8100T says "No message services configured"
 

I use my 8100T for phone and text messaging only, and I sync it with Entourage on my PowerBook G4 using PocketMac. I have not activated Internet service, and I don't want to. However, I can only exchange text messages with other T-Mobile users. When I send a text message to a Cingular user, a check mark appears next to the message in the log with a tiny D in it, and I've gotten the message: "No message services configured. You will be able to save draft only."

My local T-Mobile store tells me sometimes T-Mobile phones just won't send to other networks, but my son's cheap T-Mobile phone works fine sending and receiving messages from Cingular phones, so I think the guy I talked with just doesn't know how to solve this!

When I open Options > Advanced Options >Service Book, there are no entries.

I did not load software from the "Blackberry User Tools" disk supplied with my Pearl. Is there something on there that would help?

I've seen instructions for addressing this "No message services.." problem, but they involve Desktop Manager, and I have no idea where that is...

Help!

You should be able to send SMS messages without "Internet Service", but it sounds like you're trying to send email which you can't do without a BlackBerry Data plan.

Right now, when you go to Messages, click the wheel and select Compose SMS to use only that service. That should work. If you simply hit [Enter] when you're on a date line, you'll go into composing an email which you can't do at this point.

If you want to send email - or use a Browser or IM or anything that connects to the Internet - you'll have to get some level of a BlackBerry Data plan.

Once you do, you should have an icon for Personal Email Setup on your BlackBerry - or something to that effect. It will bring you to a Web page where you establish a login ID (which will become your blackberry.net email address) after entering your PIN and IMEI numbers. Your PIN and IMEI numbers are under Options --> Status. If the site doesn't enter the numbers automatically, you can copy the numbers (one at a time) on from the Status Screen, and then use [Alt][Esc] (in a similar fashion to using [Alt][Tab] in Windows) to switch between the email setup and the status screen.

You can also set this up on the web by going to:
https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=t-mobile

Once you've established your account, click Service Books on the left, and then hit the Send Service Books button on the next screen.

If that's all you do, you'll only have your blackberry.net email account to send and receive emails. I don't recommend that because you don't have access to the inbox, there's no SPAM filtering on that domain, and it's impossible to manually filter SPAM from that email address. Instead, use a free email account that provides SPAM filtering like Gmail or Yahoo, and then set that account up at the web site above. They have good SPAM filtering so you won't get all that garbage on your BlackBerry.

JerryD, since the OP wrote "I have not activated Internet service" a long e-mail about sending service books really wasn't a proper answer..

In any event, the BlackBerry is not like your sons cheap T-Mobile phone. You must have a BlackBerry Data Plan on the account. Without a BlackBerry Data Plan, as Jerry wrote, all you will have is voice and SMS text messaging. No Internet, no e-mail. You must have a BlackBerry Data Plan.

Desktop Manager has nothing to do with the No Message Services error; DM is used to sync Outlook (or some other PIM) to your handheld. It is also used to load programs, and to backup and restore data. It is also only for the PC; to sync up your BB to a MAC, you will need a program called PocketMac.

I see you've also posted in another thread - this may get confusing...

This tells me that you are likely using the blackberry messenger service and not the SMS text messaging service. Try sending SMS Text instead.

Still doesn't work...
 

Thank you for your replies.

All I wish to use is phone and text messaging, which is why I have not activated internet service and don't plan to.
.
I have been careful to select SMS text messaging when I try to send text messages. I'm NOT trying to send email! I'm not using Blackberry messenger service. I do know the difference. As I said earlier, I can send SMS text to other T-mobile phones; the problem I have is that I cannot send text messages friends using the Cingular network.

Maybe I saw the error message because I accidentally hit "send email." But when I send text messages, I don't get the error message; they simply don't arrive at my friends' Cingular network phones.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

then tmobile likely has your outside network outgoing sms messages blocked.

if you can successfully send messages within tmobiles network, it's not likely to be a phone specific problem, but rather an authentication failure when it tries to leave the tmo net.

re: can't send text messages outside t-mobile network
 

So...what can I do about this problem? Yesterday I spent over an hour on the phone with T-Mobile. I got the feeling I wasn't reaching anyone who knew what they were talking about. They finally said the problem was at Cingular (I'd been trying to send messages to a Cingular user).

I'm really frustrated with this! How do I get T-Mobile to unblock/authenticate my outgoing messages?

D.

PS I'm NOT techno-savvy, so if you offer instructions, please be specific every step of the way! Thanks!