[BBerryPowerUser]

Sounds like a good plan !
How much time have you got left on the return policy ?

I think it's 30 days, but may be 90. Have to check. If 30, then I've got about 12 days left. I ordered a new SIM for 3 bucks from Amazon, be here Wednesday. Can't beat that price. Elsewhere they run up to 20 bucks depending.

There is one other damn strange thing;
On both BlackBerries, I have STILL have Network BIS INTERNET web browsing. No Email, no BlackBerry World, no setting up emails, no nothing, but I can Web Surf. And yes, my WiFi is Shut Down. This is DAMN strange, as you should not get BIS Internet when the account is disconnected. I also have the BlackBerry Logo near the Signal Bars showing I'm connected to BIS Network. ON Both phones. STRANGE! Also, Simple Mobile can not send me service books, They tried. They said my account is disconnected. BlackBerry confirmed this as they tried to send me service books too. Unable. Account suspended.

I'm honestly leaning to thinking I've got a poorly provisioned account that somehow got frogged up during the sim swap the first time to the 9900, and the MVNO can't figure it out. If the phone was truly bad, it would not work on BIS. The first time around, it worked for a full week on BIS before it headed south.

In any event, the new SIM will be here Wednesday, and I'll know by the Weekend if it is an account issue or a phone issue.

[LostOnThePianoRoll]

Like I said last time. Can't you make a new contract/ account with your carrier and test it?
But do that after you're done with the bold trial with the new SIM.

Posted via CB10

[BBerryPowerUser]

I went to AT&T today and got the Berry up on ATT's network (in one minute flat) with an amazingly good BYOP no contract plan with roaming and plenty of data. They set me up with a new phone number until I am satisfied that I can keep the phone up on this network's BIS plan indefinitely.

If the BIS shuts down, I can cancel my ATT account any time. NO penalty. But it has features the MVNO T-Mo account do NOT have. It Roams, it's on a stronger network, I can travel internationally, and for now, it WORKS great.

One Drawback, and the ATT Rep said this may be the case. Because it's a BYOP Unlocked Phone from T-Mobile, I am only getting EDGE speed. No 3g or 4g. Now, on a BlackBerry BOLD, that is not a big deal to me. EDGE is plenty for emails and texts and phone calls and very limited web use.

If this lasts for more than a week (I suspect it will), I'll just port my number over from Simple Mobile.

[goodayeh]

Sounds good !

Kind of annoying though about not getting above 2g.

Is it expensive ?

Do they have this on prepaid ?
( I will be in Fla. next week , so this info could helpful ! )

[BBerryPowerUser]

T-Mo phones use different bands for 3G/4G than Att does, so you can only get EDGE. But on a BlackBerry BIS device? I only really use mine for email, phone and Twitter. Not a biggy really to me, but may be to others.

It's under $50, if you get the 200 meg Data plan. 50 bucks if you get 1 gig Data plan.
NO contract. Mine is not prepay, it's postpay, but no contract. I can leave any time. I got 1 gig Data, but I set up the account under my company name (I own a Corporation), so I got the small business discount, and my plan is well under $50 a month all in. I have a friend that works for a major national insurance carrier, and he gets a 30 percent discount on ATT. That's a big discount. Mine was not that big, but I'm happy with it. Costs nothing to see what your discount may be depending on who you work for or if you own a company.

ALSO (a biggy here for me) my phone now lets me use BIS via WiFi ONLY, something my Simple Mobile plan could never do. You HAD to be on Network to do email and other BIS tasks. Of course, web browser worked either way, but being able to get emails via WiFi only is a mega-deal for me, as now I can always stay in touch when I'm out of Cell reach but have WiFi.

EDIT:

Just for Poops and Giggles, I put my Simple Mobile SIM back in the BlackBerry after a five hours on ATT, NO BIS still on Simple Mobile after 1 hour. Put back in the ATT Sim, BIS immediately came to life.

I'm using the SAME BIS ACCOUNT, so it's not the phone, nor the BIS account, it's Simple Mobile's issue. As ATT told me, sometimes a sub carrier just can't figure things out and there is probably an issue with my account they can't see. The Simple Mobile SIM works fine in my WindowsPhone, full 4g there. But in a a BIS-Required Berry, NO BIS. It's an account provisioning error like BlackBerry told me.

