[JamesVega]

Will the Nextel Blackberry 7520 work with Boost Mobile ? I heard that it will work with boost but they can garuntee that the web or texting wil work and this was a boost rep that said this. So was he jus sayin that because he has too so that i will buy a boost mobile phone or what ?

[fab777]

I am using a one with Boost but only for calls and walkie talkie. I can't text or use the internet even though I have internet service with Boost. I heard that you need to install a browser like opera mini for it to work but I have no idea how to do that. I am going to take the phone to Nextel to see if they want to help me out.

[GUANAC0]

bOOOST MOBiLE.. bUMP

[pedro89]

yes the nextel bb7520 dos work with boost the internet works and it is fast but i am still trying to get the texting to work i just got mine today.

[scream_dracula]

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: it depends what you want to do with it...

The first thing you NEED to do is download and install Opera Mini; you cannot get anywhere via the BlackBerry browser--Boost obviously does not offer a BlackBerry data plan, being that none of the "real" Boost phones are BlackBerries. (You will, however, want to keep the BlackBerry browser installed as it is a dependency for a lot of other good apps.)

Do NOT pay the 35 cents per day for "Wireless Web" use. This Boost "add-on" has no impact on whether or not you can get online with a "Boostberry." Slap a Boost Mobile starter SIM in your 7520 and you magically have UNLIMITED DATA for a dollar a day (or whatever plan you choose.) Yes, it IS awesome. The "free" data has something to do with the BlackBerry's native TCP/IP something or other blah blah blah... however the magic happens, you're bypassing Nextel's "Wireless Web" which is what the 35 cents per day on a "normal" Boost phone will get you.

I paid the 35 cents for the Wireless Web add-on one day as an experiment and noticed absolutely NO added functionality versus the bare-bones dollar-a-day plan.

Some people suggest paying the 35 cents per day so that Boost doesn't start "cracking down" on this loophole. But poor people (i.e., the kind of people who actually use Boost BlackBerries, i.e., me) recommend not paying it. The dollar a day plan plus 35 cents is going to be very close to $50... and very likely more than $50 if you use some daytime talk minutes here and there... if you really feel obligated to pay for the unlimited data, just go with the balls-out $50/month Unlimited Plan.

Anyway, the number of people running old Nextel BlackBerries on Boost is probably small enough that Sprint would never devote the resources needed to implement a way to stop us from getting our internet access.

Moving on... incoming text is working fine for me (7510) and my wife (7520). Others have apparently had different results in the past.

For SENDING texts, you'll have to reply through e-mail... there are a ton of "workaround" tutorials online for "texting" on a Boost BlackBerry, but in the end it always boils down to using a webmail client to send e-mails to an SMS gateway.

To make it perfectly clear: your 7520 BoostBerry will NOT send SMS or MMS... you can't hit "reply" from your inbox and shoot a text back like you would on a "regular" phone. I would recommend setting up a Gmail or MSN Live account specifically for "texting" use and then install the Gmail app or just set up a bookmark to the Gmail or Windows Live mobile site(s) in your Opera Mini.

To "reply" to texts via e-mail, you'll need to know the e-mail to SMS gateway suffix for your friends' network(s). For example, you can't send an e-mail to "5551231234"... because that's obviously not an e-mail address. Depending on what your friend's network is, you would have to send the e-mail to (for example) "[email protected]".

There is a list of e-mail suffixes by carrier available on Wikipedia if you search for the article "list of carriers providing email or web to sms."

Yes, it's a pain in the ***... if you want the Boost Mobile/7520 combo strictly because you think texting will be totally sweet with a BlackBerry keyboard and Boost's Unlimted Chat plan, you'll be very disappointed. But if you're more interested in being able to play on the internet all day every day for super cheap, the BoostBerry RULES.

If you can compromise and are willing to use mobile IM to stay in touch with your peoples instead of traditional SMS texting, there are IM apps that will work nicely on the 7520. I use Nimbuzz, which is a completely free one... it lets you simultaneously connect to your MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GoogleTalk, Facebook and, I think, ICQ and MySpace as well. (But I would not recommend adding your Facebook account because it seems to take about a friggin hour to load your contact list after you do, and then all the Facebook contacts show up as numbers instead of actual names.) Again, the unlimited data means you're not paying a single cent to anybody beyond your regular Boost plan, even if you IM for 23 hours a day.

Another cool app that runs smooth on the ol' 7520 is Google Maps mobile. The downside is that even though the 7520 has GPS, the Google Maps "My Location" feature doesn't seem to work on the platform. I have not had good luck with finding other free map/GPS apps. Even without GPS linkup, Google Maps mobile is great for taking turn-by-turn directions with you if you don't have a Nuvi or Tom-Tom or whatever.

The ringtones/wallpapers definitely suck a large quantity of ***. I don't know if that's a concern for you. Downloading new crap is next to impossible since you can't "push" (download) images or programs into your BoostBerry through Opera Mini. If you try, Opera just invokes the integrated BlackBerry browser, and you won't have a working service book for the BlackBerry Browser (which is apparently the only means of interfacing between the web and the BlackBerry file system.)

In short, ANYTHING you put on your Boost-enabled 7520 is going to have to be downloaded to your PC and then pushed via USB... and this only works for actual BlackBerry application packages or software updates... it's not as if you can use a BlackBerry with 32MB of internal storage and no memory card slot as a USB drive. So, in short, you can't even transfer a JPEG to the 7520 without "real" BlackBerry service, which is absolutely infuriating... I am at the point where I'm ready to break out my old Computer Science books from college and try to compile a Java "app" just to package up a few wallpapers and stick them into the BlackBerry file system. (Incidentally, if anyone has done this, I'd love the source code.)

