[chukkar]

Hello. I have searched the forums, but could not find a firm answer on this:

My company will not activate a personal blackberry on the BES server. I have to request a BB and company line of service to get on the BES. They only provide AT&T 8700s. I do not want to use an 8700.

I currently use an unlocked 8100 and unlocked 8310 on T-Mobile with BIS.

I really want to use the company BES, but do not want to request a line of service if I can only use the 8700.

Will I be able to pop the SIM card from the company 8700 and still access the BES on my unlocked 8310? Will it just work, or is the BES account tied to the 8700's PIN? I need to get this working without the IT dept.

[anon(153966)]

No, the device HAS to be added to BES, i.e. they add your account, and you have to enter certain credentials, email address and password (that they give you), and then it will be connected and work...

But, the sim should still work in your device. Albeit if they only want 8700's on BES, then they probably won't allow you to connect your 8100...

[chukkar]

No, the device HAS to be added to BES, i.e. they add your account, and you have to enter certain credentials, email address and password (that they give you), and then it will be connected and work...

But, the sim should still work in your device. Albeit if they only want 8700's on BES, then they probably won't allow you to connect your 8100...

The reason that they only give out 8700s is because that's the best option on the paperwork required to request a new BB and line of service. I contacted them, and they say that someday they will update the paperwork to show 8800, etc, but that won't happen any time soon.

So simply pulling out their SIM and putting it in my unlocked 8310 won't get me on the BES. What if I never actually activate the 8700 and put the virgin SIM in the 8310 and run setup for the first time on that?

Is there anything that I can request to make the device work? For example, is it as simple as having them resend books or something? What exactly do they have to do for a device swap?

[sniffs]

The thing is if your company runs a reporting program like MobileAnalyzer, they can see exactly what devices users have and on what carrier.

Yes, the device's pin is tied to their account on the bes.

My company purchases 8700's because they are the most cost effective for us. 1 BES license costs $99 dollars so you can see why the spaces are reserved for you company issued devices. Plus, if you used your own device, how can your IT department push a IT policy on your device? It's YOUR device, not the company's.

[chukkar]

The thing is if your company runs a reporting program like MobileAnalyzer, they can see exactly what devices users have and on what carrier.

Yes, the device's pin is tied to their account on the bes.

My company purchases 8700's because they are the most cost effective for us. 1 BES license costs $99 dollars so you can see why the spaces are reserved for you company issued devices. Plus, if you used your own device, how can your IT department push a IT policy on your device? It's YOUR device, not the company's.

I'd be using the company carrier (AT&T) since I'd be using the SIM that they provided.

I'd rather not have a BB than have an 8700. The thing is simply too big to carry in my pocket all day, and I don't want to use a holster.

I'm not sure how IT policies work. Is that setup on the BES, or on the Blackberry itself?

All that I'm trying to do is use my 8310 instead of a provided 8700.

[audit]

IT Policies are set on the BES server by the BES Admin's. If you want to use your personal device on the BES then the Admin has to set you up on that. Then anything that you do on it becomes company property.

[audit]

The thing is if your company runs a reporting program like MobileAnalyzer, they can see exactly what devices users have and on what carrier.

Anyone that has access to the BB Manager on the BES server can also see what type of device and the carrier for each user also.

[chukkar]

Ok, so then there doesn't seem to be a problem. That means my 8310 would comply with all the IT policies, and they could push a new policy any time they wanted. I'm not trying to get around that.

So if I pull the SIM out of the 8700, pop it in the 8310, then plug it in Desktop Manager, it will ask if I want to swap PINs? Then the IT guys have to accept the request?

[sniffs]

The IT Policy is setup on the BES and pushed out to each device at set intervals. Can be from 1 hour to every 24 hours. Keep in mind IT policies can restrict pretty much everything on the device. If your company uses a strict policy, they can set a policy to disallow 3rd party apps, disallow bluetooth, disallow bluetooth syncing, disallow phone (no calling), disallow mobile data service and pretty much anything else. If a user finds a way to remove the IT policy and installs their own software, I can remotely remove the software and the policy will push itself out again.

The 8700 isn't "all that much bigger" than the other BB's..it's a tad thicker than the 8800 and Curve.. The Pearl is a smaller device, but what I think most people think is that the 8700 isn't cool enough looking. It doesnt have the sleek metallic look or the shinyness that the other devices have.

Sorry to be so blunt but I am the admin for my company's BES/Goodlink servers and I find it irritating when users try to go around company policy's. Especially when they make excuses as to why the 8700 is a bad device because it's not as cool looking as their co-workers approved 8800/Pearl/Curve

Also, the reports that can be pulled offer statistics about pretty much every single aspect of the device. I can tell what device has what Java OS, how much kb/mb have been used by the device, mailbox statistics, how long certain programs are run.. so if my users run the bricks program alot, I can tell!

=P

EDIT: Also keep in mind that MDS goes through company servers. So if your company has a content blocker, the blocker will be applied to your handheld...meaning any content that is blocked on your PC, will be blocked on your blackberry.

