[thisisallen]

Can somebody pls explain why BB does not function properly w/o using the BB service? Although this phone worked great in US, when I took it to India it really let me down. In places where BB service is not available the phone cannot function the same (datawise) as a cheap Nokia, etc. can. The signal strength I was getting seemed about the same as other phones but the data throughput on GPRS/Edge was about half of what other phones offered and rendered the Tour unusable. I was really disappointed.

Is there any workaround for this problem? Are other BB models better at GPRS/Edge connections?

[Culex316]

Did you set the Tour to use 3G/UMTS when you were in India?

[thisisallen]

no, becasue there is no 3G in the area I am in -- hardly any 3G in India yet.

I am just surprised that BB being such a sophisticated phone cannot even function the same as a much cheaper phone when considering the basic functioning (in this case, data thruput).

[Culex316]

oh I see what you mean now.

what you have to do in this case, is to go to Options, advanced options, TCP/IP, and manually enter the APN settings for the carrier you're using, so that you can at least use third-party applications to access the internet.

Normally, a Blackberry uses the blackberry.net APN through the BIS service offered by the carrier to access the internet, including the web browser, which is why it doesn't work without it. BBM, and any RIM applications that use BIS (such as Facebook) won't work either.

[thisisallen]

Friend, that is my point. In that mode of functioning (that you described) the BB is pretty useless for data. I tried Tiggit Mail and also Tether but neither program worked, whereas a simple Nokia or WM phone works fine. When I say that ithese other phones work fine I mean that you can check your email and tether to a laptop. But still the speed is not good (but it is Much better than BB).

The Tour is advertised as a world phone. But it seems that the BB definition of "world" is not the entire world but only in areas where there is lots of bandwidth and where you can use BIS.

I was just trying to figure out why this is the case. But it seems that I will just have to live with the deficiency and not use a BB.

[the_sandman_454]

If there is a BIS or BES connection available it works fine. If not, you get no data. It doesn't care whether the connection is 2g or 3g, but it absolutely needs to connect to BB servers to function properly. There's no way around that.

If the Tour had wifi you could connect that way but unfortunately it does not.

[thisisallen]

my experience confirms what you have stated. However it also depends on the bandwidth cuz i was advised that in the area I was in, even if I could connect to BIS, it would not be much better than what I was experiencing.

[limegrass69]

my experience confirms what you have stated. However it also depends on the bandwidth cuz i was advised that in the area I was in, even if I could connect to BIS, it would not be much better than what I was experiencing.

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean. Running Blackberry services (mail, BBM, etc.) does not use a tremendous amount of bandwidth.

[thisisallen]

limegrass69, I contacted one of the carriers in the area who offered BIS in India and explained about my situation. He advised me that in my area where there was limited bandwidth available that I would not find much difference connecting through BIS.

I was fine with that as long as I could at least access the internet as good as others could using other phones like Nokia or a WM, iPhone or Android phone but was very disappointed that I could not.

[Culex316]

Friend, that is my point. In that mode of functioning (that you described) the BB is pretty useless for data. I tried Tiggit Mail and also Tether but neither program worked, whereas a simple Nokia or WM phone works fine. When I say that ithese other phones work fine I mean that you can check your email and tether to a laptop. But still the speed is not good (but it is Much better than BB).

The Tour is advertised as a world phone. But it seems that the BB definition of "world" is not the entire world but only in areas where there is lots of bandwidth and where you can use BIS.

I was just trying to figure out why this is the case. But it seems that I will just have to live with the deficiency and not use a BB.

You can tether with a Tour in GSM mode perfectly fine, just download the latest version of desktop manager, enter the carrier APN settings and you're good to go.

As for useless for data well you're partially right...but Bolt browser and Google Maps at least still work over TCP/IP in GSM Mode.

[thisisallen]

I do not think I am explaining the problem clearly. I will try again...
I know that all the functioning is "possible" on GSM BUT practically, in parts of India (and probably in parts of other countries as well) where there is limited bandwidth, it is my experience that the BB does not function nearly as well for data as other phones do. Period. I was seeking some intellectual understanding about this so I started this thread.