Search this forum and Google... there are literally hundreds of pages of info out there dedicated to optimizing "BoostBerry" devices. A good percentage of them are right here on the CrackBerry forums if you spend some time searching. There are obvious ups and obvious downs... whether it will work for you depends 100% on your personal priorities and needs.

For me, money was the main motive... I got a 7510 and a 7520 for 15 bucks each and the 64k Boost Starter kits (include $5 initial account balance) for $5.99 each (all on eBay... I think prices tend to run a little higher than this but I got lucky with some sweet deals.) I spent less than 50 bucks altogether and got "new" phones for me and my wife along with 4-5 days of unlimited internet, mobile-to-mobile, nights/weekends, and incoming text. If nothing else, it beats the living **** out of the $30 "top of the line" Tracfone with no airtime included, absolutely terrible call and text rates even with the "double minutes for life" gimmick, and no hope of using the internet unless you want to throw down for a $60 airtime card approximately every other day.

Yes, the 7520 looks like a dwarfism-afflicted typewriter with a car antenna sticking out... couple that with a pay-as-you-go plan and you're basically looking at the ultimate stereotypical crack dealer phone. But for me, the ghetto chic of the BoostBerry is part of what makes it so appealing... (that, and the fact that I can't get approved for a "big kid" cell phone plan anymore haha.)

Hope that was useful... I'm still figuring things out myself, but feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

[darkmagentarose]

Hi. I'm really looking to try to get a Blackberry 7520 to use with Boost mobile, mostly for internet but also for a cellphone. In the most of the ebay descriptions of the 7520 they say that only some can use data. Does anyone know what that means? I don't want to buy the wrong Blackberry.

[njean76]

SCREAM DRACULA -

I read everything that you wrote regarding using a blackberry 7520 as a boostberry. I can not get the ramble and the gmail to download through my pc. I have downloaded them to my desktop manager, but i can not get them to download to my phone through a usb. can you give me some hints on how to get this to work? you seem to know more about this phone than anyone that i have seen and i would love if you could help me.

i would like as many apps as i can get for this boostberry if anyone has any pleaz send me some links to them that i can download through my PC

[joeywiththeface]

hello, i need help getting the service books i need on my 7520
can anyone help me out a bit?

[colleenanne]

i just got my boostberry bb7520 yesterday and i cant figure out how to have my texts come to my email?or any easier way to text,i cant figure out how to recieve/send texts and i bought my phone from oneworldphones and they told me to pop in the cd and it would tell me how.problem is,they never sent me a cd,pleassssssssssse help!and what are service books and how can i get them,and is there anyway i can get apps for free?

[metorra]

Yes, it works. I have everything working, OTA, MMS Texting and Internet.

[metorra]

These apps have to be installed OTA (Over the Air). Since they are Java apps, you cannot jus upload them. Unless you have a convert to convert from .jad to .cod and .alx

[claytovt]

yes all you need are the service book for data + mms just pm me your email address

[Got2GetAway]

claytovt is right, all you need is the correct service book data +mms and you will be hooked up.

[colleenanne]

hey!just wanted to let yal know that i got ahold of oneworldphones and got it all figured out!!thanks so much for the help though!!i would LOVE to know a FREE good website for ringtones for the 7520

[vvchrisvv]

Service books? I'm currently using sms and mms through gmail.... Am I missing something by not having service books?

[middlekid3008]

i got the 7520 black berry the guy on email were i order it said it would work on boost but i can not get anything to work it sent nothing except phone usb hook up etc, no cd no nothin can't get anything to work what do i have a usb for i need help bad my husband said throw it away but i like it alot please help tell me what to do please

[middlekid3008]

how do you get the internet to work?

[pokerface251]

Yes, it works. I have everything working, OTA, MMS Texting and Internet.

Metorra, If you have everything working on yours. Please give us step by step on how to get ours working, or did you buy it already programmed?

Thanks,

[hatfield5225]

can someone send me service book fifes and mms

[trackVW]

Hii

I am using a7520 on Boost mobile for Basic internet,

its best if you install Opera Mini,

I can check my email and a few forums , look stuff up on ebay etc

no music, no videos , just basic web surfing

and its SLOW , way SLOW , the best is 1/3 the speed of a 56k dial up modem, about 18k !

hope that helps , just do not expect it to do much and you will be happy

VW

[peltiers04]

husband just bought a blackberry nextel 7520 i want to set up right the first time ....is this easy to do?. So that i do have my internet and texting.

[saxaphawx]

Can someone please email me the Service Books that are working with OTA. Thank you.

[statishia1.cone]

Well I have a Blackberry 7520 on boost, can Claytovt or someone send me the manuals for getting SMS and internet. please call me at 8502517660

[unreconstructed1]

hi everyone, just thought I'd clear up a little confusion regarding internet and MMS on boost with the 7520.

I can personally vouch for the fact that yes, you can get full internet, OTA installs, and MMS on boost, but it requires a little work on your part.

there is a pretty good article concerning "boostberries" at this wiki
(the wiki is maintained by another forum, so If I'm breaking any rules, let me know and I'll modify my post accordingly)

since I don't have a high enough post count to post links, just type:

"BoostBerry How-To...everything you need to get the native browser and MMS working"

into Google search and you will find the answers that you are looking for

[pwilkerson]

OK so I got EVERYTHING WORKING on my 7520 Boostberry... AND all in all the cost of my phone was $13.50 plus shipping and I set it up myself! I have OTA working with the native browser, text messaging through MMS. Email works on 3rd party program... EVERYTHING WORKS and the net is pretty quick even! Thank you to everyone that helped... I LOVE MY BOOSTBERRY!!!