Tethering the BlackBerry 8830 via Bluetooth- same-o, same-o
One area where Windows has always been sorely lacking is the ability to tether a PC to a 3G-enabled phone for use as a data modem. It was difficult in Windows XP and it’s difficult in Windows Vista when it really shouldn’t be. Bluetooth is designed to make wireless connections easy but in reality they are anything but. Case in point, trying to use the RIM BlackBerry 8830 as an EV-DO modem with various devices. Here’s the sad situation as of right now.
My main desire is to tether the 8830 to the Nokia N800 to use the EV-DO modem when there is no WiFi around. The N800 is a beautiful internet appliance but near useless without connectivity so using the 8830 as a modem would be wonderful. I have wasted some hours trying to get this configured to no avail. The 8830 is duly activated on Verizon and I am paying the $15/ month tethering charge which enables using it as a modem with Windows devices. I realize the N800 is not a Windows device but it pairs fine with a Nokia phone so it should work with the 8830 and its EV-DO goodness. Unfortunately it acts as if it can’t access the Verizon network, even though it’s configured properly. I did a lot of searching on the web and found some who claim the Bluetooth Dial Up Networking (DUN) will not activate on the phone until it’s been duly tethered to a Windows box. Willing to try anything I embarked on that path.
I tried to tether the 8830 to the ThinkPad x61 via Bluetooth but immediately ran into a snag. Oh I can pair the phone to the Tablet just fine, it’s just that DUN doesn’t show up as an available BT service from the phone. In fact the only BT service that the ThinkPad can access on the phone is Audio Gateway. I suppose I can connect the phone to the ThinkPad via USB cable over Verizon’s Access Manager software but I don’t want to do that. I already have the ThinkPad set up with the Verizon software to use my PC Card modem and I don’t want to screw that up. I just want to connect to the phone over Bluetooth. Further searching on the web found some who claimed that the DUN service can be enabled by tethering over Bluetooth with a Mac, so that’s the next path I tried.
What a difference a platform makes! The entire pairing and tethering operation took exactly 2 minutes on the MacBook Pro. Using the exact same configuration information, user name, phone #, and password that I used on the other two platforms the Mac Bluetooth Setup Wizard had me online and surfing away using the BlackBerry in no time flat. It. Just. Worked. So now that I supposedly had the Bluetooth DUN service enabled, or at least having proved it was present on the phone, I went back to each of the other two platforms.
Windows Vista still can’t find the Bluetooth DUN service rendering tethering via BT an impossibility. While some will blame Verizon and others will blame RIM for the situation, I place the blame firmly where it belongs with Microsoft. If I can almost instantly tether to a Mac I should be able to do the same on a PC running Vista or XP.
The Nokia N800 still tries to connect but fails. It gets to the point where the phone indicates that "Modem Mode is enabled" but then that goes off and the connection fails with a network error. So I’m back to square one with my quest to use the RIM with the Nokia N800, but in a pinch I can now use the phone with the MacBook Pro.
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That’s why MS is using Bluetooth PAN with WM6/WM5 AKU 3 devices – which works like a champ…
Also note that the Toshiba BT stack that Lenovo uses is not very “functional”… At least on my T60.
Hey, James. I’ve successfully tethered the 8830 to a Windows XP machine. It went without a hitch. The problem here lies with Vista. I’ve heard that there are problems with the Bluetooth stack implemented in Vista and not being able to tether using DUN. Here is a link that shows how to hack it…
http://www.dev-toast.com/2007/01/05/uncrippling-bluetooth-in-vista-rtm/
I just ended up installing XP on my T60p to get it to work.
Thanks Ray. I was only trying to tether to my x61 to see if it would work so I’m not going to mess with my settings just to make the tethering work. The real goal is to get the 8830 tethered to the N800, something at this point I’m not sure is even possible.
I have been trying to tether my nokia 770 to my verizon pn-820. I get 99% there but it wont sign on. I can connect with my i730 (using a simple .exe hack) but then I have to carry two big devices with me. I read in an old Smartphone Thoughts post to try to open a webpage with the phone or sync email just before you connect so that the data connection has been opened by the phone first. I haven’t tried it yet, but i figure its worth a shot.
After reading your post I decided to look on my Vista machine which I had previously setup a blue-tooth link with (mostly to transfer files). I’ve never used it as a modem, but sure enough it showed up on the connect menu and dialed out no problem.
You could always put the Macbook Pro’s Airport into architecture mode and share the BT internet connection with the N800/Vista machines that way. Like a cat, your Macbook Pro wants to be the center of everything. :-)
I think the Pearl only started tethering to the N800 with the latest firmware release on either Nokia’s or RIM’s end. That came out *after* the Curve announcement, so you should sit tight, I’m betting that a fix is on the way.
The basic problem is that the BBs only presented the DUN profile to Windows systems at first. Macs were a bit of an afterthought, and Linux was a distant third. I’m pretty sure that the update you’ll need is on RIM’s side, once it comes out.
Did you ever get this to work? I have a N770 and an 8830. I assume the two won’t play together, but I would love to find I am wrong.
My experience is even weirder. I could DUN my Windows Mobile 5 PDA to a normal BT phone and surf on the PDA no problem. Got a new BlackBerry and have been trying to do the same thing and no luck at all. It is not even seeing the BT services as active.
I also have an N770 and a BB 8830. When I try to connect from the N770, I get a message that says something to the effect that the 8830 doesn’t support DUN.
I had no problem connecting my Blackberry 8830 to my Windows Vista 64-bit system, but it was through Sprint, not Verizon.
I’m up for my 2-year upgrade in a few days, and I really like what I’ve read about the gz’one type-s. I can live with its (so far) inability to move pics & tones over a cable. I need my DUN like my e-815 Bluetooth. Has anyone tried the old #777 DUN with the type-S? I’ve used my phone as a modem in a lot of unique circumstances (like while I’m driving), and I’d hate to lose that ability. Verison says it is capable but they have an 8 next to that http://support.vzw.com/pdf/BT_Chart_Handsets.pdf
8. While this device is capable of dial up networking, such use is prohibited by Verizon Wireless’ calling plan terms and conditions.
Help
I bought 2 b4 I saw the 8
I just got a blackberry 8830, with the newest software. I was using DUN to tether to my iPAQ travel companion before getting the newer phone. With the new blackberry my win xp computer can get the DUN service to work, but my iPAQ can’t recognize that the DUN service is available on the blackberry.
well as i remember once its paired & you have backberry desktop app. installed all you have to do is go into vista’s modem cpl & configure that