another thing I found, take the check mark off of the enable hardware flow control box in the configuration form. then you can set your speed to whatever. right now it says I'm connected at 921.6kbps. how's that?
yup, way cool!

Well, I am getting around 150kbps on my MacBook & I am actually quite surprised how fast websites load, so I think maybe some peoples hardware/browsers may be slowing them down.

My MacBook has 2GBs of RAM & im using a pretty speedy browser (Mozilla's Camino). I even watched a bunch of videos on YouTube & it didnt hiccup once. I tried it on my GFs Dell desktop using IE & it was dog slow.

where is ......enable hardware flow control box in the configuration form

on a pc (I don't know macs) go to control panel>network connections then right click on your blackberry dial-up connection>properties on the general tab click on configure. when you uncheck the enable hardware flow control it allows you to choose a larger max speed. I just picked the highest number it had 921600. haven't tested it yet so . . .

I've been trying to configure my 8100 to act as a modem for my laptop for 4 hours now without success. 2 calls to T-mobile were not helpful either. Error code 692 persists.

There was no default "standard modem" available after installing the Blackberry Desktop Manager, so I created one using the RIM virtual serial port. I configured the modem to have the extra initialization string <+cgdcont=1,"IP","wap.voicestream.com"> and ran the diagnostic, which returns:
<ATQ0V1E0 - OK
AT+GMM - BlackBerry IP Modem
AT+FCLASS=? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT#CLS=? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT+GCI? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT+GCI=? - COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
ATI1 - Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI2 - Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI3 - Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI4 - Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI5 - Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI6 - Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI7 - Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
>

I created a new internet connection, specifying "*99#" as the number to dial. I have the desktop manager open (it displays connected) and when I dial I get error code 692. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Cheers

I'v been using it from the day i got the data conn ..... works great for viewing the WEB

I even use "Bearshare" P2P client on my laptop with my blackberry data connectionto download MP3's !! ... I get 1mb data/min ..... ie: i download a 5.4mb MP3 in 5 mins !

I left out the "IP" in the initialization string, worked for me that way.
when you looked for your "standard modem" was the BB connected? don't know if that would change anything or not.

Not sure if this has already been posted...

Directions & modem driver for BB 8100 internet access on Mac OS X (via bluetooth)

http://www.fibble.org/archives/000508.html

I got it to work on my iMac and Powerbook G4. Fantastic deal for T-Mobile users!!

I'm on TMO and followed all of the directions on this thread to the letter, but still am having trouble. My latest error message is 720: A connection to the remote computer could not be established.

Has anyone had this error and worked around it? I was wondering if the fact that I upgraded to the O2 .64 OS makes any difference? Would I need to revert back to the original .42 OS that TMO ships the phone with? I've also modified the APN setting on the phone, setting it to wap.voicestream.com.

I'm using the *99# phone number, and have +cgdcont=1,"IP","wap.voicestream.com" as my extra initialization command. I am not using a username or password when I dial the connection. My phone shows up as "Standard Modem" on COM4, which returns the following when queried:

ATQ0V1E0 Success
AT+GMM BlackBerry IP Modem
AT+FCLASS=? COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT#CLS=? COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT+GCI? COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
AT+GCI? COMMAND NOT SUPPORTED
ATI1 Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI2 Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI3 Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI4 Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI5 Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI6 Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem
ATI7 Research in Motion / BlackBerry IP Modem

However, this matches some of the strings that have been posted above so I don't see any problems here. I've tried connecting with my 802.11 radio turned on and with it turned off. I have Desktop Manager v. 4.2.0.10 open and it says connected. The "network" setting on my phone shows:

Data Services On
Network: T-Mobile
Network Selection Mode: Automatic

My service books are up to date. The only other thing I can think of is that I've installed Opera Mini, Google Maps, Spider Solitaire and am using the BB Dimension Today Plus theme.

