How do I set up a BlackBerry email "vacation hold"?

The process of setting up an email vacation hold (great name for it, btw!) is more straightforward than you may realize, especially if you've already read through my instructions on how to set up an email filter for your Blackberry Internet service. I have a Blackberry Pearl 8100, personally, but these instructions should work for any Blackberry device.

First step is to figure out how to log on to the BlackBerry Internet Service web site, something that's far more complex than it should be. After recently thrashing around for fifteen minutes on different sites, I have figured out that the best strategy appears to be to go to this page, find your provider, and click on that link to log in to the BIS system.

Once you've done that, you should see your account listed:

Click on the little antennae icon under "filters" and you'll see the filter or filters you've set up -- if any -- like this:

Now to set up a vacation hold, click on Add Filter and set it up thusly:

Click on Add Filter and you're done. Now, you just need to remove it when you get back from your trip to Mexico (or not, perhaps you might enjoy not having the little BlackBerry device rule your life. :-)