I can't just set up another account on Simple as that would wipe out my payments (paid through October) and I'd have a different number. Simple says they can't transfer anything, they can only transfer to a new SIM, but they can't just set up a new account wiht the same number and pre-pay. That's the issue with a small MVNO. Major carriers could probably easily do that.

Well, all's well that ends well. I would rather have ATT anyway, because their coverage is greater, and I can use my phone in Canada and Europe without having to buy a foreign SIM. Plus, BIS works with WiFi. That's a big plus, and I have not had that since I left T-Mo for Simple.

[fkornre]

Dude...you went through a hell of a lot to keep your Bold going. I followed your posts in both threads for days and days. I'm glad to hear your persistence paid off. I am not sure I would have kept going. Upgrade would have happened on day 2 for me. Kudos to you though!!

[BBerryPowerUser]

Dude...you went through a hell of a lot to keep your Bold going. I followed your posts in both threads for days and days. I'm glad to hear your persistence paid off. I am not sure I would have kept going. Upgrade would have happened on day 2 for me. Kudos to you though!!

Thanks, man. Here's the thing. I have my home and office set up as a 9900 Bold Utopia. Charging Stands for both the 9900 and the Playbook in both locations. I travel with two charging stands as well. I am so used to BIS and the way it communicates and BRIDGES with the Playbook, that I just HAD to try. Plus, I invested about 100 bucks into accessories recently like cases and screen protectors. I really wanted to use it for more than the short time I had it.

Will I upgrade to a BB10? Perhaps. I'm happy with OS7 for NOW. It just does what I want, how I want it done, automatically. I'll probably splurge for an unlocked Q5 (you can get them used but in like new condition on Amazon for around $100 bucks). This way I can play with BB10 and see if it can stand up to my abusive business career. Believe me, it's abusive.

It was NOT the Phone nor my BIS Account. It was the small MVNO Provider screwing up the provisioning of my account. AT&T has it right. And, it's lightning fast on their network. Honestly. 2 to 3 times faster than T-Mo's MVNO. My T-Mo unlocked Bold doesn't have the bands to do ATT's 3g or 4g, but I get Bold EDGE everywhere, and honestly, it's super fast. As fast as the 3g I got from the MVNO. Besides, do you REALLY surf your head off with a BOLD? I sure don't. I got the 1 gig plan and that will be PLENTY.

BTW, grew up in NY and LOVE the Yankees. I like most MLB teams, but the Bronx Bombers are my guys. Miss Jeter. Still have his retirement game and after-game presentation on the DVR.

[LostOnThePianoRoll]

Reading through this thread makes me miss the ease of mind of bis.. I had a an unlimited data bis plan for the equivalent of 12$.. no data limits. Very efficient.


Posted via CB10

[BBerryPowerUser]

Reading through this thread makes me miss the ease of mind of bis.. I had a an unlimited data bis plan for the equivalent of 12$.. no data limits. Very efficient.


Posted via CB10

Yep.

And, if you travel internationally, most carriers give you an unbelievably inexpensive BIS roaming package. I'm not sure what ATT's will be as I'm brand new with them, but T-Mo's BIS International roaming for my account was $20.00 per month unlimited. You can't beat that. You could blow thorough 20 bucks in roaming data in minutes if you are not careful with a regular data plan.

BTW, my 9900 on ATT is still humming along like a finely tuned instrument on ATT's network. What a relief.

[Damian Montero]

You didn't try tmobile?
Unlimited data while roaming (yes if you really do international travel tmobile is the way to go) and they give priority and will use the AT&T towers if there is no tmobie towers around you. I know because remeber I have a rogers phone with the at&t 4G not tmobile's and I get "H+" everywhere.

And you get free calling and to mexico and canada. And free texting worldwide (to and from any country)

All of this and it cost less than AT&T.

I super glad your phone is working. If it never leaves BIS then you've found your solution and will enjoy your 9900 for a long time.

NOTE: once you have provisioned your blackberry it's common you have the browser but nothing else that requires BIS. The blackberry logo (which means actually you're connected to BBM) is unusual. But the browser is not.

