The FCC is conjunction with the FAA is enforcing device useage fines of $5000-$15000... FAA line inspectors that are doing airline audits CAN right up a pax for mis-use of a wireless device.

FAA FSDO inspectors DO have the authority to write up all the info to get action against a pax. Also FSDO inspectors DO ride in the cabin as well on occasion.

For those on a color blackberry... See the following Scaled Vector Graphics/SVG demolink

ENTER THE LINK on your RIM device (.. it doesn't seem to work on PC based SVG clients right now)

http://www.blackberry.com/demoportal.../svg/index.svg

T-Mobile US added MANY new GPRS roaming agreements (all should cover Blackberry as well). See: http://www.t-mobile.com/internationa...geInternet.asp

Highlights added:
- Telia Sweden
- AT&T Rogers Canada
- Telstra Australia
- Singtel Singapore
- Chungwa Taiwan
- Smart Philippines

The Taiwan and Australia additions are a huge boon to me http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Now if we can get GPRS roaming for, Russia (Moscow), Ireland, Mexico, South Africa and India!

Great news!

TMO just shut off HTML site browsing on the BB 7230. Only WAP is now accessible. I can no longer surf FlyerTalk when I am waiting in line http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif

I wrote the CEO about this incredibly bad decision. Taking features like this away, with no notice, is a terrible practice.

Richard,

2 pointers, try this web browser:

http://reqwireless.com/products-web.html

and did you check the GPRS Access point name? What is it set to? They have changed their WAP Access point to no longer allow internet access.

Richard, HTML service via the Blackberry browser (that uses the BES on your corporate network side) still works fine.

I'm wondering if they are pushing a new GPRS APN and WAP gateway that now blocks standard Port 80 HTML traffic....

No, they just completely pulled HTML access.

There are several rumours circulating:

1) It will never return, you need the BES and web service

2) It's a glitch, all will be restored

3) They will release a BWA Web access update this year

So, no official word from T-mobile on the matter http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif

I got a phone call from the product manager for Blackberry at T-Mobile. I was pretty surprised. He wanted me to know that this was a mistake, a result of network upgrades and a consequence they were unaware of. He said it would be working in about 48 - 72 hours and he picked my brain about my experiences in setup etc.

I have 2 BB 7230 questions for those of you who travel to Europe often (Nick1K)

I'm thinking of getting the 7230 since I can use it in europe and in the states. It will be used in Europe about 75% of the time.

1) For those of you who have roamed in Europe with your T-mobile sim cards in, how have your bills been after the trip? Assume you send and receive a combined total of 40 "light" emails (no attachments) per day, can any of you give me an average per day usage charge?
2) For those of you who have other mobile accounts in Europe (Orange or Vodaphone, etc) will the 7230 work with that local sim card inserted just as any phone would or is it blocked to only accept the T-Mobile sim card? I would like to use my secondary Orange sim card while I'm in France to avoid the roaming charges. I'm assuming it would not work with pay as you go sim cards but rather, with subscription accounts only.

Thanks for your advice and insight!
CDG 1K

Lets hope so, T-mobile have been VERY bad at communicating in this matter, some level 2 Wireless data people were climing it was done on purpose, others said it would be an update and others claimed it was never possible to do html with it in the first place...

I just stuck a dutch sim in a US BB 7230 and it tells me it's an "invalid sim card"

Is this because the device has been blocked by T-Mobile. I've seen unblocked BB for sale online through various websites but they sell at a slight premium to those offered via T-Mobile.

Unblocked blackberries don't work... We tried this... There is so much stupid hard coded stuff on the device now that when you first use the other networks SIM (with an account enabled for blackberry) you will ALWAYS get a "Data Connection Refused" Me thinks the networks know the PIN (BLackberry device ID's) they support when authenticating the device SIM and PIN.

