[ranger3484]

After significant troubleshooting I have found a problem with the bluetooth technology in the BB 8830 with respect to it's pairing on the Vtech LS5145 cordless phone.

1. BB 8830 paired with Vtech LS5145 works great.

2. Sanyo Katana paired with Vtech LS5145 works great.

3. When both phones are paired to the Vtech 5145, the BB 8830 locks up, resets whenever a call is made or answered.

For some reason it doesn't like to be paired to the cordless if my wife's phone (Sanyo Katana) is anywhere around it. If I disable bluetooth or shut off my wife's phone, my BB 8830's bluetooth capability with the Vtech cordless starts working again. Turn my wife's phone back on and it locks up.

Is this co-channel interference? A PRF conflict? Not sure exactly how bluetooth works to identify devices (frequency shift, prf shift, pseudo IP/mac address???)

Can anybody think of what I might do such that both phones can work in harmony with the Vtech cordless?

[JRSCCivic98]

Last time I checked bluetooth links worked flawlessly when it's one-on-one. Dual pairing like that is probably the source of the issue, but it's possible that the 8830 just has a bug in the bluetooth profile. I'm sure no one has tested your perticular setup in R&D. One thing you can try is updating the OS version. Sprint is a few releases back from the latest OS for the 8830. You'll need to search on how to load another vendor's OS onto your 8830, but it's not hard at all.

[ranger3484]

Interesting. I'm currently running v4.2.2.176, Platform 3.0.0.76 on my 8830. The Sprint website doesn't allow you to download a newer OS but instead directs you to blackberry.com where you can select the newest version. That said, it looks like I am running the most current. I also checked Verizon and they also show v4.2.2.176 at the latest.

If I did find another provider's OS that was newer could it screw up my phone? Could the GPS functionality be disabled or something worse?

[JRSCCivic98]

Bell has the latest version. No, GPS will be unaffected and you can't really mess it up.... if you know what you're doing. If you're unsure of your abilities even after reading the How-To's posted on doing such a thing, you'd be better off waiting for the next release from Sprint.

[ranger3484]

I went to blackberry.com and noticed there is a newer version for Bell Mobility. I'm assuming that's what you mean. Blackberry.com shows this OS for a 8830 TM. Not sure what the difference between the 8830 TM and 8830 WE is but maybe it would work. Either way the newest version is v4.2.2.353.
I didn't see any option for a v4.3.

[JRSCCivic98]

Yeah, you won't see a version for the 8830 that's 4.3 yet. I run other carrier versions on my phone without issues. That's why I said it won't hurt anything and can be downgraded/undone if needed. You just have to be comfortable with doing the load. If you're not, you could botch the process, but it won't brick your phone. It'll look like it, but it won't be. I've nuked several BBs and got them back after a man OS wipe.

[ranger3484]

Well I had just about had it. I changed every possible bluetooth option available on both phones, paired, unpaired, re-paired the phones numerous times and nothing. I was at the point that my 8830 will never be paired with the LS5145 so long as my wife's phone was too. I'm still not sure why but I decided to try one more thing.

EUREKA. IT WORKS.

For whatever reason, changing my and my wife's bluetooth assoicated device name fixed the problem. My old device name used to be "Bill's Phone" and my wife's device name used to be "Beth's Phone". For whatever reason the LS5145 used to cause all sorts of problems (as relayed in earlier posts) when I used these device names. Changing the device names to "Bill" and "Beth" respectively, solved all problems. I'm not sure if the legnth of the old device name or possibly the apostrophe caused issue with either the LS5145 or the BB 8830. Since it's working so great I'm afraid to play around with it anymore to truly figure out precisely what the problem was.

If there's anything to take away from this is to attempt changing device names if you getting a successful pairing but an unsuccessful connection (ie. Blackberry resets upon bluetooth activation).

Somebody figure that one out! Also, for what it's worth, Sprint technical support (oxymoron I know), RIM support and Vtech support never came up with this suggestion.