...but it should still work.

[Anonymous]

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@CatCanyon1 wrote:

Thanks for the information... I'll post my findings.

Love my old dear blackberry! 😉

@CatCanyon1

---

So I flipped through all the BB's listed on gsmarena to find what might work here. Assuming they're right and complete, it wasn't until OS10 that LTE showed up.

So the list would be:

Bold 9000, 9700, 9780, 9790, Touch 9900

Torch 9860, 9800, 9810

Pearl 3G 9100, 9105

Curve 9360, 9380, 9320, 3G 9300

Porsche Design P'9981

?? 9720

[mh1983]

The best kind of "vintage" BlackBerry phone to get these days is a BB10 phone; as others said, they don't require BES or BIS for data/MMS. They work on any given smart phone plan, provided the service provider allows them on their network. (PM does. I use a Q10 without issue.)

Caveats: BB10 is end of life, BB World along w/ other services are shutting down at the end of the year, and it's not 100% clear that BB10 will continue to work as it does today. It'll likely be okay, but there's dependencies on BlackBerry IDs which call up certain servers, so you may not be able to do backups any more. And you can't get apps unless you sideload them (native BAR files or install Android APKs directly; mileage, again, will vary). I love BB10, but proceed with caution if you go that route.

Better yet, if you want the BB keyboard experience w/ a modern OS, go for something in the Key series. They natively run Android and all the most common apps will work. 

[computergeek541]

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@bridonca wrote:

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@cavemantoronto wrote:

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@CellGirl wrote:

@CatCanyon1 

Hi, your blackberry 9800 (Torch) has an ancient OS. I'd be surprised if it works with public mobile. Let us know 🙂

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It will work but no data and no mms

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Compared to the junk I have successfully configured to work on Public Mobile, the Blackberry 9800 is a modern phone!   You will get data and MMS on this phone.  It does need work to configure it properly though. 

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As stated earlier, this phone will not work for data or MMS.  The operating system of this phone requires BIS or BES for data use.  Public Mobile doesn't offer either.

[Anonymous]

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@bridonca wrote:

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@cavemantoronto wrote:

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@CellGirl wrote:

@CatCanyon1 

Hi, your blackberry 9800 (Torch) has an ancient OS. I'd be surprised if it works with public mobile. Let us know 🙂

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It will work but no data and no mms

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Compared to the junk I have successfully configured to work on Public Mobile, the Blackberry 9800 is a modern phone!   You will get data and MMS on this phone.  It does need work to configure it properly though. 

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 @bridonca 

Well now I'm curious. The fine print here says that BB OS10 is needed for MMS and data. Doesn't really make sense as an internet connection is an internet connection. So I'm curious if you have had prior versions of BB OS's working for data and MMS.

Plans page T&C #3: "Picture messaging on BlackBerry smartphones requires the BlackBerry 10 operating system."

Plans page T&C #4: "Data service on BlackBerry smartphones requires the BlackBerry 10 operating system."

Always interested to hear if things work when it says it shouldn't 🙂

[bridonca]

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@cavemantoronto wrote:

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@CellGirl wrote:

@CatCanyon1 

Hi, your blackberry 9800 (Torch) has an ancient OS. I'd be surprised if it works with public mobile. Let us know 🙂

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It will work but no data and no mms

---

Compared to the junk I have successfully configured to work on Public Mobile, the Blackberry 9800 is a modern phone!   You will get data and MMS on this phone.  It does need work to configure it properly though. 

[CatCanyon1]

Thanks for the information... I'll post my findings.

Love my old dear blackberry! 😉

@CatCanyon1

[CatCanyon1]

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.

Even though it's ancient technology, I'm still intrigued with the possibility of a glimmer of usage from the old gal! 😉

In the end, I may have to give it up if my goal of using the blackberry as a second line doesn't pan out. 😏

@CatCanyon1 

[cavemantoronto]

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@CellGirl wrote:

@CatCanyon1 

Hi, your blackberry 9800 (Torch) has an ancient OS. I'd be surprised if it works with public mobile. Let us know 🙂

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It will work but no data and no mms