Question about BES

Hi guys,

I just need a second opinion on the following:

I own a personal mobile - BB 9700 (T-Mobile UK). My Tariff is Flext50 and I have the BIS booster enabled.

My employers have approved me for a Blackberry and I have gone with the 9800 torch (T-Mobile UK).

NOTE: Currently my work SIM is in a crap Nokia. The reason they want me to have a BB is for picking up my emails ONLY

So here's the plan:

1. Get the BB 9800
2. Take my personal SIM out of the 9700 and place it in the new 9800
3. Phone TM and tell them to enable BES on my personal package
4. Configure my work email account with the 9800 and give the BES admin my personal SIM info etc.
5. Pop my work SIM in a crap Nokia for taking calls only.

That will work right?

I can basically use my personal package with the 9800 but also benefit from picking up work emails providing I enable the BES booster. Any calls AND data use will be billed to my personal account and not the work one, right?

In fact the work account/sim will hardly ever be used.

Am I missing something here or is that kosher?

That looks correct, yes. If your work # is the one you've given out for coworkers to call, they'll call that #, and it'll ring in the Nokia or whatever phone it's in. If you turn off the data plan on that #, and turn on data for your own, you should be able to put your own sim in any (in this case, the Torch) blackberry and have it setup to your company's BES system.

Originally Posted by radi0chik

That looks correct, yes. If your work # is the one you've given out for coworkers to call, they'll call that #, and it'll ring in the Nokia or whatever phone it's in. If you turn off the data plan on that #, and turn on data for your own, you should be able to put your own sim in any (in this case, the Torch) blackberry and have it setup to your company's BES system.

Yea.

Well I wouldn't be telling work that their SIM is in a crap Nokia. Their sim will have data services (BES) enabled on it but will never really be used.

Ill just add a �5 BES booster on my personal SIM and just register that to the BES server. All other data services (MSN, BBM etc) will be billed to my own phone.

Ill then be upgrading with my personal handset in May - ill just sell the HTC HD or Merge if it is out.

Work should see a very low usage on my number.

There may be a problem in that BES service is often if not always tied to a PIN and IMEI. If they register SIM, PIN and IMEI to a device you won't be able to simply switch out the SIM card.

Originally Posted by Qbnkelt

There may be a problem in that BES service is often if not always tied to a PIN and IMEI. If they register SIM, PIN and IMEI to a device you won't be able to simply switch out the SIM card.

That is correct.

I was planning on giving the SIM # of my personal number.

Shouldn't be a problem right?

p.s. The dept. always request that information from the user (me). When they ask me for the SIM ID, I will just give them my long number of my personal SIM and the IMEI and PIN of the torch.

Originally Posted by The_Zizzler

That is correct.

I was planning on giving the SIM # of my personal number.

Shouldn't be a problem right?

p.s. The dept. always request that information from the user (me). When they ask me for the SIM ID, I will just give them my long number of my personal SIM and the IMEI and PIN of the torch.

In theory it sounds like it should work, BES (and IT for that matter) only need your PIN number to be "activated" on the BES Server but it does store the rest of the info from the Blackberry. Your service provider does not really care which type of phone it is in, all that matters is there is active cell service on the account. At least this holds true for AT&T and Nextel here in the U.S. Unless your I.T. Dept tracks/documents SIM numbers this should not be a problem regardless of them asking for the info because again this is not required for activation.

I often have users take their SIM out and use a backup BB if theirs is not working. All I request from them is the new PIN and set the activation password to get them up and running again.

I am pretty sure the mail team ask for the number on the SIM card as well as the PIN and IMEI.

Even if I gave them the long number on my personal SIM, I really can't imagine them seeing anything other than the emails I send/receive using my Work email account. Is that right?

OR does giving them access to the long number on my SIM allow them to view other stuff as well for e.g. text messages etc?

