Making a 9900 safe for kids-

I'm a big BBY fan and I need some help.

I am no longer using my AT&T 9900 which is in just about perfect shape. I have a 12 year old son that is in need of his first phone. Here are the questions-

1. I would only want the phone to work for calling and texts. The phone has 7.0 installed and I can't find the parental controls where Blackberry tells me they should be. I tried to search for a software update, but when I do so with the phone it tells me the software is current. Is upgrading a 9900 no just an over the air thing?

2. I've noticed that these phones have REALLY held their value. Should I just sell it in eBay and get him a more basic phone?

In advance, thank you for the help. This is a great forum!

i'd say give him the 9900, its a good phone. Couple of years ago if you were 13 and had a BB you were like a king now its just like oh hey sweet you have a Blackberry add me on bbm or you'll see kids running around with an iphone or something

Originally Posted by SRVwannab

I'm a big BBY fan and I need some help.

I am no longer using my AT&T 9900 which is in just about perfect shape. I have a 12 year old son that is in need of his first phone. Here are the questions-

1. I would only want the phone to work for calling and texts. The phone has 7.0 installed and I can't find the parental controls where Blackberry tells me they should be. I tried to search for a software update, but when I do so with the phone it tells me the software is current. Is upgrading a 9900 no just an over the air thing?

2. I've noticed that these phones have REALLY held their value. Should I just sell it in eBay and get him a more basic phone?

In advance, thank you for the help. This is a great forum!

Hi :) I recommend that you update your Bold to a 7.1 os. This will give you access to the parental controls that you are referring to. There are some very detailed walkthroughs on cb that will explain exactly how to accomplish the update. Good luck

I just checked on my 9900, running the latest Rogers 7.1 OS and parental controls is there. It looks like it has all the features to limit what they can do on the phone. I would also suggest loading BlackBerry protect, so you can locate either your son or the phone if either get lost.

You will want to set him up on his own BlackberryID, keeping the password yourself. This will limit what he can do or install. You can also set him up with his own email and if you keep that password, he will be able to send and receive email, but not make any changes to the settings. If you want to keep track, you can bcc his sent emails to yourself at the phone end and at the email server, set up a forwarding to you for any incoming emails.

We gave our 12 year old my old 9000 a couple of years ago and it gave us peace of mind. It gave him some freedom during the summer vacation to come and go from activities on his own. He was always just a BBM away when we wanted to check in.

Depending on your carrier, you can probably just setup on a month to month plan and if everything goes well, commit to a term is plan the next time you want a new phone. Kids can text a lot, so make sure you get unlimited texts. They don't tend to use the phone for calling much, so airtime is not a concern.

Note also that you will be required to keep the data plan active on the device as long as it is activated on AT&T.

If he doesn't have a contract and the phone can work with just a voice plan and doesn't need data.

Posted via CB10

I would think it would be a great first phone for him. I honestly don't think they are holding there value very well. Most of the postings you probably see don't have any bids on them.

Originally Posted by zten

If he doesn't have a contract and the phone can work with just a voice plan and doesn't need data.

No. If the account is a regular AT&T account (and not a 'prepaid account'), a BlackBerry will be required to have a data plan regardless of whether or not it's under contract.

Originally Posted by SwitchBeach

No. If the account is a regular AT&T account (and not a 'prepaid account'), a BlackBerry will be required to have a data plan regardless of whether or not it's under contract.

I dont know about AT&T, but BB's work without data here in Canada.

Originally Posted by EauRouge

I dont know about AT&T, but BB's work without data here in Canada.

Again, AT&T REQUIRES an active smartphone/BlackBerry data plan for all smartphones and BlackBerry devices activated on their network after September 2009.

How does AT&T even know you are using a 9900... I mean do they call you as soon as you put in a sim card to tell you that you need a data plan. Just stick the sim card in it, whatever plan is on the sim card will work on the phone. If the sim card just has voice then the 9900 will only be able to make calls. If it has text enabled then it can text. If it doesn't have data then the 9900 won't be able to connect to the net.

I think you are confusing it with if someone bought a 9900 from AT&T then it would need a data plan because all carriers do that now. But if you already have a sim card and a plan it will work.


Posted via CB10

They do regular IMEI sweeps and will automatically add the data plan if one is not already active for the device.

Not "confusing it" with anything.

AT&T to require smartphone data plans starting September 6th | BGR

Within a couple days of installing a sim w/out a data plan in the 9900, ATT will send a text to the phone letting you know they have added a data plan for you. Usually it is the 3gig plan at $30/month. Awful considerate of them, huh?
Sent from my MB886

ATT's system will ID the phone automatically.

Sent from my MB886

Wow that is terrible. How is that even legal? You can't add anything without consent here in Canada.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by zten

Wow that is terrible. How is that even legal? You can't add anything without consent here in Canada.

Posted via CB10

It's in their "Terms of Service". Using the phone on their network after reading and signing the TOS is considered consent.

Parental controls can be found in Options, under Security. This, on my T-Mobile 9900. AT&T has a shared data/family plan that might work in the event that the hand-me-down HAS to have a data plan.