[frankpc]

Hello.
A friend gave his older at&t blackberry 9300 to me several months ago. It had no simcard. Today I removed the simcard and battery from my 8310 and slid them into the 9300. The 9300 is asking for a password. The screen on the 9300 looks fine and it is receiving 3g. My 8310 is not a 3g phone.

OK... So I don't want to alter my simcard since it works find in the 8310 and I don't want to alter something with my friend's account. But can I just enter 10 wrong passwords and then his phone will be reset and I can go forward from there? I did sent him an email about this, but I really don't want him to have to give me his password since he could very well be using that password on his new phone.

I am surprised that the 9300 has his screen picture on it and is receiving 3G and is asking for a password. I thought the simcard would carry that stuff with it.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks,

Frank

[dc/dc]

The previous owner had a password set. If you are indeed that person's friend, they will give you the password. If you are not actually friend's with the previous owner, you should return the device to them.

[frankpc]

Thanks for the quick response. Although that really didn't answer any questions.

I am currently waiting for him to respond to my email. But again, I would rather not have him give me his password.

I have now discovered that the 9300 acts the same without my simcard in it. That obviously means that if I enter 10 wrong passwords, my simcard will not be affected. However, I don't want to risk permanently locking the 9300. I don't mind losing his contacts and calendar if those items are stored in the phone, but I don't want to risk losing the contacts and calendar, etc. on his new phone.

I understand you are attempting to protect "the true owner" of this phone. I read enough threads on this forum already to understand the issue. I also know there is no way for me to prove that indeed I am the new owner of the phone. I am just asking for advice regarding how I can avoid causing damage to his account and to the phone.

[Motorcycle Mama]

Entering the password incorrectly will not "permanently lock" the phone.

Entering the password incorrectly will not have any affect on your friend's "new phone".

You friend's "screen picture" and "password" would not have been stored on your friend's SIM card.

[tsac]

It may be better to wipe the phone so you can start with a clean OS.

[frankpc]

I just heard back from the "donor". He gave two passwords to try and neither one worked. Would it seem reasonable to call at&t and ask them for assistance? He and I both use at&t.

MM: thanks for the reassurance. That means a lot to me.

tasc: Wiping the phone would be just fine. He has no use for it. He gave the CD to me.

Is it correct to assume the purpose of the password is to protect his personal information? Without having his simcard, I fail to understand how someone could use the phone illegally.

Once the phone is wiped, could I just insert my simcard to use it. Sorry for the questions, but there just seems to be a lot I don't know about this password business.

[NJBlackBerry]

Most people keep their contacts, notes, calendar, tasks and e-mail on the BlackBerry itself, and not on the SIM card. The SIM card has limited storage.

AT&T won't help you. If you wipe it out and put the SIM card in, you will be able to use it.

If you have data on your 8310 that you want to keep, you can use the Device Switch Wizard in Desktop Manager to copy data from the old BB to the new one.

[frankpc]

NJ, thanks.

I've read about doing hard resets, but most places seem to assume you have access to the options in the phone. In my case, the phone is locked. Am I right in believing that if I enter the wrong password 10 times, I am then prompted to enter "Blackberry" and the phone will reset to factory defaults?

If so, that would be fine. Like you say, my contacts are stored in my 8310.

Assuming I am correct in proceeding to enter the wrong password 10 times, should my simcard be inserted when I do that or does that matter?

Thanks.

[NJBlackBerry]

Doesn't matter where your SIM card is.
Wiping out the BB by typing the password incorrectly has no impact on the SIM.

Now, how are sure that your contacts are on your SIM card. Are you sure they aren't on the 8310?

[frankpc]

I do not know whether contacts are on simcard or in the 8310.

If I went ahead and did the 10 wrong passwords on the 9300, I could then insert the simcard into the 9300 after it had fully reset and see whether the contacts show up. If they didn't, I suppose that means they are in my 8310.

Does that seem like the right way to go?

[Motorcycle Mama]

For goodness sakes.

Enter the darn password incorrectly the set number times. Enter "blackberry". Continue entering the password incorrectly until the device wipes.

Then start over.

You can use the BlackBerry Desktop Software to copy the data from your 8310 (if it's stored on it) to the new device.

[frankpc]

OK!

thanks for the nudge MM.

I did the 10 bad passwords, Typed Blackberry, and the 9300 reset. I moved the simcard over from the 8310, and the 9300 accepted it and we are set!

Thanks for the help!

More questions to come I'm sure.

Frank

[devnull]

sheeeesh

[tsac]

backup the 8310 also...just in case

[frankpc]

Thank you.

I backed it up prior to doing this stuff. However, the contacts remained on my 8310. They did not transfer with the simcard. I haven't transferred the contacts from my PC to the 9300 yet.

Thanks again for the support.

Frank

[tsac]

One last thing to do. Post back and update when you finish

[frankpc]

I still have a couple of roadblocks. And after reading a bunch of posts, some of them yours, I'm afraid I know the answer. I do not have a data plan, but I was hoping to be able to do personal email and Internet via wifi. I thought it work like my iPad. I have come to understand that a wifi connection only allows your BB to connect to the BIS. And that only through the BIS may your BB obtain access to the Internet and email servers. Perhaps an AT&T dataplan includes BIS access. Or perhaps BIS access is in addition to the AT&T dataplan.

Am I getting closer?

Thanks again for your help.

Frank

[Motorcycle Mama]

You cannot access personal email or internet via WiFi without a BlackBerry Data Plan.

Regardless, AT&T will automatically add the data plan.

[frankpc]

Thanks. I was afraid of that. It seems with an AT&T data plan, AT&T just sends your Internet and email and GPS location requests to Blackberry's BIS. And it doesn't really matter whether you access AT&T via wifi or from 3G.

If that is true, I don't understand how using local wifi really saves you any costs unless when you purchase a data plan, there are additional charges for bandwidth usage. Since I have never had a data plan since I retired, I do not know what they do cost.

Thanks MM,
Frank

[tsac]

WiFi will bypass the cell network and allow you to use ( most) the data features free. I would suggest the lowest available plan and be sure to use WIFI when ever possible.