Thanks,

Originally Posted by The_Zizzler

I am pretty sure the mail team ask for the number on the SIM card as well as the PIN and IMEI.

Even if I gave them the long number on my personal SIM, I really can't imagine them seeing anything other than the emails I send/receive using my Work email account. Is that right?

OR does giving them access to the long number on my SIM allow them to view other stuff as well for e.g. text messages etc?

Thanks,

All I ever ask for is the PIN and even then I really don't require it because with BES you are adding the user (in this case you) from the Global Address Book from your email server. The magic of activation happens behind the scene with your email address and activation password and RIM's Servers. Now, they may very well be jotting down all your info somewhere for documentation purposes but that is a risk you will have to take. Personally, even if it is possible and I did log ALL email activity I don't have time to monitor any of that and only do so if I am asked.

Just to be safe on the logging and the ability to see ALL email on your device you might be better served posting your question over here:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f50/

I would ask your IT dept if they put any restrictions on the phone. Some companies block app installation, internet, texting, etc. Also be aware that they will be able to see and log everything you do on the phone.

Originally Posted by Tripyn

All I ever ask for is the PIN and even then I really don't require it because with BES you are adding the user (in this case you) from the Global Address Book from your email server. The magic of activation happens behind the scene with your email address and activation password and RIM's Servers. Now, they may very well be jotting down all your info somewhere for documentation purposes but that is a risk you will have to take. Personally, even if it is possible and I did log ALL email activity I don't have time to monitor any of that and only do so if I am asked.

Just to be safe on the logging and the ability to see ALL email on your device you might be better served posting your question over here:

BlackBerry Administrators - BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com

Jotting down my information isn't really a risk. If it was ever queried, all they will see is that instead of using the company SIM to receive work emails, I instead used my personal SIM (that also has the BES service) achieving the same result. The device doesn't really matter.

In terms of logging email activity. They can only really monitor what goes on with my exchange account, which is all work related anyway. I will be adding additional email accounts to the device - Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc and none of these will be visible to the BES admin.

My query simply asks if I enable BES on my personal SIM, will it work with my exchange account? (think answer is Yes) and will any of my data activity (non-BES related) flag up with the employers? (think the answer is no because BES will only see the exchange related data usage. The remainder (hotmail, yahoo, gmail etc) will be seen by my BIS service and billed to my personal TM account.

That surely is correct?

Originally Posted by pbflash

I would ask your IT dept if they put any restrictions on the phone. Some companies block app installation, internet, texting, etc. Also be aware that they will be able to see and log everything you do on the phone.

Interesting.

But surely when I am installing apps or accessing pages to install apps, the service that is being used and billed is BIS not BES.

BES is purely giving me the chance to sync my exchange email account. I didn't think BES provided any options such as app download use.

Originally Posted by The_Zizzler

Interesting.

I didn't think BES provided any options such as app download use.

No BES does not provide this option but what pbflash is saying is when you conect to BES the phone will get any policies that are being pushed down from the BES and polices can block you from installing apps. There are a lot of settings that can be modified right down to virtually locking down the phone to only accept email.

It sounds like you have the answers you need and they do sound correct. I also second what others have said I would at least ask the BES Admin(s) if they are applying any policies and if so which ones before diving in so you know what you are getting yourself into. For example, I disable Internet browsing via the providers network and only allow it through our Proxy Server, I disable BBM, PIN to PIN and log text messages for public record purposes and block the installation off apps to cut down on issues. When a new user is connected to BES I advise them that all calls including the above is being logged just so they are aware of it.

Wait, so the work number still has the blackberry plan activated on it? Why bother paying for it then? Why not buy the Torch, and put it on your work sim? That way you get the data plan for "free", and save the monthly booster fee. Am I missing something?

I really would suggest keeping our work provided 9800 as your work device and not swapping anything out. I would also suggest that it's a good idea to keep our personal account out of a BES device.
Your IT department might not be your friend on this, and it could have negative consequences.