Are there any Realtors in the United States or otherwise that feel the same way? All the phones for the Supra E-Key key boxes by GE suck!! I've e-mailed and will continue to e-mail Blackberry Corp. about this issue to see if they'll make any exceptions as to this little tiny add on that would make a Realtors life so much easier (and cheaper) to see if they EVER have any plans to add this feature...

I see that Blackberry has an USB port... Is anyone here familiar with IRDA ports being used for GE's Supra E-Key? Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about regarding this technology for Real Estate key boxes on houses that are for sale? Any ideas or help here to get me the #@$% away from my current Treo would be greatly appreciated! I desperately want a Blackberry but can't afford the extra $100.00 per month cost it would cost me to own one. Also, I don't want to feel like Batman with a tool belt on to do my business... as it would require me to carry a separate key just to access my lock boxes to get into houses if I tried to own this phone. Love it but it needs an IRDA port...

BTW... here's an interesting statistic I heard the other day... Realtors make up 80% of minutes used on cell phones in the United States! That's quite the market to capture for Blackberry Corp...

Blackberries have never had IR ports, unfortunatly. I would bet a change in the Supra E-Key boxes will take place before RIM adds InfraRed support.

I'll contact the people at BlackBerry Corp and see what they say

What a crock.
Where'd you hear it? From another realtor?

Do you think there's any way to get a third party IR port to use via a USB cable or anything to get this feature to work? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated... It just sucks that we're limited to the ancient Treo technology for Real Estate. I mean, I spend most of my days resetting my phone to make it work properly and I'm on my 8th Treo... To top that off, all my colleagues are going through the same problems...

Thanks for your quick response!

No, I think I heard it from GE Security Systems. They were telling me that one of their reps were telling them that information... Even if the percentage were lower there's still a huge market out there and I know it would broaden Blackberries earnings. This is all irrelevant but I thought it was an interesting point none the less...

Thanks for responding, maybe you have some more ideas for me? I would like to somehow use this phone for the purpose of opening these key boxes and get away from Palm Treo's but I would have to do it using some kind of infrared technology. I was thinking perhaps tethering a small IR port via USB cable? There's gotta be a possibility out there somehow...

If you have any luck let me know!

I actually heard that Blackberry used to have an IR port and that they still have the lens and LED's but that they're now rendered useless? You heard anything like that?

Older BlackBerry devices had the potential for an IR port, but never implemented one.
There's virtually no chance that RIM would incorporate one into any BlackBerry, as they are largely useless.

IR is very "yesterday" and the mobile world is constantly moving forward, not backward.

I would say you should give up on your BlackBerry IR quest and save yourself from getting your hopes up unnecessarily.

I agree with Penguin. GE security systems needs to come up with new technology. InfraRed is dying, bluetooth is taking over. IMO, GE Security systems needs to come up with bluetooth key boxes.

I understand your frustration with Treo but the BB isn't going to provide this function, likely, ever.

I strongly agree Penguin... IR is yesterdays tech but I do feel there are still multiple uses for the application.

As for "getting my hopes up"... I appreciate the concern but they're always "up" and I will never give that away.

As for "giving up"... I don't do that either.

Thanks for your responses!

No, they used to have a red lens (not even with an LED) but no BlackBerry has ever had IR circuitry. Incorrect information.

I agree with both of you... In fact, I already called GE Security about a month ago regarding the bluetooth issue and stated my opinion on how they should implement something with bluetooth. I think that rather than "giving up" on the whole thing, though, I will continue to push. How else is anything going to get done with anything? We have to voice our opinions!

Thank you guys again for your posts!

Interesting... It was from another message board that I read this. I can't remember which one as it was a while back that I did the search but if I can think of it or find it I'll post it for ya.

Thanks for the post!

I would focus on having GE catch up with technology. RIM is working on BB's with wifi, GPS, and cameras. InfraRed is not on the list of any added hardware on the BB within, at least, the next year. Since it's dying anyway, I doubt it will be added after that. Unfortunatly, there's virtually NO chance of getting IR on a BB.

Common misconception on the older BB's. Many people thought that was an IR port but it NEVER was an IR port.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

In my area many of the realty companies are going away from the IR as the lack of devices that support it and maintenance costs. So a couple friends in that line of work have told me!

I agree with JC time for GE to step up to bluetooth

I am also a Realtor and held out as long as I could due to the lock box IR issue. I finally decided to dump my Treo after many years. My 8820 is 1000% better than the Treo. I wish I would have made the switch long ago.

The stupid GE Supra keypad to open the lock boxes is $180 in my area. What a rippoff! It is basically a remote control. No wonder they are in no hurry to upgrade the technology.

I'm not even sure if the board I'm a member of ever allowed us to use the IR from a Treo - you'd still need a rented keypad because the members use a combination of the older grey boxes (required a physical connection) and the newer blue ones. It wouldn't have been something I would even consider switching to a Treo for, anways.

This summer we are switching all boxes to the new style ones and the new keypads (ActiveKey) will have GSM wireless connections so no more cradles needing for nightly syncing. Neat.