[sniffs]

Anyone that has access to the BB Manager on the BES server can also see what type of device and the carrier for each user also.

The built in bes statistics suck though.. MA is much better.. you can even give access to other people to do certain basic maintenance, set password, kill handheld, etc., without giving them access to the BES..

[sniffs]

Ok, so then there doesn't seem to be a problem. That means my 8310 would comply with all the IT policies, and they could push a new policy any time they wanted. I'm not trying to get around that.

So if I pull the SIM out of the 8700, pop it in the 8310, then plug it in Desktop Manager, it will ask if I want to swap PINs? Then the IT guys have to accept the request?

Well you have to figure out if your devices are being shipped out to the users already setup on the BES. If it is, you are pretty much SOL.. If not, then they can set you up as a user and then you can use the 8310.. just activate it with that device..

[chukkar]

The 8700 isn't "all that much bigger" than the other BB's..it's a tad thicker than the 8800 and Curve.. The Pearl is a smaller device, but what I think most people think is that the 8700 isn't cool enough looking. It doesnt have the sleek metallic look or the shinyness that the other devices have.

...

Sorry to be so blunt but I am the admin for my company's BES/Goodlink servers and I find it irritating when users try to go around company policy's. Especially when they make excuses as to why the 8700 is a bad device because it's not as cool looking as their co-workers approved 8800/Pearl/Curve

I'm not worried about them restricting anything on the phone. I will still use my personal BB for my personal stuff. I will carry the "business" bb during work hours.

No, I strongly disagree about the size of the 8700. I'm not making excuses. I'm flat out saying that the reason I don't want it is because it is too big. I used one right when they came out and returned it within a week. They are significantly bigger than the 8300/8100. The difference is enough to make it too big to comfortably fit in a pocket. What amazes me is that a company would try to save $100 on a device that I'm going to be carrying around for a couple years when the monthly charge is well over $100. If over the course of several years, if I even lose 15 minutes of time because I didn't have a BB on me, that cost the company well over $100.

[chukkar]

Well you have to figure out if your devices are being shipped out to the users already setup on the BES. If it is, you are pretty much SOL.. If not, then they can set you up as a user and then you can use the 8310.. just activate it with that device..

Ok great. Thanks for the input.

So what happens if they come already setup on the BES. Can't I do a PIN swap in Desktop Manager?

[sniffs]

Ok great. Thanks for the input.

So what happens if they come already setup on the BES. Can't I do a PIN swap in Desktop Manager?

Nope.. that's just syncing to your laptop.. The pin on the server is what matters..

[sniffs]

I'm not worried about them restricting anything on the phone. I will still use my personal BB for my personal stuff. I will carry the "business" bb during work hours.

No, I strongly disagree about the size of the 8700. I'm not making excuses. I'm flat out saying that the reason I don't want it is because it is too big. I used one right when they came out and returned it within a week. They are significantly bigger than the 8300/8100. The difference is enough to make it too big to comfortably fit in a pocket. What amazes me is that a company would try to save $100 on a device that I'm going to be carrying around for a couple years when the monthly charge is well over $100. If over the course of several years, if I even lose 15 minutes of time because I didn't have a BB on me, that cost the company well over $100.

If you're saying the 8700 is significantly bigger than the 8100, than I agree. The Pearl is small.. but the 8700 isn't significantly bigger than the 8300. I have both devices in my hands and both are about the same width and length, the 8700 is thicker however and has the push wheel vs the trackball.. in any event, I'm not here to argue, just stating my observations..

I also have the 8800 as my company issued device and can say that the 8800 is alot thinner than both 8300/8700, but about the same width and it's longer than the 8700..

[chukkar]

One last question. If I use a BB that I own on a BES, and the BES pushes a strict policy of no 3rd party apps etc, do I need to do anything special to get off the BES? I mean, if I want to no longer use it on the BES and just use it for BIS, can I do that at my will?

[sniffs]

Yes.. just go to Options/Security/General and push the BB button in and go to Wipe Handheld.

[chukkar]

Thanks for the support.

What about this scenario:

Unlocked Blackberry registered to a BES. The provided SIM is AT&T.

Would I be able to pop in a T-Mobile SIM w/ BB plan and still connect to that BES?

[Pedzky]

You should be able to...yeah.

The PIN is associated with the specific device and that PIN is entered into your specific BES. As you mentioned, provided you have a BB plan on T-Mobile, your BES doesn't care where the information goes to or comes from.

Our company is on Rogers in Canada. I bought a BB on eBay over here in the UK and signed up with T-Mobile (with a BB plan). I only needed to provide T-Mobile and our IT guys with my PIN. Our IT guys didn't even ask what carrier I went with over here.

That being said, the BES can be SERIOUSLY configured, so I wouldn't doubt there is a setting in there somewhere that can restrict things like that if they actually wanted to.

[audit]

You can't block carriers on the BES.