Blackberry: BES device as a normal phone?

[rG-tom]

Hey,

We have a load of surplus blackberrys at work, and one of my colleagues has asked if she can buy one for her daughter to use. They are all BES provisioned atm, is it possible to use these as a normal handset with a normal sim card? There is only the option to connect to a BES server when you go to email setup.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Tom.

 

[Nikumba]

If you do a security wipe, this would return the BB to its orignal settings.

I have not seen it where you can not connect to other email systems.

 

[rG-tom]

they have been security wiped, I believe they are JUST bes not bis and bes.

Tom.

 

[Yas786]

Like Nikumba has said...security wipe then the person who buys it or has it needs to get it provisioned on his/her network with BIS...its the first time ive ever heard of a BB just being BES only....no such thing exists ie any BB device can either connect to BIS or BES.

I will reiterate it again...the person who buys the BB must get their network to put them on the blackberry data plan...once its provisioned then it will work like a normal handset.

 

[rG-tom]

it might be that there is no simcard at all in the BB, hense it only gives BES in the options?

 

[Yas786]

it might be that there is no simcard at all in the BB, hense it only gives BES in the options?

Well yes if there is no sim card in the phone then it wont work....but the phone needs to be put on a BIS data plan via the network....without that my friend the person will not be able to use the phone without it being on the BIS....but thats only if they want to use the data capabilities of the phone...it should still work as a normal phone regardless of the BIS or BES.

 

[Wyrdo]

I've done this with some old 8320's from work - they only have options for Enterprise set up on them but function fine as a normal phone, text and calls.

 

[Gav]

I will reiterate it again...the person who buys the BB must get their network to put them on the blackberry data plan...once its provisioned then it will work like a normal handset.

I have a blackberry bold 900 on a PAYG O2 sim.. It isn't on any kind of blackberry data plan and it works ok. Only things it doesn't do is send picture messages or retrieve email

 

[Yas786]

I've done this with some old 8320's from work - they only have options for Enterprise set up on them but function fine as a normal phone, text and calls.

I have a blackberry bold 900 on a PAYG O2 sim.. It isn't on any kind of blackberry data plan and it works ok. Only things it doesn't do is send picture messages or retrieve email

Yep they will work without being on a Blackberry data plan...but to get the email/internet you will need a blackberry data plan....otherwise they are just normal phones.

 

[Ev0]

it might be that there is no simcard at all in the BB, hense it only gives BES in the options?

That's right, to setup BIS email on a BB you don't do it on the handset itself.

You get put on your BIS tariff, then you go to your operators BIS login page, for instance https://bis.eu.blackberry.com/html?brand=o2mailuk.

From there you link whatever email accounts you want and they appear on the device as if by magic

Again, you don't add the mail account in on the device itself like you'd think. There are no BIS 'options' on the devices.

 

[Wyrdo]

Yep they will work without being on a Blackberry data plan...but to get the email/internet you will need a blackberry data plan....otherwise they are just normal phones.

I know that, I never said otherwise.

 

[Narj]

When you say a security wipe do you just mean putting the password in wrong 5 times or something else? Doesn't it still keep the applied policy even after this?

 

[Yas786]

That's right, to setup BIS email on a BB you don't do it on the handset itself.

You get put on your BIS tariff, then you go to your operators BIS login page, for instance https://bis.eu.blackberry.com/html?brand=o2mailuk.

From there you link whatever email accounts you want and they appear on the device as if by magic

Again, you don't add the mail account in on the device itself like you'd think. There are no BIS 'options' on the devices.

Actually there is a setup screen that you can add email accounts on the device as long as its connected to a blackberry data plan but i dont tend to set up mine or any other BB devices that way, i set them via the networks BIS web portal as you have a few more option in there.

When you say a security wipe do you just mean putting the password in wrong 5 times or something else? Doesn't it still keep the applied policy even after this?

Yes depending on how many times the device has it set for ie the number of password attempts...as far as im aware no once its security wiped thats it, no policies or any other info is left on the device...its wiped totally clean ie devoid of any info that was on the phone...unless the BES admin has set it up in such a way that even after a security wipe the policies remain but i havent come across that type of setup in my yrs of BB useage.

 

[Ev0]

There is a BES policy setting to retain policies after a wipe, we had it set at my previous place of work.

 

[Big Chris]

There is a BES policy setting to retain policies after a wipe, we had it set at my previous place of work.

Yep, we have this at work too. Even if you kill the BB via a machine with BES Manager installed and re-load the firmware you're still stuck with having to have a password and anything else in your BES security policy.

I found a handy little utility on Crackberry that removes the lot though, can't remember the name but I'll link to it on monday, it's on my work laptop.

*EDIT*

Found it: http://forums.crackberry.com/f3/how-wipe-jl_cmder-53502/

 

[Gav]

Yep they will work without being on a Blackberry data plan...but to get the email/internet you will need a blackberry data plan....otherwise they are just normal phones.

I get internet on it without any issues.. (and no.. im not talking about wifi)