[azhu]

Hello,

Just wondering if BBM will ever work on Wifi without a Blackberry smart phone? I no longer have a Blackberry phone but BBM was a great feature that I miss.

thanks!

[bluetroll]

i don't think the wifi playbook will get it.

reason being, BIS is not free. RIM charges carriers monthly.

the LTE/4G PlayBook on the other hand....

[Fubaz]

i agree with bluetroll.
we probably wont be seeing a wifi capable PB get native bbm.
it would be great, but probably not.

[azhu]

Damn RIM, hopefully some skilled programmer will be able to port BBM to the Playbook...

[amro]

if you can use bbm on a phone over a wifi connection, there is a way to do it on a playbook.

turn on wifi on your phone. set your mobile preferences to wifi preferred (or even better, turn the wireless radio off leaving wifi on). connect to your wireless router. you'll see the wireless icon and a small blackberry symbol beside it. all your bis apps should work. they did for me. was away for a weekend with no data plan and used news, facebook, and bbm over wifi with no issues.

[RegN]

if you can use bbm on a phone over a wifi connection, there is a way to do it on a playbook.

turn on wifi on your phone. set your mobile preferences to wifi preferred (or even better, turn the wireless radio off leaving wifi on). connect to your wireless router. you'll see the wireless icon and a small blackberry symbol beside it. all your bis apps should work. they did for me. was away for a weekend with no data plan and used news, facebook, and bbm over wifi with no issues.

could be true but the op does not have bb phone

[amro]

could be true but the op does not have bb phone

you are missing the point. if it can be done on the phone without a data connection it can be done on the playbook over wifi.

one of the problems rim has acknowledged was working two pins into one user account. they haven't figured out how to have your bb pin and your pb pin work together.

but if all you have is the pb pin it's a no brainer. should just register and go.

[The_Kills]

you are missing the point. if it can be done on the phone without a data connection it can be done on the playbook over wifi.
one of the problems rim has acknowledged was working two pins into one user account. they haven't figured out how to have your bb pin and your pb pin work together.

but if all you have is the pb pin it's a no brainer. should just register and go.

Uhh, that never worked for me >_>

[loslobos34]

bbm is not available as a native app on playbook without bridging? op has no bb phone. am i missing something?

[amro]

you are not. i am saying that if bbm on a phone works with no data connection, (and yes the kills, it does. i have it set up right now to save on my data plan) then putting a native bbm app on the playbook and using its pin and having it hook into bis over wifi will work too.
as i mentioned before, rim can't figure out how to have more than 1 pin associated with a bis account. if you have a phone and a playbook they haven't figured out how to combine them so you have all your bbm phone contacts on the playbook. but if you don't have a phone, bbm on the playbook should be straight forward, as it's one pin one user account.

[RegN]

i see your point but you have bbm on your phone because you pay for it. rim uses bbm as a drawing card to have their phones and dataplan. in my opinion ppl can wish all they want rim is not giving that up.

[Abrante]

if you can use bbm on a phone over a wifi connection, there is a way to do it on a playbook.

turn on wifi on your phone. set your mobile preferences to wifi preferred (or even better, turn the wireless radio off leaving wifi on). connect to your wireless router. you'll see the wireless icon and a small blackberry symbol beside it. all your bis apps should work. they did for me. was away for a weekend with no data plan and used news, facebook, and bbm over wifi with no issues.

Your PIN is allowed to work off of Wifi because it is active with the service provider and they allow access via wifi to lower their "on network consumption" and spread their bandwidth to the power users. So in theory, you're right. But, in reality you are approaching the situation the wrong way...

[D_Whatley]

I don't think amro is suggesting that you won't need an account, just that you won't need a phone if RIM chooses to provide a PB only subscription service because the functionality already exists.

[Abrante]

I don't think amro is suggesting that you won't need an account, just that you won't need a phone if RIM chooses to provide a PB only subscription service because the functionality already exists.

I know. But, it is a matter of someone seeing some sort of revenue. So in order to bring the comparison of the PB and the phone it had to be brought to an even playing field. Once the BB gets a cell phone provider to endorse it, the PIN will most likely be registered. So for now the reality is, no service provider no bbm.

