Using Blackberry Bold without BIS
If you remember my previous blog, I reported that I was having problem registering my Black Berry Bold to BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) due to PIN suspend. Over so many attempts working with the BB support, the final result was they won’t be able to activate my BB Bold. I am stuck with BB Bold that can’t be used with BIS. Then I move on and start using Nokia E71 instead. I am happy with it and have been using it since then.
Yesterday, my curiosity started again. I put back my AT&T SIM to my bold and start playing around to find out what exactly I can do with this Blackberry without the proper plan. So I started by digging around the web, google here, google there and start putting the pieces together. Here’s what I did.
- Override the APN setting to use the Cingular WAP access point. This is the first step that will allow a lot of applications to use WAP instead of BIS. You simply go to Options – Advanced Options – TCP/IP. Turn on both APN settings and APN authentication and use the followings:
APN: wap.cingular
Username: wap@cingulargprs.com
Password: CINGULAR1 - Once I override the APN, I started to check my essential apps: browser. It works great and I can browser to pretty much all sites without problem. First thing first, I download Mini Opera (a better browser according to me).
- Next, Facebook applications! My day-to-day life now revolved around Facebook more and more. It becomes my number one communication portal
. The application installed very easily in BB Bold and run with no problem. - Google Apps are next. This include: Google Mobile Apps, Google Mail and Google Maps. All those apps are working seamlessly on my Bold. This really takes care a lot of my email need (since most my accounts are hosted at Google anyway). The email icon shows me when new emails are arrived and it allows me to check multiple Google mail accounts
- Now, one of the major shortcomings that you can’t have without BIS is the IM softwares. This means you can’t use pretty much all IM clients such as BB chat, Yahoo, MSN, etc. The good news, there are plenty of IM clients out there that you can install as the replacement. I personally choose Nimbuzz (get.nimbuzz.com). Nimbuzz allows me to connect to MSN, Yahoo, and Skype.
- Now I need applications for my day to day and social media stuff. Here are the list of the apps that I use: Viigo, Uber Twitter, YouVersion bible reader
- Finally, the most important one, I need to have access to my Exchange server stuff: email, calendar and contacts. For calendar and contacts, I can do the long way by synching PC to Google and Google to BB. But that is so inconvenient! After searching everywhere, I came across this awesome application: AstraSync. This completes my BB Bold. It is now pretty much function as it should be for what I normally use a PDA phone for. With AstraSync, all my Exchange calendar and contact sync correctly to the native BB address book and calendar. It is also becomes the email client on its own to read/write email via my Exchange server (since without BIS,
there is no way to tap into the messaging app).
The conclusion? I think I can get my BB Bold to the point that it is usable to all things that I need. I am going to the core function of Blackberry where I can chat with other fellow BB users via PIN, but since most of my friends have IM client anyway, I won’t miss much Moreover, I can keep my cheap $10 per month data plan with it since I don’t have to pay the outraging expensive AT&T BIS plan!
5 Responses to “Using Blackberry Bold without BIS”
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alex on October 1st, 2009
This is sooooo helpful, exactly what I’ve been looking for for days now. Thank you very much
srujan on October 24th, 2009
hi , would like to know if u can access the bb app store right from your phone and download apps …with the cingular wap settings , thanks
muliadi on October 27th, 2009
Unfortunately you cannot
They block access of using app store without BIS. So you have to rely on direct links to download apps pretty much.
mustafa on October 30th, 2009
this is by most really the ammazing and most helpfull report i have ever seen…thanking you deeply for your hard work and keep up the good work…we will be waiting for more reports from u ..
take care
Ronny on December 22nd, 2009
Actually you still can access Blackberry browser without data plan, you just need inject BIS to your handheld, after you inject BIS you can download OTA, just email me if you need BIS inject
Peace