Bold 9650 on T Mobile - Questions

Hi all,

I'm new to the Blackberry scene but have been reading for hours and trying to learn. I recently purchased a Bold 9650 and unlocked it in hopes of giving it to my girlfriend for use on her T Mobile account.

So far I have:

*Followed this tutorial, and successfully replaced the Verizon Service Books (still not sure what these are) with the T Mobile ones
*Changed the APN to wap.voicestream.com
*Under "Mobile Network Options", changed "Network Technology" to "GSM/UMTS" (was this even necessary?)

From what I am reading, I understand that I need to get her to manually send her service books from the T Mobile website in order to get her email working. Is this correct? If so, where does she go on the website to do this?

Her current data package in unlimited, and she currently has an Android phone. Will she need to change to a Blackberry Data package, or is this unnecessary?

The only problem is that I am mailing this phone to her (college girlfriend, not online, don't worry), and really want her to be able to just plug in her SIM card and have it work. I won't be able to test things myself and make sure they are working.

Sorry for all the questions, but I would be very appreciative for any answers. Thanks!

Would I get more answers on the T Mobile forum?

Yes about manually getting the service books from the T-Mobile website. I'm not sure exactly where.
Well, I've herd that T-Mobile now just pushes service books with OS6 when it's registered. Not 100% sure about this though.
She'll need a data plan WITH Blackberry Internet Service. Her current data plan won't work.
Also, she won't get 3G. She'll only get EDGE.

Originally Posted by californiablackberry

Yes about manually getting the service books from the T-Mobile website. I'm not sure exactly where.
Well, I've herd that T-Mobile now just pushes service books with OS6 when it's registered. Not 100% sure about this though.
She'll need a data plan WITH Blackberry Internet Service. Her current data plan won't work.
Also, she won't get 3G. She'll only get EDGE.

So getting her to call T Mobile and switch to a Blackberry plan should be no problem though, right?

Why won't she get 3G? Any way around this?

Thanks for your reply.

Originally Posted by pcarson92

So getting her to call T Mobile and switch to a Blackberry plan should be no problem though, right?
Why won't she get 3G? Any way around this?
Thanks for your reply.

No problem at all.
& The radio frequencies are different. There's no way around it.
Any particular reason you bought a 9650 and not a 9700 or a 9780?

Originally Posted by californiablackberry

No problem at all.
& The radio frequencies are different. There's no way around it.
Any particular reason you bought a 9650 and not a 9700 or a 9780?

Got a good deal on it ($60). Maybe in the future I'll try and get her a 9700 or 9780, but for now I'll just ship her this 9650. Is the 9700 just a GSM rebrand of the 9650 or what?

Originally Posted by pcarson92

Got a good deal on it ($60). Maybe in the future I'll try and get her a 9700 or 9780, but for now I'll just ship her this 9650. Is the 9700 just a GSM rebrand of the 9650 or what?

yeah..the 9700 is the GSM Bold..whereas the 9650 is the Bold for (primarily) CDMA networks, it just has GSM capability intended for overseas roaming

Originally Posted by Culex316

yeah..the 9700 is the GSM Bold..whereas the 9650 is the Bold for (primarily) CDMA networks, it just has GSM capability intended for overseas roaming

Ok thanks for clearing that up. It looks like the 9700 sells for at least $50 more on eBay too.

To get BBM and services to work she needs to get BIs from her carrier.

She just changed her plan to a Blackberry plan, and now she says it says "EDGE" now. However, her browser still doesn't work. Any suggestions?

I'm thinking about it and I changed all the service book and TCP settings BEFORE she ever inserted her SIM card. Think that could be the problem?

Originally Posted by pcarson92

She just changed her plan to a Blackberry plan, and now she says it says "EDGE" now. However, her browser still doesn't work. Any suggestions?

I'm thinking about it and I changed all the service book and TCP settings BEFORE she ever inserted her SIM card. Think that could be the problem?

Nope, it should work independently of TCP settings.

Check the forums for a way to manually load T-mobile service books onto her Bold.