[ktz]

Hi all,

Im thinking about buying a Bold this week and just wanted to see if I could get some advise from some of you Bold adventurers

Ive had an offer to buy a Bold in pretty good condition for £185 (there is a small dent in the side from a drop it seems). The seller assures me that the phone works flawlessly and the only reason he is selling it is because he won an iphone and is going to use that. The Bold for sale is currently locked to Orange (which I will buy a code to unlock), so I guess the question I have is, is this a good deal?

I have been a bit reluctant to buy because I know The BB Bolds on Orange were plagued with problems and were eventually pulled from Orange's shelves for at least 6 months, only recently did they get put back. The seller tells me he got the phone in an upgrade this year, so im assuming he has a "rerelease" version (seeing as I couldn't buy the Bold on Orange even in March).

Is there anything I should be wary of? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[ST79]

If you decide to go ahead with the purchase, get the BIS plan cancelled and PIN released by the seller. Therefore you can use it on any gsm network, after unlocking it.

[Narve]

Got a bold on Orange on the day of release. Never had any problems as such. I have updated the OS as I believe that this was the root of any problems people had. I think Orange shipped Bolds with an older OS so people were having issues.

[ktz]

Both GREAT things to know. Gives me a little more confidence. Thanks!

@ST79, so without the PIN and the BIS plan cancelled, simply unlocking the phone and registering it with my network (vodafone) wont work?

[qpop]

There were relatively few Orange UK Bolds experiencing any issues but Orange as a network will do a recall even if only a small percentage of the phones are effected.

If the seller doesn;t know who to call (Standard customer services not being the smartest re: Blackberrys) tell him/her to give 07973100156 a call, this is Oranges data support line.

[Alivemau5]

If you decide to go ahead with the purchase, get the BIS plan cancelled and PIN released by the seller. Therefore you can use it on any gsm network, after unlocking it.

Isn't the BIS/PIN linked to the contract or phone number?

[ktz]

If the seller doesn;t know who to call (Standard customer services not being the smartest re: Blackberrys) tell him/her to give 07973100156 a call, this is Oranges data support line.

Thanks! so this would be the number he calls to oust the BIS plan and get the PIN?

[ST79]

Both GREAT things to know. Gives me a little more confidence. Thanks!

@ST79, so without the PIN and the BIS plan cancelled, simply unlocking the phone and registering it with my network (vodafone) wont work?

If you dont get the PIN released, then you wont be able to create a BIS account with Vodafone. It will give you an error message saying "the pin is already registered with another carrier"....

Only the original account holder will be able to release the PIN....

[ST79]

Isn't the BIS/PIN linked to the contract or phone number?

Yes.. the BIS plan is linked to the PIN and sim card.

[Alivemau5]

So, even if I were to get the phone unlocked from the carrier, change SIM and set up my own BIS plan, it wouldn't work?

What details would I need to release the PIN?
Also, you're probablys a good person for me to talk to as the Bold I'm buying from a friend tomorrow is locked to O2 :/

[ST79]

So, even if I were to get the phone unlocked from the carrier, change SIM and set up my own BIS plan, it wouldn't work?

What details would I need to release the PIN?
Also, you're probablys a good person for me to talk to as the Bold I'm buying from a friend tomorrow is locked to O2 :/

Tell your friend to ring O2 customer service and get the pin released. Ask him to cancel the BIS plan as well.

Only the original account holder would be able to release the PIN.

If you don't get the PIN released, and if you try to create a bis account with another carrier (after unlocking), you will get an error message saying that the pin is already registered with another carrier.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Alivemau5]

So is it a simple procedure? Is there no way that I will be able to cancel the BIS plan and get the PIN released?

(By the way, he changed his contract over or cancelled his contract and took out a one for the iPhone, will the BIS/PIN definately still be active?)

[ST79]

It will be a simple procedure, if the original account holder talks to O2.

I think the PIN will remain in O2 database until someone makes a request to release it.. Not sure though.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Alivemau5]

Ok I'll tell him tomorrow.

But could I not ring up and claim to own the phone? Wouldn't I just need to know the PIN?

