Since you seem to be delving into the world of the Blackberry Pearl with your Mac system, I was hoping you could tell me how to use the Pearl as a wireless (bluetooth) modem with my Mac OS X Powerbook system. Didja figure that one out yet, Dave?
Actually, I did figure that out, now that you mention it! It’s a bit tricky, but I used the directions that Grant at Fibble.org posted, which I reproduce here with illustrations and my commentary:
The first step is to download the Blackberry 8100 modem script that Grant wrote: you’ll want to right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the link and “Download Linked File”.
I had a problem here that took a bit of finagling, because when it downloaded, I ended up with a file on my desktop called “Blackberry 8100.txt”. Bad, not good. You need to (slowly) double-click on the filename and remove the “.txt” filename suffix. It must be called just “Blackberry 8100” and yes, it should have a generic file icon, like this:
You’ll want to move the downloaded file into your system Library. Do this by opening up the Finder, then clicking on your hard disk name, then clicking on “Library” and “Modem Scripts”. Make sure you don’t put the file in your personal Library folder but the one at the topmost level.
Now you need to pair your Blackberry Pearl with your Mac. If you’ve already done that, you can skip ahead a few steps, but if not, I’ll show you how to do that too.
It’s not too bad if you haven’t paired them: open System Preferences –> Bluetooth and make sure that you have Bluetooth on. (If your Mac doesn’t have bluetooth you’re out of luck and cannot proceed. Sorry!) You also need to ensure that you have set up your Mac to be “discoverable”, as shown here:
It’s time to turn your shiny Blackberry Pearl on and move to the Bluetooth Set Up screen:
You should see the phone scanning for bluetooth devices:
and hopefully finding your Mac:
Once the phone actually sees the Mac, the Mac will automatically switch to show you the necessary passkey, a seven digit number, which you’ll need to enter into your Pearl for them to pair properly:
When you initiate the pairing, you’ll have a chance to accept or reject a requested connection: You want to accept the connection from your Mac, obviously.
A critical, critical step now, one that I didn’t realize and that caused me a lot of grief, is that you need to go into the Bluetooth options on the phone and change one of the default settings. The defaults probably look like this:
The problem is that you need to change Discoverable to “Yes”, not “No” or “Ask”. I had it on Ask and every time I tried to connect to the Pearl — including when I was going to use it as a modem — it asked if I really wanted to do that. Problem was, that messes up the modem script and causes the whole process to fail. Not good. But easily fixed.
You’ll also want to ensure your Pearl doesn’t require a password for your Mac to connect to it; the ‘Trusted Connection’ option on the Pearl entry for this specific connection must also be set to ‘Yes’, not ‘Ask’, but that should be the default once you’ve entered the passkey.
Good. You’re done with your Pearl and can put it down. It’s time to finish configuring things on the Mac side.
To do that, remember you’re still in the Bluetooth System Preference and select the new “Blackberry 8100” device in Devices. Click “Configure” and you’ll launch the Bluetooth Setup Assistant, which will then ask:
You can use the Address Book or not, but it’s critical that you select “Access the Internet” and that you specify “Use a direct, higher speed connection”, as shown here, and click “Continue”.
At this point you’ll get a chance to specify a username, password, phone number, etc. You’ll want to select the new “Blackberry 8100” modem script you downloaded here, leave the username and password blank, and enter exactly *99***1# for the GPRS CID string. It’ll end up looking thusly:
Since you’ve wisely opted to “Show modem status in the menu bar” on the last step, you have a tiny telephone handset on your menu bar. Click it:
Select “Open Internet Connect…”. Select the Bluetooth icon at the top and enter either “wap.voicestream.com” for T-Mobile or “wap.cingular” for Cingular. Add a username and password, either guest / guest for T-Mobile or WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM / CINGULAR1 as the username and password for Cingular. Since I’m on Cingular, my setup looks like this:
That’s all there is to it, believe it or not! Assuming everything’s indeed configured properly on both the phone and Mac, you should be able to click on “Connect” in the Internet Connect window (or choose “Connect” from the little modem menu on the menu bar). If it all works, here’s what you’ll end up seeing:
Nice!!
Thanks again to Grant for his work figuring all this out. We definitely appreciate it!
hi, i had gift from my friend and its a black berry pearl mobile and i cant able to use this features and its are too tough to use, so please help me to use and enjoy the black berry mobile……………….
Does it work for iPhone 3G? How?
I have a Mac running MAC OS X 10.5.8, and i followed all the steps, but i cant connect to the internet using a Blackberry Pearl 8100…Please assist!!!!!