I'm really at a loss, unless, like my email issue two days ago, this is a TMO network problem and I just have to wait for it to clear up.

Any help here would be much appreciated. If I missed providing any info that might help, please let me know. Thanks!

Stu

I spent about 5 hours researching, downloading, installing and rebooting last night, but eventually got my 8100 to work with my ThinkPad T43 as a modem. I have noticed questions posted about these errors, but haven't seen any answers, so I thought I'd post what I did in case it might help someone else.

The 720 solution may only be for, and work on, ThinkPads. This is because I noticed that almost everyone who had a 720 error was using a ThinkPad and read posts indicating that it was possible that some of the IBM ThinkVantage software was responsible for generating the error. The 732 solution might work for anyone, and might not even be a solution - I accidentally happened on something that worked, so I went with it. Thoughts and feedback welcome.

The steps are easy, but long. The first thing I did was to remove the BlackBerry Desktop Manager from my computer and delete the special BlackBerry connection I had set up in Network Connections and remove the special TMO-specific string from the modem entry in Phones and Modems (NOTE: If you remove the BB software first, it will remove the modem from the computer and you won't have to do that last step).

After all BB stuff was removed from my computer, I rad IBM's Software Update Utility. I hate this utility, it inevitably makes matters worse, but I was at wit's end and so ran it. It turned out that the utility said I had a whole lot of updates to perform. I performed every update that it mentioned, which included updates to my modem, my ethernet card, my security softare... even my DVD player. I downloaded and ran them all. It took a long time. To make matters worse, the buggy update utility kept on saying I hadn't installed some of them. It took me actually installing each package, one at a time, rebooting after each installation, before the Software Update utility agreed that I had installed everything. (NOTE: I actually did a complete cold boot for some packages, particularly the ones that made a hardware change. This took a lot of time, but I wanted to make sure I covered everything).

I then ran the System Update utility, which actually found 3 more things that my computer needed. I downloaded and installed those and rebooted.

After IBM stopped telling me I needed to update something (running both Software Update and System Update came back null) I reinstalled the BB Desktop Manager FROM THE DISK THAT CAME WITH THE PHONE. I have no idea why, but it seems that there are differences (real or imagined) between the DM software at the my.t-mobile.com site and the disk. Everything I read said used the disk, so I did. I then rebooted.

Only then did I set up the modem as a network connection using the instructions earlier in this thread. After I set up the network connection I added the TMO string to the Standard Modem (COM4) that represented the BB. I then ran the connection and voila! no more Error 720.

One problem. I got an Error 732. This actually was more promising to me because it was a PPP error which I felt could be resolved through some software settings tweaking. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any info on how to make those changes, or what changes to make, on this board or elsewhere. This was frustrating. I kept on trying the connection, with no username and no password as indicated in this thread and elsewhere (for some reason every time I launched the connection it put my XP username in the username field - I deleted it so that the field was blank), and kept getting the Error 732.

Finally I got so frustrated that I accidentally hit the [ENTER] key instead of the backspace key when I went to remove my XP username from the username field. Amazingly, the connection worked - no more Error 732. I tested the connection and was able to surf. Just to make sure, I disconnected the connection and tried again. I launched the network connection, made sure my XP username was in the username field with the password blank, and it worked again.

I have no idea why, but it seems that the connection required something in the username field, and it may specifically have required my XP account username. I'm not sure, but it works and I'm happy.

And that's my amazingly long solution. I hope it works for you. It requires patience and time, but you'll be happy with the results if it works. It's better than some of the more draconian measures I've seen others take, like formatting their HD or reinstalling Windows.

One last note, make sure any other connection you have going is disconnected when you try to use the BB. I have wireless in my house and made sure I wasn't connected to my home network before trying the 8100 connection. This may or may not be critical, but it was what I did and it may work for you.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Stu

This is probably the best feature of this phone!!! Im glad I went with Tmobile and the Pearl!!!