#1: My bills are aprox $60 a month on top of the basic service fee for roaming. This is actually VERY good, as I don't spend a rip off amount with IPass to synch outlook. My Ipass bill went from $200 a month $20. Plus I also have a MUCH lower cell phone bill as internal employees now know they can email me on minor things and get an instant response.

#2: See above. For some reason this won't work. However, we have heard that if you can get hold firmware for the 7230 customized for each network operator it WOULD work. We are still trying this (no one in our IT team has had the time right now). In theroy, you would get the unit SIM unlocked.... backup the data on the unit (all via USB, so quick). Use the firmware installer from the network you will roam on. Once that firmware is loaded, restore the backup. Use the SIM on the roaming network.

Some caveats of what we've noticed. The device hardcodes in the firmware how to provision the service book for the first startup. This can't be replaced via user editable inputs as they are locked. Once it provisions on the network it updates the service books. Plus I would assume that the account with the other networks SIM would need to be for a blackberry device as some networks block access to the blackberry.net APN unless the account is for a blackberry device. In our test we're going to use a T-Mobile US blackberry and try to convert it to a T-Mobile UK blackberry. (we also use O2, but they've jerked us around on upgrading units)

Any other questions let me know

Congrats on your piece in Wired, Richard http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

Thank you! Coincidentally I think, I got a call from the T-Mobile product manager and he helped clear things up, saying this was a mistake and that HTML would soon work.

And, on another board, as NickP 1K probably already knows, there is a secret workaround that restored browsing to the BB 7230 anyway! Life has been interesting with our little Blackberry friend.

[This message has been edited by richard (edited 10-02-2003).]

Yes, I read the solution http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

Thanks for the write up Nick 1K! Much appreciated.
I'm going to try to get an Orange (France) 7230 since I've read they are releasing them here. I was a bit confused with your second explanation of changing the firmware and service books (as I don't know what either are!). I'll be interested if you can convert a US to a UK blackberry. But does that mean that it would be a "dual" US/UK blackberry or would you have to manually tweak it every time you crossed the pond?

CDG... If you wanted to use a different networks SIM card than whom you purchased the device from you WILL need to alter the firmware.

Isn't that just a case of getting your hands on the handheld software installer? T-mobiles is easy to download and I presume it's the same for others. More difficult will be getting the new service books and access profiles "pushed" to the device...

Yup, all you need is the updater... The updaters designed for each network have enough basic service book info to setup the device once you get a GPRS connection with that network's SIM card (assuming they don't block the blackerrry.net APN if you don't have a blackberry SIM)


Also: side note... The 7230 does NUTTY things with the T-Mobile US SIM cards that have EONS (Enhanced operator Naming service) when roaming on Cingular. Half the time, network browses show "T-Mobile" the other times, it switches mid select to Cingular and then doesn't actually choose the network http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif I wish we could get SIM cards for T-Mobile in California WITHOUT EONS... It's not like advanced users are going to moan to support that it says "Cingular" on the display

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 10-04-2003).]

T-Mobile US just added some additional networks again... they seem to be rocking on this now http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

http://www.t-mobile.com/internationa...geInternet.asp

- France / SFR
- United Arab Emirates / Etisalat

2nd networks also in the Philippines, Spain, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands.

Last week my 6710 phone worked perfectly in BKK, but no GPRS so no email or data.

I also got GMS signal in SIN last week, the first time this has happened. I could also dial local numbers in SIN no problem, but when I tried to call back to the U.S. I got the SingTel female voice instructing me to dial a "+" or "002" before the number for an international call. I tried both methods, but couldn't make the international call in SIN on the BB.

(In BKK I only had to dial the country code for the US, e.g. 001, nothing else)

You did try it +1XXX-XXX-XXXX? right

I've used a standard T-Mobile account on Singtel with no issues. Is your BB setup for voice (e.g. the account)?

I actually tried +001-1-xxx-xxx-xxxx. So I guess that was my problem ! My BB account is setup for voice, and it did work perfectly in BKK. Thanks for the tip on dialing, I'll try it when I'm back in SIN in November.

