My Internet Corner

I have been wanting to use my blackberry as a modem for a long time, but never really had the motivation to do all the research needed to do so. But, I made up my mind today and researched around about it, and finally able to tether my Blackberry 9000 (Bold) to my laptop. Here’s how you do it.

1. Make sure you installed your Blackberry Desktop Manager properly, open it, and connect your Blackberry Bold using USB cable. YourBlackberry Desktop Manager should recognize your device by showing “Device Connected(PIN): xxxxxxxx” Once your device is connected to your laptop, check in the Control Panel -> Phone and Modem Options -> Modem tab -> select your blackberry modem (it is listed just as “Standard Modem” in my computer”, and click “Properties” -> Diagnostics tab and click “Query Modem”, it should give you result in command and response field.
2. Choose “Advanced” tab on the same window and enter this in the “Extra initialization commands” field: +cgdcont=1,”IP”,”wap.cingular” Ok, if everything went as it should, you are now able to use your Blackberry Bold as a modem. You just have make a dial-up connection to actually connect to the Internet.
3. To create a new dial-up connection, go to your “Network Connection” and under “Network Task” choose “Create a new connection” A connection wizard will come up and ask you several questions. The main thing is to choose this: Connect to Internet -> Next -> “Set up my connection manually” -> Next -> “Connect using a Dial-up Modem” -> Next -> check your Blackberry Bold modem -> Next -> make up your own ISP name (it doesn’t matter what you put there) -> Next -> *99# as your phone number -> Next ->leave the username and password blank -> Next and Finish.
4. Your newly created dial-up connection will show up under your Network Connection window under dial-up section. Double-click it and hit “DIAL”

There you go. That’s how you connect to the Internet using your Blackberry Bold. I think this will work also for other Blackberry devices. Let me know if you have any questions, ok! I’m not promising that I can solve your problem, but we can give it a try, right?

[UPDATED ON 10/24/2009] – Thanks to Jerry Gunawan

These tether instructions are for Windows Vista users:

1. Install and Run the Blackberry Desktop Manager.

2. Connect your blackberry using USB cable. It should show your Blackberry PIN number at the bottom left corner of the Blackberry Desktop Manager.

3. Go to Control Panel -> Phone and Modem Options -> Modem tab -> select Standard Modem -> click Properties -> Diagnostic Tab -> click Query Modem. It should show result in command and response field. Don’t click Ok button because we are not done yet.

4. Then on the same window go to General tab -> click Change Setting -> Advanced tab.
In the extra initialization commands, please enter: AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”wap.cingular”. Then click Ok.

5. Create a dial-up connection. Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Click Set Up Connection or network -> Click set up a dial-up connection -> Standard Modem ->
Enter Dial up phone number : *99#
User name : WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
Password : CINGULAR1
You can create your own connection name, then click Ok.

[UPDATED ON 11/03/2009]

I just found a faster way to tether your Blackberry (any) to your laptop. This technique is available thanks to the new version of BB Manager, Blackberry Desktop Manager 5.0.1. Here’s the way you do it:

1. Open BB Desktop Manager, choose IP Modem in your BB Desktop Manager’s main menu. If the icon is gone, close BB Desktop Manager, and go to c:/Documents and Settings\all users\application data\research in motion\blackberry to find a file, “ip_modem_configuration.xml”
2. Edit it, find your carrier, and set the “enabled” from “false” to “true.”
3. Open BB Desktop Manager again, click IP Modem, and select your carrier. I’m using a new AT&T connection with user: wap.cingulargprs.com ; password: CINGULAR1 ; access Point: wap.cingular.
4. Once a profile has been created and selected, you will be asked if you want to use BB as a modem. Click “continue” and hit “Connect.”

You now have different ways to connect to the Internet using Blackberry phone device. I hope they all be useful to you. Let me know if you have any problems.

[UPDATED 02/01/2010]
First of all I want to thank you for all the good responses I received. I am glad I can help a lot of people through this post. However, just a reminder (thanks to Brian) that when you tether your blackberry to your laptop, standard internet usage charge will still apply. So if you don’t have unlimited data plan for your phone, I strongly recommend you to not tether your phone to your laptop as this will significantly increase your monthly bill.

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