Not sure what all this is about, but all I did with my ThinkPad T40 was to install Desktop Manager from the CD that came with the Pearl [in Sept 2006] and then set up a dial-up/modem connection per the original instructions.

Plugged in the Pearl, pressed "dial" or "connect" and it gave me 115k first thing.

I recently had put in an 80GB hard disk on the ThinkPad and installed drivers manually rather than from an install or rescue disk. Also did all the updates to Windows XP.

is this only for tmobile? what about cingular?

I just got my Pearl yesterday and it seems great. I want to use the modem feature. I am on cingular but cant seem to find the correct info to put in the advanced field in the modem set up. Has anyone done so?

Ok guys....and gals, I configured my pearl with my laptop perfectly...thanks to everyone's help.....but my question is why does my connection periodically try to reconnect when the pearl is not even hooked up to my laptop. It just keeps attempting to redial, even when I have the redial attempts set to 0. Also, I dont have the blackberry connection setup as my default connection so that isn't the problem. It got so annoying that I had to delete the connection, then re-setup the next time I want to use it? Anyone have a solution?

I tried them all. The only one I got to work for Cingular was this.
+cgdcont=1,"IP","wap.cingular"

Nothing else worked.

Within IE, try going to tools, internet options, connections tab. Select your dial-up connection and click the "never dial a connection" dot. Save your changes. This fixes it for me. It will only try to dial a connection when I tell it to and not when there's no wifi signal or whatever.

This picture comes up when I've tried you guys' suggestions...

Just want to let you know that I used the instructions in post 1 without the period and it worked. I am posting right now while I'm on the Acela back to New York. Thank you San Francisco.

Sounds great can i do this with a mac? I have pocketmac installed. thnx

I used the initial setup instructions - no connection. Read a little further, removed the period, and immediately connected.

Ran the Speakeasy speed test twice -
1) 75kbps down, 35k up
2) 129kbps down, 32 up

Read a little further, added the "IP" to the config, bumped up the connection speed to 921k.

3) 107kbps down, 40k up

Thanks to all who contributed to this effort!

Curious as to how much of a difference did it make connecting at 921.6kbps? I'm at 115.2kbps. Have you had any connection issues?

Thank you.

Has anybody been successful in connecting a vpn while using the pearl as a modem? I am on cingular, and following the directions here can connect just fine (very helpful; thank you), but the minute I try to connect my vpn, it all falls apart. I never get an error message or anything, but I lose the ability to send or receive data. Even after disconnecting the phone from the computer, I have to turn off the radio and then back on again to even get data on the device. Any ideas?

is anyone else getting error code 633. com port issue.

thanks so much for the information.

Just a short note to check one thing, for the "duh" crowd who are like me.

I was trying to connect with the Pearl for about two minutes on my ThinkPad. Kept getting an error message.

Turns out that while I had the Pearl connected, I had NOT opened or "connected" Desktop Manager. Did that and the Pearl then connected.

Moral of the story, make sure DeskTop Manager is open before you try to dial up the Pearl modem.

Oh well.

I called Tmobile and they set me right up...first try. It works great!!

Not on Cingular, on T-Mobile but I would imagine similar situation would plague you. I was unable to connect to my work VPN using MS PPTP - apparently due to the fact that I was being connected to wrong APN.

Each carrier has several APNs they use for different service levels on BB (and other data-enabled devices). If you're just surfing the web, they hook up one APN, if you need VPN connection, you may need to be hooked up to another APN.

In my case, I had to get "advanced BB support" involved, at which point I told them that I need to be able to connect to MS PPTP-based VPN and required a "live" IP (meaning not one of the reserved ones - like 10.x.x.x).

If while connected to Cingular with your BB you get IP 10.x.x.x. - chances are you won't be able to connect. You will need to call them up and ask them to switch you to a different APN. I had to be upgraded to BES service as well (as opposed to just i-net email). Once they flipped me, gave me new APN settings, I modified modem string and in a matter of minutes was online and connected to vpn.