Also, to get an unlock code from O2 will I just need the IMEI or w/e number?

[synwars]

Hi all,

Im thinking about buying a Bold this week and just wanted to see if I could get some advise from some of you Bold adventurers

Ive had an offer to buy a Bold in pretty good condition for £185 (there is a small dent in the side from a drop it seems). The seller assures me that the phone works flawlessly and the only reason he is selling it is because he won an iphone and is going to use that. The Bold for sale is currently locked to Orange (which I will buy a code to unlock), so I guess the question I have is, is this a good deal?

I have been a bit reluctant to buy because I know The BB Bolds on Orange were plagued with problems and were eventually pulled from Orange's shelves for at least 6 months, only recently did they get put back. The seller tells me he got the phone in an upgrade this year, so im assuming he has a "rerelease" version (seeing as I couldn't buy the Bold on Orange even in March).

Is there anything I should be wary of? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Some of the problems Orange users had were related to WiFi/BIS connections. See this thread for more info and a fix: http://forums.crackberry.com/f83/bol...solved-118462/

[Deanzke]

How does this work exactly because iv got 3 bb 8900 and 9000 and 8310 now the 9000 and 8310 under diffrent account contract and the 8900 was my earlie upgrade from bold but I didn't like it so I gave it to me wife who currently had the 8310 and when my bold was playing up I took it too o2 who repaired it then returned it still not working but any way to get to the point I was still able to set up and use my email account and bb messenger...? But yet I didn't ask o2 to relese any pin :s I don't understand I could use the phone to its full potiental

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[synwars]

How does this work exactly because iv got 3 bb 8900 and 9000 and 8310 now the 9000 and 8310 under diffrent account contract and the 8900 was my earlie upgrade from bold but I didn't like it so I gave it to me wife who currently had the 8310 and when my bold was playing up I took it too o2 who repaired it then returned it still not working but any way to get to the point I was still able to set up and use my email account and bb messenger...? But yet I didn't ask o2 to relese any pin :s I don't understand I could use the phone to its full potiental

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

To be honest, I have a hard time reading your un-edited, un-punctuated, un-proof-read one-big-long-run-on-sentance post. Basically, from what I can tell, you've switched them around yet still able to use them normally without hinderence? So is that a complaint, a statement, or a piece of evidence...?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[blackcoffeenosugar]

Hi all,

Im thinking about buying a Bold this week and just wanted to see if I could get some advise from some of you Bold adventurers

Ive had an offer to buy a Bold in pretty good condition for £185 (there is a small dent in the side from a drop it seems). The seller assures me that the phone works flawlessly and the only reason he is selling it is because he won an iphone and is going to use that. The Bold for sale is currently locked to Orange (which I will buy a code to unlock), so I guess the question I have is, is this a good deal?

I have been a bit reluctant to buy because I know The BB Bolds on Orange were plagued with problems and were eventually pulled from Orange's shelves for at least 6 months, only recently did they get put back. The seller tells me he got the phone in an upgrade this year, so im assuming he has a "rerelease" version (seeing as I couldn't buy the Bold on Orange even in March).

Is there anything I should be wary of? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

The original reason why Orange had pulled the Bold off the shelf temporarily at the time was purely due to the software issues Bold had when it was first released. The same problem also affected other operators such as Vodafone. But Orange's action was the most aggressive one. Since then RIM has updated the OS many times, solving most of the problems. Whether getting the Bold from Orange or any other providers has become a mainly personal preference and service level issue, rather than a hardware one now.

[ktz]

The original reason why Orange had pulled the Bold off the shelf temporarily at the time was purely due to the software issues Bold had when it was first released. The same problem also affected other operators such as Vodafone. But Orange's action was the most aggressive one. Since then RIM has updated the OS many times, solving most of the problems. Whether getting the Bold from Orange or any other providers has become a mainly personal preference and service level issue, rather than a hardware one now.

Ahh great to know. Thanks for all the advice in this thread, really helpful. I have contacted the seller and asked them to cancel the BIS plan and release the pin...after that, Bold here I come