I am on o2 in the UK. I wanted to check if I set this up, will I be charged extra other than my blackberry service for setting this up?
please i live in the United States, my cellphone is samsung R560, its not a smart phone but its bluetooth enabled, i have internet access in it. how do i bring this internet into my laptop? my service provider is Cricket.please help me, i have tried so many means without result, until i saw this site of yours.
thanks
very respectfully
Godspower.
Hi, pls i bought a blsckberry 8800 which was on vodaphone, I am using tmobile in london now, how do i reset the browser to tmobile and to browse free, please give me info
I am in rural area in upstate NY with only dialup available. My husband has blackberry with work that he basically brings home to charge (no bars no calls at home) but tried the other day and internet worked and was fast. I’m wondering if some sort of antenna put outside would pickup signal for wireless internet service? I know wifi is in shops and library downtown (about 9 miles) and theres a cell tower about 3 miles away but not sure which carriers?Dialup is so slow I’m considering buying a laptop to go downtown and work but would prefer something at home. Thank you for any help. Alison
Dave Hello! I looking for a mobile that thethering MAC OS 10.5 IBook G4 and that I can use the ISync. Could you help me?
Thanks a lot
<MARINA rvalmarina@hotmail.com
Thanks for your info. I have successfully tethered my Curve 8300 and Mac for a month and now it suddenly won’t work. Any suggestions?
Thanks for the post, tho i’m still having problems. I’m following this step by step but my bluetooth screenshots on my Macbook are different, I don’t know if I have the updated version of bluetooth or old but something is different. Also after bluetooth is ready on the computer end, I grab my phone and go to the bluetooth set up screen and search for devices, it finds my computer and I begin to pair, then it asks for the numeric passkey that should have been displayed on my computer screen BUT ITS NOT. Nothing pops up on the computer screen so I’m unable to enter a passkey. I’m able to do it the opposite way, finding my phone through my computer and enter the passkey that my computer displays but when i’m in the device setup up at the “access the internet with your phone’s data connection” screen i click continue with that checked and it then says configuring services, I’ve been sitting on this configuring thing for about 10 minutes and I feel its not working.
I’m running Mac OSX Ver 10.5.8 with Blackberry Pearl 8130
Can someone help me?
Hello MR Dave,
Not long ago I had been using my Razor phone as modem to connect to internet on my 1 yr old macbook. T-mobile is my provider. Worked great! After upgrading to the BB 8900, I am now having trouble pairing my mac to BB. My phone recognizes my Mac but my Mac does not see my BB. I down loaded the modem script 8100 and removed the .txt and placed it in my modem script library, but still does not work. I’m sure if I can get over the bluetooth issue, I’ll be able to hook up online. Thanks for any help you can give! Phil
why do i get a busy signal to every call i make on my blackberry?
Hot! I finally got this working after my Blackberry felt like wiping itself one day.
I’m running Leopard 10.5.8 on a MBP with a Blackberry 8100 from T-Mobile USA. I dropped a fresh copy of the modem scripts into my Library folder and opened up my Blackberry to never prompt me for a connection to my MBP.
When I went through the setup wizard I used *99***1# for the phone number and left the username and password fields blank. In the network options under Advanced I disabled compression and error correction. I went back into Network in SysPref and entered wap.voicestream.com in the telephone number field and guest and guest for username and password. I clicked connect and it worked like a charm!
The only problems I’ve sometimes run into with this is when the default settings on the Blackberry have been changed. There’s one random settings screen somewhere under advanced options that prompts for a username and password, and in my experience changing this ever will make this not work.
GREAT post — thanks!!!
I have set this up on my wife’s 8110 with macbook, however, across the top of the screen I get “Connecting…” “Connecting…”, then “Authenticating…” “Authenticating…” then this “Disconnecting…” I think I’ve got the GPRS CID wrong. I’ve tried: *99***1# as suggested, I’ve tried the *99# (the default) and I’ve tried “internet” (which is the APN for Optus Australia), however none have succeeded at remaining connected. Someone please advise.
Has anyone with OPTUS succeeded at making this work? What are your settings?
P
Im having the same problem as Chris. I have the BB 8120 and It has problems when I authenticate. I have 10.5.6 so i dont have the GPRS CID option. Im trying to use this with tmobile. I get the PPP error or authenticate error depending on what user name I use or if its in caps or not. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I am trying to use the BlackBerry 8830 to link with the MacBook Pro. Do the above directions hold true for this link-up as well? I have Verizon (they are no help at all, of course.) Thank you.
I am trying to hook my blackberry 8330 to my Mac and I have Verizon does anyone know the codes to enter for the Verizon net work? Thanks
Will this work with my Blackberry Storm and my MacBook Pro?
I cannot connect. It says “Could not negotiate a connection with the remote PPP server. Please verify your settings and try again.” Does anyone know how to fix this? I have tried every thing I could. Don’t know what happened as before I could connect fine! Thanks a lot!
Cel