8350i without BB service?

[groovygeek]

Not too long ago my employer rolled out a two-tiered phone Nextel service for employees. Some get 8350i with a full BB data plan and some get Moto i456 with voice, PTT, MMS, and limited data (feels like GPRS). I am in the latter category. While I have absolutely no justifiable business need for a data plan I despise the crappy i465 with a passion that is difficult to describe.

I thought I would solve my problem by buying a 2nd-hand 8350i on my own dime and just popping the employer-provided SIM card in it. My hope was that I would retain what I need (voice, SMS, PTT) and be on my merry way. However, it appears that I do have voice and PTT but have lost ALL messaging capability, probably because the messaging the BB goes through their own servers and I do not have BB service.

Is there any way around this dilemma? I do need both PTT and SMS, and the only two QWERTY devices with PTT capability are the 8350i and the i465.

[grantwelch77]

Yes, you can have all these wonderful features without the BIS/BES. Follow the instructions from amysharren or Piloso "How to make 8350i work on Boost Mobile". Be aware if you do not have any data plan, you will be charged for texts. The BB uses data for texts.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[groovygeek]

Thanks for the tip, I tried it a couple of times carefully following all steps along the way, and I can't seem to get it to work, I never get the option to change the browser from hotspot. Tried doing hard radio reset, no dice.

That is really not my main problem, I would be perfectly happy with wifi-only access if I could get the SMS feature to work. It works perfectly on the i465 so I know it is on the data plan, but when I put the SIM card in the BB it dies. The main thing that seems to have been a bit of a progress is when I entered a service provider number for SMS (the 281 area code number posted on the net). It now acts as if it sends SMS-es but the message never appears on the receving end. If I send a message to the BB I never receive it.

Voice and PTT both work great. Argh, I have now spent way too much time on this.

[crump84]

sms will not work..all messages have to sent as mms

[hightack]

Originally Posted by groovygeek

Thanks for the tip, I tried it a couple of times carefully following all steps along the way, and I can't seem to get it to work, I never get the option to change the browser from hotspot. Tried doing hard radio reset, no dice.

That is really not my main problem, I would be perfectly happy with wifi-only access if I could get the SMS feature to work. It works perfectly on the i465 so I know it is on the data plan, but when I put the SIM card in the BB it dies. The main thing that seems to have been a bit of a progress is when I entered a service provider number for SMS (the 281 area code number posted on the net). It now acts as if it sends SMS-es but the message never appears on the receving end. If I send a message to the BB I never receive it.

Voice and PTT both work great. Argh, I have now spent way too much time on this.

How many service books show on your phone? If it is not 23 you are not installing them correctly. Are you sure you are entering legacy restore mode?