[BBerryPowerUser]

Been with Berry for over 10 years and I'm very technical (my career), and I did not know that (about the Browser). Thank you.
As I posted, BlackBerry took a look and said it was definitely not a phone issue, but was definitely a provisioning issue by the carrier, so I was 99 percent sure they knew what they were talking about. Any other PARENT carrier and I could have had them set up another account with the same phone number and transfer any credits over to another SIM (which is what needed to happen), but Simple Mobile said they could not do that, and could only transfer an existing account to another SIM. If they set up another account, all old balance would be lost and my phone number would have been lost. I can't loose that number. I've had it for 20 years in business.

Yes, I may check out T-Mo, but the reason I left them for Simple years ago was because of a very bad dispute over a bill. Actually two or three bills, of well over $1,000. It was a bloody battle where they said I owed extreme roaming where I did not. I don't know if they would take me back at this point. Perhaps. There is another issue with T-Mo (and Simple). My Office is on the cusp of T-Mo coverage. 5 bars 1 bar 5 bars 1 bar all day. Lost signal, strong signal. Over and over. 4g, no coverage. It does not roam to ATT because it's getting signal from T-Mo, albeit a horrid signal. Lots of dropped calls. ATT is 5 bars all the time. That's a big issue, that ATT finally solves. I put up with it for years on T-Mo because of UMA. I put up with it on Simple because it was dirt cheap. ATT is five bars all day long.

I get a very good price at ATT because I have U-Verse and ATT Home Phone via VOIP U-Verse, plus ATT Internet on U-Verse. So I now have 4 services on ATT and everything gets a big discount, plus I get the extra discount on the cell line because the new line is set up as a Business account with a decent small business discount.

BTW, BIS comes up every time when I turn the phone on as fast as lightning. I'm sure it will continue. I'm sure it was a Simple Mobile issue. T-Mo won't have the problem either, as they are the primary carrier on that tier.

[BBerryPowerUser]

You didn't try tmobile?
Unlimited data while roaming (yes if you really do international travel tmobile is the way to go) and they give priority and will use the AT&T towers if there is no tmobie towers around you. I know because remeber I have a rogers phone with the at&t 4G not tmobile's and I get "H+" everywhere.

And you get free calling and to mexico and canada. And free texting worldwide (to and from any country)

All of this and it cost less than AT&T.

I super glad your phone is working. If it never leaves BIS then you've found your solution and will enjoy your 9900 for a long time.

NOTE: once you have provisioned your blackberry it's common you have the browser but nothing else that requires BIS. The blackberry logo (which means actually you're connected to BBM) is unusual. But the browser is not.

After over a week with ATT, I'm sticking with them. Yes, it wold be nice to be able to go to Canada and not have to worry about roaming, but I don't go that often that it justifies changing back to T-Mo for this.

I am sticking with Simple Mobile for my old number until my pre-pay runs out in October, but only on my WindowsPhone 4g. I have the 10g 4g plan, so a real "smartphone" is a better match anyway, and with the horrific problems I had with Simple on my Berry, I have given up on them for Berry use. Apart from the many problems I had with BIS going down, even years before that, no matter HOW many times I had them push out service books, BIS never worked via WiFi. Never. As soon as ATT loaded and they pushed their service books, WiFi email sprang to life for the first time since I left T-Mo 5 years ago.

As I posted, in my office, ATT is 5 bars solid all the time. T-Mo cycles between 4g 5 bars to 1 bar gprs to zero bars. I dropped calls constantly. Not any more. ATT is just a better match for me, and with my Small Business and U-Verse discount, it's very inexpensive for full service Post-Pay but with no contract.

[BBerryPowerUser]

Many weeks on ATT and no issues whatsoever. Case closed. Thanks everyone who responded to my pleas for help. It was indeed a carrier issue as BlackBerry told me.

I found a used but minty ATT 9900 on Amazon for a super bargain basement price, so I'm selling the T-Mobile Unlocked 9900 and converting the service to ATT. I've discovered that 3g and 4g really aren't THAT important to me since I've been living without them for a month.

A T-Mo phone on ATT only gets EDGE, and that's really fine for the business end of a BIS Berry, but I've decided I want to have 4g just in case I need speed for streaming and multi-tasking and the rare surfing. I don't really use the web browser on my 9900, but it's there if I need it.

So I am getting the proper banded phone for my carrier. No loss. I'm sure I can sell this minty T-Mo 9900 easily.

