Travel Technology - Tethering My BlackBerry To My Notebook

I pay my cellular carrier for tethering, which is of course the ability to use the BlackBerry as a cellular modem. I've never been able to get it to work myself, and I dread having to deal with tech support for obvious reasons.

The BB connects to the PC with a 1394 Firewire cable, this works. The next step is supposed to be to install a Standard Modem using any available serial port.

Trouble is, I can't see any serial ports extant on my Fujitsu Lifebook. When I go to Add Modem under Phone and Modem Options, Standard Modem, I get a screen called Use Selected Ports and there are no ports available to select. Help!

Make sure you have the latest Desktop Manager software from RIM, and make sure it is running. I don't have any experience with the Firewire connection, but this seems to work with USB or Bluetooth.

There has never been a Firewire Blackberry, so it is probably connected with USB. Like the previous poster said, just make sure you have the latest desktop manager installed.

You also do not need a serial port, USB will be fine.

Here are the instructions from RIM themselves:

http://www.blackberry.com/ap/products/blackberry/tetheredmodem.shtml

I'm guessing - and this is just a guess - that you need to set up some kind of virtual port. Either that, or you need to install the driver that lets your computer talk to your BB as a modem as opposed to a PDA.

Have you rooted around in your BB's install CD and install proggies to see if you can find anything that looks like it might do either of those things?

M

There is separate software that the wireless carrier should have given you to make your BB operate as a modem. If you aren't running that then it isn't surprising that it is not working.

And it is a USB cable, not a firewire one.

Nah, I tether just fine with the built-in Windows dial-up connection - though people I know who have Verizon have much improved reliability in tethering when they use the Verizon connection manager.

Nah, I tether just fine with the built-in Windows dial-up connection - though people I know who have Verizon have much improved reliability in tethering when they use the Verizon connection manager.

It can be done if you know what you're doing, but using the provided software makes it much easier, especially if one is struggling to understand the intricacies of the different ports, cables and configurations necessary to make it happen.

There is separate software that the wireless carrier should have given you to make your BB operate as a modem. If you aren't running that then it isn't surprising that it is not working.

And it is a USB cable, not a firewire one.

You need that software only on certain carriers (cell phone carriers). On others it works without it.

There is an alternate program called shark modem as well.