Hi all,

My friend has a 8830 from Verizon given to him by a Bank he works at.

Sadly enough, it seems that the bank has removed EVERYTHING good from the BBery except the Calling and Email stuff. He does not even have a Browser or anything.

Is there any way to circumvent this?

Since my friend is thousands of miles away, I rather provide him with working solutions than go the try-fail route via phone:

I have an idea, but I have no clue if it will work:
- Install the latest Desktop Software
- Install the latest BBery Firmware
- Delete vendor file
- Install
- Done?

Should this do the job and enable all of the apps?

Your wisdom is much appreciated

If the BB is the property of the bank, then my advice would be DO NOT TOUCH IT.

They secure it for a reason. It belongs to them.

If it is a personal BlackBerry, there are ways to remove the policy. If it belongs to the bank, then circumvention could result in termination.

The steps outlined will not work.

No, there is no way around the IT Policy that the bank has pushed to the device. And attempting to circumvent the policy could land your friend in the unemployment line.

And if he's in Michigan, he could be there for a very long time.

This.

Huh?

Wirelessly posted (life goes on! yes it is tough)

If your friend wants to lose his job! Leave it be if he wants all the fun have him get his own personal BB

There is a reason the bank put this IT policy in place. I think it would be best to tell your friend that there is no way around this policy without risking termination, as everyone else stated. Regardless if it is a personal device or the bank's device, it is on their server.

Just trying to reiterate what you were saying.

not to mention...the bill is on their tab.

I realize the OP hasn't been back to clarify, but a lot of assumptions are being made. It has yet to be determined if the bank just gave him this device or if it was issued to him and remains the property of the bank. It hasn't been determined that it's even on the bank's BES yet.

The guy comes here looking for advice, and some contributors to this thread seem to be assuming his friend is just trying to jack his work Berry.

Some productive advice might be useful....

Nice try, except the word "circumvent" was used.

Yeah well hey... I tried. It is possible, however unlikely, that they gave him the hardware with a policy still on it, and left it to him to activate it on his own.... geez, even I have a hard time believing that one.

Can I sell you a bridge

I'd prefer a long term lease with an option to buy <g>

LMAOOOOOOOOO

Guys, thanks for a lot of constructive input. I see the complications which may arise from this.

I do not know for sure but it's the most likely to believe that Bank gave him the preconfigured phone with BES done through the bank.

I will point him to this blog post and I think by now he definitely will have a lot of insight as to what the outcome might be on the Legal side.

Could anyone make a suggestion on how could we go around this IF he decides to do it anyways. Not that he will after reading all of your good comments, but, for the sake of education - how do we solve the problem.

Let's assume the BBery is connected to the bank's BES and configured through that (which is most likely the case).

Can the software installation, removal of Vendor file and such enable other features on the phone?

He could always try and say he just wanted to update his BlackBerry to the latest software. How can they tell if he changes anything unless they are to look for it explicitly?

I understand - maybe the data charges would be noticed if he is to tether it as a modem, but from just regular web browsing I doubt they would notice anything. Since it is a Bank, I also doubt they pay per device per data transferred, but most likely a bulk sum of cash for a special plan covering thousands of BlackBerries they got.

Dang! Is that bridge still for sale?

Unfortunately for your friend, even if he decides he would "like to circumvent" the policies that are in place, I doubt he'll get far. Any advancements in chipping away at what has been set will likely be put back by the BES as soon as they're changed anyway.

That's what I was afraid of. I guess they can change his BlackBerry stuff remotely if it is on BES, correct?

Correct. If he manages to change something that differs from the policy that has been assigned to the device, it "should" reconcile with the server and put the restrictions back in place.