Use BES in place of BIS?

Let me just preface this- I do not want non-answers, no "why go through all of that?", or "just get an android/iphone", etc. I just want to know from a pure technical standpoint whether it can be done, ok? I know I'm fighting a losing battle, but blackberries are literally the only phone/os I can tolerate and I hate iphone and android and touch keyboards. Really I'm just biding time until kaios gets a little better and a decent kai os flip phone/qwerty phone comes out. Thank you!

I recently got myself a blackberry style and got it activated on sprint, I've always wanted one and was in the market for a new phone so I thought why not. It activated fine and the phones working good but BIS only works over WIFI. A sprint agent confirmed that BIS is no longer offered by sprint, and it will have to be over wifi. That really bums me out, and I know there's ways around that, but me begin an avid homelabber came up with another solution. In theory, could I just run my own BES 5(or would another version work too? OR BES Express?) server on my own servers and just enroll my style to it? Would I need any special data plan for that or would my current Unlimited Kickstartv2 plan work with it? I already run my own exchange server and the infrastructure to support it, so it's not much trouble.

I'm very curious if this is doable or not, plus i'm always game for learning something new!

Originally Posted by imradlol

Let me just preface this- I do not want non-answers, no "why go through all of that?", or "just get an android/iphone", etc. I just want to know from a pure technical standpoint whether it can be done, ok? I know I'm fighting a losing battle, but blackberries are literally the only phone/os I can tolerate and I hate iphone and android and touch keyboards. Really I'm just biding time until kaios gets a little better and a decent kai os flip phone/qwerty phone comes out. Thank you!

I recently got myself a blackberry style and got it activated on sprint, I've always wanted one and was in the market for a new phone so I thought why not. It activated fine and the phones working good but BIS only works over WIFI. A sprint agent confirmed that BIS is no longer offered by sprint, and it will have to be over wifi. That really bums me out, and I know there's ways around that, but me begin an avid homelabber came up with another solution. In theory, could I just run my own BES 5(or would another version work too? OR BES Express?) server on my own servers and just enroll my style to it? Would I need any special data plan for that or would my current Unlimited Kickstartv2 plan work with it? I already run my own exchange server and the infrastructure to support it, so it's not much trouble.

I'm very curious if this is doable or not, plus i'm always game for learning something new!

I believe you still need some carrier BlackBerry configured Sprint infrastructure.

BES is not for individuals. BES express was more for consumers but I am pretty sure that doesn't exist anymore. You need to be part of an organization too be part of a BES enterprise server. You might be able to gain access and sign up for some random Hosted BES servers but your wont be exposing all your data to some 3rd party more so than even Google or Apple.

Bottom line is you might be completely out of luck with getting BIS on that device as it requires it to be run through a carrier (ie Sprint)

Originally Posted by howarmat

BES is not for individuals. BES express was more for consumers but I am pretty sure that doesn't exist anymore. You need to be part of an organization too be part of a BES enterprise server. You might be able to gain access and sign up for some random Hosted BES servers but your wont be exposing all your data to some 3rd party more so than even Google or Apple.

Bottom line is you might be completely out of luck with getting BIS on that device as it requires it to be run through a carrier (ie Sprint)

I'm fully aware it isn't for individuals, neither is exchange server but but I use it for email :P . I'm just interested in whether or not bes could be used in place of bis through a regular sprint plan, under the assumption I was able to get ahold of a copy of bes or bes exp.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by imradlol

I'm fully aware it isn't for individuals, neither is exchange server but but I use it for email :P . I'm just interested in whether or not bes could be used in place of bis through a regular sprint plan, under the assumption I was able to get ahold of a copy of bes or bes exp.

Posted via CB10

you have to set it up and would have to paying tons of cash. Thousands a year type of cash to BB and would still need to have a carrier involved. BES simply doesnt just replace BIS at all

Originally Posted by howarmat

you have to set it up and would have to paying tons of cash. Thousands a year type of cash to BB and would still need to have a carrier involved. BES simply doesnt just replace BIS at all

But if you’re truly dedicated to supporting BB10 and not using Android/iOS then what’s tons of cash? Wasn’t that BB10 original business model with BlackBerry Limited? Tons (Billions) of cash!!!!

Nobody is truly dedicated anymore;-)

I think the main point is that, whether it's BES or BIS, the carrier still has to provision it through their network.

Back in the day, you had your choice to get a BIS plan, or a BES plan which was usually more expensive. Carriers that got rid of BIS also dumped the BES plans too. Without the carrier, you got nothing.

BES still works. you need a BES plan from your carrier in order for you device to connect with it. BES Express is free. BES requires purchase from BlackBerry. Not sure if is being sold anymore however. If you can find the installer for BES Express you should be able to get it working with your exchange server.

Might want to check out the BES and UEM sections here... see if there is anyone still running a version of BES.

But even if you can get it going today... no guarantee on how long it will be supported by your carrier or BlackBerry.