On GSM networks the + denotes dial in international format. So you can actually store ALL your numbers in +1XXX-XXX-XXXX and when you dial it WILL work no matter what network you are on or where you roam. Barring network problems ALL networks should allow you to dial US numbers within the US as well with a +1 (all my phone book entries on T-Mobile, Cingular and ATT GSM were programmed like this and I've never had a problem dialing them). Also the calls get charged for the destination NOT how it was dialed (meaning using the +1 doesn't make it an international call if it's within the country you are calling from/to)

Bottom line + replaces ANY local intl access code. So you then just input the country code, area code (strip a zero off the area code if it's the first digit) and the number.

Thinking of joining the Blackberry cult. Seems like the only good way to get my corporate email.

How well does the phone work on a 7230 or similar device? Is anyone using a BB as main phone? And can you use the SIM in a regular phone (w/o BB features of course)?

Phone is actually pretty darn good, excellent fix on signal and support for most regular GSM services. A Blackberry provisioned SIM card will work in any GSM phone (provided it's not sim-locked to a different operator of course.).

To use the BB for your corporate email you'll need a Blackberry Enterprise Server at the office ($2000+) and an exchange server. For non-exchange support you'll need to setup a mail redirect from your current ISP to your Blackberry mail account.

I believe you can also do corporate email with Lotus Domino and the Blackberry Enterprise Server, is this not correct?

Anyhow, minor point, if you do take the plunge, welcome to the Blackberry Cult!

Yes, it also runs on Domino but I'm such a Microsoft fan that I forgot that some backwards firms still use that http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

If you want to keep your local desktop turned on with it logged in (and locked) you can use the desktop re-director as well..

Oh yeah... as well. Used my T-Mobile blackberry in Australia over the last two weeks... Service was via Telstra.. .worked EVERYWHERE, had only one outage when in Canberra where it wouldn't authenticate the Blackberry data access (gprs WAP worked). Worked fine the next day. Don't know if something is odd with Telstra's Canberra network with roaming GPRS (or GPRS in general) or if it was just an outage from either Telstra's side or T-Mobile.

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 10-26-2003).]

We're on MS exchange and run the Blackberry server (although they won't install the MS mobile server software for Pocket PCs, which I'd really like to try for synch).

So, thanks all for the info and am looking forward to the BB. Any cool peripherals or software? I've searched a bit and haven't found much, not even a BB discussion board with much traffic. But maybe that's the point, a device that does what it does well without too much fuss.

www.rimroad is pretty much the only place, as for software, besides some specialized third party applications the offering of decent software for the blackberry is useless...

That's what it is to me. I don't want another PC to fiddle with anyway. I like the simplicity and the fact that I'm not tempted to play around with a bunch of third party software.

Yup, same here... no extra junk... Nice integrated mail handling and good internet browsing... Who needs more?? I've actually placed an intranet site at my company to work with the browser (when using the corp blackberry exchange) to be a single site conduit to other company sites or host other info that is updated real time. Works in place of running crummy 3rd party apps, etc.

When I was in BKK I got a voice mail on my BB. The voice mail indicator (tape icon) came on, and now I can't get it to turn off.

I've tried a hard reset and deleted all messages from my BB mailbox, but the icon still stays on.

Is there any way to send a message to turn it off?

Voicemail indicators are a network issue, T-mobile (or whoever your operator is) has to send the signal to turn it off, as soon as you enter your homw network it will most likely go off...

I am looking into getting a 7320. I will only use it for emai im and phone. Personal not business. How is T-mobile coverage in Manhattan and farther north ie Hudson Valley? If T-mobile provides good coverage that could be a clincher. Thanks for your help.

Have had the Blackberry for a few days. Pretty darn cool, a little addictive. Phone's decent too.

One question about notifications. I've got the LED on as repeat notification, but it seems to stop flashing after a while. Is there a way to have it keep flashing. Would be nice to have it silent at times but tell at a glance whether I have an email. I'm on the 7230.