[Soapm]

How much you want for the TMO 9900? I'd like it for a backup since I broke the SIM tabs on mine by sticking in the SIM adapter without a SIM in it. I also prefer carrying the 9900 when going to outings since it's much easier to keep track of since it fits well in my shirt pockets...

[BBerryPowerUser]

How much you want for the TMO 9900? I'd like it for a backup since I broke the SIM tabs on mine by sticking in the SIM adapter without a SIM in it. I also prefer carrying the 9900 when going to outings since it's much easier to keep track of since it fits well in my shirt pockets...

Hang in there for a while. The ATT I bought has a tight IT Lockdown on it, and I can't seem to RESET TO FACTORY via my desktop BBerry Manager, no matter what I try. With the lockdown, I can't use WiFi nor can I load any apps, so it's really unusable to me unless I can reset it to factory.

If I can't, then I have to stick with the T-Mo unlocked.... or buy another ATT phone that is NOT locked down with a corporate IT policy. I may do that. I'll send you a PM when I get this settled one way or another.

Thanks!

[Michniks]

Hang in there for a while. The ATT I bought has a tight IT Lockdown on it, and I can't seem to RESET TO FACTORY via my desktop BBerry Manager, no matter what I try. With the lockdown, I can't use WiFi nor can I load any apps, so it's really unusable to me unless I can reset it to factory.

If I can't, then I have to stick with the T-Mo unlocked.... or buy another ATT phone that is NOT locked down with a corporate IT policy. I may do that. I'll send you a PM when I get this settled one way or another.

Thanks!

If you mean, that you have IT Policy there is soulution to remove it and have fun with fully working Bold 9900.

1. Make a backup with BlackBerry Desktop Software
2. Download and instal BBSAK on your PC
3. Choose option "Factory reset"
4. Restore your backup

Tell me, is it working in your case.

[BBerryPowerUser]

If you mean, that you have IT Policy there is soulution to remove it and have fun with fully working Bold 9900.

1. Make a backup with BlackBerry Desktop Software
2. Download and instal BBSAK on your PC
3. Choose option "Factory reset"
4. Restore your backup

Tell me, is it working in your case.

SOLVED with JL_CMDR

Thanks. Tried BB Swiss Army Knife. Same issue. Unable to complete. Tried direct DOS cmd prompt. No joy.

Had basically given up and finally decided to try JL_CMDR because I thought because it was a script, it may circumvent the password issue that I thought the others were not negotiating correctly. Whatever, it worked. Within seconds the phone reset to factory and I'm golden.

Thanks for the help!

[NY-PD]

The same issue happened to me. I am very technical too and work in the telecom industry as an engineer.

It's clearly a Simple Mobile BIS provisioning issue YET nobody there can seem to figure it out.

BIS is like a phonograph/record player. It may exists but very few know much about it.

I may have to spring for a Classic which does not require BIS.

[jhanks64]

Thanks for your story and especially for actually following up with the results along the way and the final situation. It's so frustrating when trying to solve a vexing problem and reading online about someone with the same exact problem, but they never come back and say was the resolution was.

I found myself here because I am trying to get BBM working on an old VZW Bold 9930 with no phone service, just WiFi.

I want to be able to chat with a friend using BBM without her having to pay a monthly cell plan.

We set up a new BBID, I can sign in to BlackBerry World and download apps. When I try and open BBM, it just sits on "Setting up BBM". I've tried it with two different VZW 9930s that were working fine before the lines were updated to BB10.

Posted Via CB10 on my BlackBerry Passport

[goodayeh]

Thanks for your story and especially for actually following up with the results along the way and the final situation. It's so frustrating when trying to solve a vexing problem and reading online about someone with the same exact problem, but they never come back and say was the resolution was.

I found myself here because I am trying to get BBM working on an old VZW Bold 9930 with no phone service, just WiFi.

I want to be able to chat with a friend using BBM without her having to pay a monthly cell plan.

We set up a new BBID, I can sign in to BlackBerry World and download apps. When I try and open BBM, it just sits on "Setting up BBM". I've tried it with two different VZW 9930s that were working fine before the lines were updated to BB10.

Posted Via CB10 on my BlackBerry Passport

BBM won't work on wifi without an active BIS plan. ( on BBOS devices )

You can use other messenger services in this way without problems.
( Viber , Whatsapp , Line ... etc. )

[jhanks64]

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks

Posted Via CB10 on my BlackBerry Passport