Hope this helps.

I am connecting at 921 and have no issues. Actually, if I recall correctly, that setting does not make any difference, as when your system negotiates connection speed it connects at the highest possible. I recall back in the days of regular modems this setting had no impact. Tho, I am not 100% on that.

Just a quick question... about how long does it take to load a page using the BB as a modem? And what speed do you have it set at for this connection? Newbie here and just startin to have fun with my BB.. but my screens take about 15-20 seconds to come up... could be something to do wtih my notebook itself.. thanks ya'll

Interesting. I'll give this a shot, though my problem is, I think, a bit different. I actually am able to connect to my vpn. It's just that the data connection stalls out soon afterward. I do not get this stalling problem (I think) unless I connect to the vpn. I appreciate the lead. I'll look into this.

By the way, is the APN chosen by the carrier on the network, or is it a setting on the phone? Or something to do with that string you feed to the modem in the setup?

Thanks!

FOLLOWUP: I was in touch with Cingular, and as it turns out, my data plan (their "Blackberry Unlimited" plan ~$40/month) does not allow unlimited tethered data, nor does it allow access to the APN that would work for VPN (ISP). I would have to upgrade to a different plan that costs about $35/month more. That might be worth it, or at least in certain circumstances where I would anticipate not having standard wireless access.

In any case, I really appreciate all the help here. Good tips, good leads. This is a great forum. Keep it up.

Thank you, this was the string that I needed to get mine to work.

FWIW, I was able to get it to work on Vista 32bit also. With Vista 64bit I get a message on the screen of the Pearl that says that I need to hook it up to a USB port that charges properly.
Maybe one of the Wiz's on this forum will get it working on 64bit Vista also.............................DJ

Great Info San Fran. Worked like a charm on the first time

EDGE can't work that fast, so I just set mine at 230,400. That is realistic. Any more may report the speed, but there isn't any possible way to get it.

The number is just a local limitation ("modem" device to computer) and has nothing to do with your actual connection speed to the tower. Your phone will always connect at the maximum possible speed, but if you set a lower speed on the DUN setting, you are just limiting how fast you are sucking from your phone.

Yet another reason I love my Pearl. Thanks San Fran! There are several times when I need access to the internet on my laptop and am not hear a hotspot (or have to pay for it @ hotels). This will be great!

(posting this now with my pearl as a modem)

Thanks for posting this (even a n00b like me got it going)! Worked perfectly, and the speed is pretty good

Just did the Speakeasy test
163kb/31kb

Can VPN into work over it. Perfectly usable. Rather impressive for a cell phone!

Thank you so much sahellis. This works on my Cingular Pearl. Just did the Speakeasy test, and I get 205kbps / 41kbps. Pretty sweet for an EDGE phone, especially since I was used to the GPRS speeds of my older 7100t.

What types of speeds are you T-Mobile guys getting? Mine seems to get roughtly twice dialup speeds at 7-8KB/s downlad, and 3-4KB/s upload. Isn't that basically GPRS speeds?

First I thought it might be an issue of reception at home, but when I tested it ou on my college campus (bars pegged) I was getting the same results.

EDIT: Speakeasy test just gave me 32kbps download and 66 kbps upload.

I had started another thread on this very topic here, but no one replied. I believe it is your settings. I listed my settings in the above thread and was getting in the 190-205 kb/s downloading. I could not get to the speakeasy links on their site, so I had tested elsewhere.

Mostly people have reported getting the max speed indicated, 110 to 115k.

No matter where I have been I get those speeds, even last week in the classroom where I set up the notebook for an in-class demo. Even though I has two bars signal strength, still got 115k.

I'll look tomorrow to see if the indicator says "EDGE." I think it does or I would not get those speeds.

As to your issue, does the phone icon say "EDGE" in all caps? If not, then you are only going to get the slower speeds.