I'm hoping one of the resident experts can provide some support as I have searched and tried to troubleshoot on my own and just cant get it to work.

I just got a Bold from eBay. I dont believe it is a pre production unit, as it does have a carrier logo on start up. It is "vivo", I believe they are a carrier in brazil?

Anyways, the Bold is not unlocked but I am using "i-smartphone" which is a little chip that attaches to your sim and tricks the phone into thinking that it is unlocked. The phone and txt work fine (on 2G setting), but no email, web or messenger. The first screenshot I attached shows that the phone will not connect to the BB network. There is also a little triangle icon next the the "AT&T" tag at the top (pictured in the second screenshot). Is that a roaming indicator? Also it will not display an uppercase "EDGE". When I enable 3G, I cannot txt or receive phone calls.

I have all of the needed plans/features on my account and I am in a 3G area and all of my other BB's are working fine.

So I guess my questions are:

1. Will purchasing an unlock code make a difference from using i-smartphone unlock method?
2. Is there a setting I should check or change?
3. Is the model I purchased possibly a pre-production unit?

Any suggestions or input? Thanks!!!

Wirelessly posted (8100 X 1.1111111 = BOLD (soon))

Try connecting via wifi and see if data works. I bet you need to unlock it.

So... How much did you pay? ;)

Ok so I went into service status and it does in fact state that I'm roaming.

Is this because the phone is not fully unlocked? Anyone know if I do get the IMEI unlocked if that will solve the issue?

The firmware is thinking you are roaming... thats normal, you will have that and you will not be able to get rid of it... plain a simple.... i had a Rogers Curve on the Fido network and it said i was Roaming because the firmware (which you cannot change) is set to Rogers and not fido...

as for your internet problem, do you have a blackberry data package? If you dont that would be why nothing works besides calls and SMS... once you activate the BB data plan you will have access to email, internet, MMS, BB Messenger... etc etc

I sure do. I have 2 BB's both one with BES and one with BIS and neither work with the Bold.

PIN blocked?

i didnt want to be the bearer of bad news ;) but id almost think so, if you cant get it going

perhaps the bold was fired up too early, and had the pin blocked.

have you tried the device switcher in your carriers BIS website?

I don't believe it's the pin. Maybe I'm wrong but if your pin is blocked you should still be able to get at least internet. As far as I know the pin isn't used for internet use. I'd try going to Options>Advanced Options>SIM Card and type "mepd". Check if it says Active beside network or any of them for that matter. If so I recon you need an unlock code.

You COULD use internet if you had your APN/ TCP info logged in. But if you don't have that, then you're relying on the BIS internet connection. If your pin is blocked, good luck getting your gprs to GPRS or even higher. lol.

So recap:
If your pin is blocked and using BIS (and BES, right?): Then no internet UNLESS you have your APN / TCP data.

Here is what it says under that setting:

SIM: Disabled
Network: Active
Network Subset: Disabled
Service Provider: Disabled
Corporate: Disabled


Btw...If I use opera mini, I can access the internet under edge or 3G. But the browser doesnt work because I assume it is not able to download my service book settings from AT&T.

I have also manually set my APN/TCP settings corrently for AT&T.

That would have no effect due to the fact that I have no data access thru my device tho, correct? It would try to push the service books to my device but I wouldnt receive them. Think I should try it anyways?

Well that Network: Active would lead me to believe that your device is still locked. If it was unlocked it should also say disabled. Whether or not that's your only problem is still a mystery but I'd acquire an unlock code if I were you and give that a try.

If this is for BIS, try this (I am on Rogers so this may be different):
1. Goto your BIS account and change your PIN and IMEI number to the Bold.
2. Resend Service Books

If that doesn't work, go to Options > Advanced Options > Host Routing Table and then Menu button. Do a "Register Now".

If you get an email message, youre good. If not, you're not.

My MEPD settings show the same thing and it's new so it should be locked, shouldn't it?

Santo

Assuming you got your blackberry right from Rogers, then yes it will be locked unless you unlock it. It won't affect you in any way unless you try to use it on a different carriers network. All unlocked means is you can use any carriers sim card.

That's locked! HorizonWirelessOnline can unlock it for ya!

How do I determine if my BlackBerry is "unlocked"? - BlackBerryFAQ

I would like to confirm whether this is true that it will still say roaming after the phone is unlocked?

Can anyone confirm that?