Hey folks -

I know this may be a newbie question, but I've been unsuccessful in searching for the answer.

On most Blackberries, I find it challenging to dial numbers like 1-800-Mattress which have a alphabetical mnemonic in the phone number. This is because the letters featured on each of the Blackberry's number keys do not correspond to those of a traditional landline phone; i.e., on a traditional phone, the number 6 corresponds to the letter "M" while on my blackberry the number 6 corresponds to the letter "F."

How do you folks deal with this?

Press the ALT key to dial letters and the phone will auto-process the numbers when you hit send.

wow i didn't know that. previously i had a moto q and i just changed the call screen to show the key/letter combos

Shaun - This is great. Thanks a lot.

Wirelessly posted (Sex Machine)

Hot diggity!

Thanks!

Myk

Hi

I just tried this "alt key" with the learning annex

800-USANNEX

and it didn't work...any ideas?

Welcome to the forums.

When you dial the number you would dial '800', alt + USANNEX. Then press send.

Can you tell me what happened when you pressed send?

Just remember that you use Alt for the second set of characters/symbols on your BB's keys. At least, that's the case for text fields. For numeric fields (like when you're dialing a phone number) it's reversed: the keys default to numeric and Alt allows you to type text instead.

Rumor has it that this information is right in the online help system on the BlackBerry itself.

I've also heard that it's in the manual. Rumor has it that the following text can be found on page 22 of the User Guide for the Pearl:

The solution of using the ALT key with the letters works perfectly when dialing a number.

But what about once you are in the call, and the recorded message asks you to type letters? For example, typing the three-letter airport code after I call USAirways flight status. Or typing the person's last name when I am using employee look-up when I call a company? The ALT solution does not seem to work for that.

Any suggestions on how to deal with that?

You are correct. The dialing of alpha characters does not work in call, since there is a "conversion" process that takes place when you press the send button.

Other than having a phone nearby with the letters on it, I am not sure how to help you on this.

Funny. Seems to work fine on my 8310. FWIW it's running 4.5.0.55.

Tones are generated as I type. No need to hit the green/send key to convert letters.

works for me, too.