[amro]

I don't think amro is suggesting that you won't need an account, just that you won't need a phone if RIM chooses to provide a PB only subscription service because the functionality already exists.

exactly. i've already said twice rim currently can't make two pins work with one account. i never said you don't need a data plan to access bis. but you can access bis functionality with your data plan turned off. as long as your playbook pin was registered with bis, data from bbm and other native apps would get routed over wifi to bis, or whatever rim is going to come up with in the future to support more varied devices.

as far as using uma.. the only thing i know of (and that ain't saying much anyways) that would use uma is skype.. locked to verizon, even outside of the usa for some ******** reason.

[BEARD GANG]

The bis thing will make it hard.. That coupled with rims laziness means its not happening

[Abrante]

exactly. i've already said twice rim currently can't make two pins work with one account. i never said you don't need a data plan to access bis. but you can access bis functionality with your data plan turned off. as long as your playbook pin was registered with bis, data from bbm and other native apps would get routed over wifi to bis, or whatever rim is going to come up with in the future to support more varied devices.

as far as using uma.. the only thing i know of (and that ain't saying much anyways) that would use uma is skype.. locked to verizon, even outside of the usa for some ******** reason.

lets see what happens in the next 3-6 months.

[amro]

The bis thing will make it hard.. That coupled with rims laziness means its not happening

the solution is easy. app world billing.

carriers are charged for use of bis/bes. in turn they mark it up and nail us with the cost. actually, they nail everyone with the cost, if they have a blackberry or not. data plans are the same cost no matter what phone you have. at least here they are.

so rim just needs to set up playbook bbm to be billed thru app world. let's say $12 a year just for a number. you subscribe to the bbm service (actually any service that requires bis) in app world. your playbook pin then gets registered with bis. data is routed over wifi to bis. done. for those that have a bb phone, the trick would be to have your pb pin and bb pin magically merged in your bis account and you get bis on the playbook for free, since you already pay for it on your phone.

[123berryaddicted]

money has NOTHING to do with it. Native bb email, calendar, etc will all make use of BIS on the wifi only pb. I would say if bbm doesnt ship in feb with os2 it is because RIM either just simply isnt finished it yet, or theyre working on some pretty cool 'new' features for pb bbm that isnt ready yet. just my 2c - but sorry i dont buy the whole "carriers pay for bis" garbage...

[BEARD GANG]

the solution is easy. app world billing.



carriers are charged for use of bis/bes. in turn they mark it up and nail us with the cost. actually, they nail everyone with the cost, if they have a blackberry or not. data plans are the same cost no matter what phone you have. at least here they are.



so rim just needs to set up playbook bbm to be billed thru app world. let's say $12 a year just for a number. you subscribe to the bbm service (actually any service that requires bis) in app world. your playbook pin then gets registered with bis. data is routed over wifi to bis. done. for those that have a bb phone, the trick would be to have your pb pin and bb pin magically merged in your bis account and you get bis on the playbook for free, since you already pay for it on your phone.

Yes all these ideas are brilliant ... But the fans on crackberry could run rim better than rim themselves with the amount of ideas we have... Although I think its a good idea...would be even better if the data plan for phones included the option for PB data... That way it may help to sell more Pbs.... That's an advertising method that could work... I think apple does something similar with ipads and iphones

[amro]

would be even better if the data plan for phones included the option for PB data... That way it may help to sell more Pbs.... That's an advertising method that could work... I think apple does something similar with ipads and iphones

uh, why would i want a data plan for something with no wireless radio in it? you don't need to go thru a carrier to use the playbook. there is no 3g or 4g radio inside.

[amro]

but sorry i dont buy the whole "carriers pay for bis" garbage...

so who pays for it? do you think rim gives it away?

there is a reason why rim says they have 70 million subscribers. it's subscribers are us, by way of the carriers. rim bills the carriers. carriers bill us in the data plan. don't pay for data? no bis.

[BEARD GANG]

uh, why would i want a data plan for something with no wireless radio in it? you don't need to go thru a carrier to use the playbook. there is no 3g or 4g radio inside.

No I mean using bbm over wifi thru the bis network like the phone does

[amro]

No I mean using bbm over wifi thru the bis network like the phone does

but you don't need a data plan from a carrier for that. you need rim to register the tablet pin on bis. you'd be sidestepping the carrier.

[BEARD GANG]

but you don't need a data plan from a carrier for that. you need rim to register the tablet pin on bis. you'd be sidestepping the carrier.

Yeh obviously... I'm saying if the person has a BB fone and a data plan they could offer data to be used on the PB aswell through wifi which means that your phone and PB will be Linked to the same contract and data plan