Hack 37. Configure Your BlackBerry for Internet Access


Unlock the PC in your BlackBerry by giving it a TCP/IP stack.

When you access your BlackBerry Browser, you are communicating in a limited way through a gateway of sorts. Your BlackBerry doesn't need its own IP address to communicate in this fashion. You can, however, depending on your provider, enable TCP/IP on your device. This allows your device to communicate directly (well, almost directly) with machines on the Internet.

Enabling TCP/IP on your device gives you access to many of the network-enabled third-party applications for the BlackBerry, some of which are highlighted in this book. If you are not a BlackBerry Enterprise Server user, this hack will give you many of the functions of the BES and MDS without being BES enabled.

4.2.1. Enable TCP/IP on Your Device

This hack requires that you have BlackBerry 4.0 or later installed on your device. If you have a version earlier than 4.0, you should install the latest version on your device [Hack #20]. Starting with 4.0, there is an additional item in your Options application called TCP, as shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1. The TCP option in the Options program


Inside the TCP settings, you'll find three fields that you will need to configure. These settings will be specific to your provider. The APN stands for Access Point Name. Every provider requires a value for the Access Point Name field. Some providers require that you fill in the username and password while others allow you to use null values for these fields. A good resource to find these settings is the Opera Access Point settings page available at http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/docs/connect/. Figure 4-2 shows the settings required for Cingular.

Figure 4-2. The Access Point settings for the Cingular network


4.2.2. What Does This Do?

You won't notice anything different about your device immediately upon enabling this. However, you have opened up a whole new world of network-enabled applications to use on your device! You can install and use different browsers [Hack #66] and email programs [Hack #67], as well as instant messaging programs [Hack #44] that integrate nicely with your BlackBerry alerting; shop on Amazon.com [Hack #58]; and even remote control your desktop machine with VNC [Hack #40]!



BlackBerry Hacks
Blackberry Hacks: Tips & Tools for Your Mobile Office
ISBN: 0596101155
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 164
Authors: Dave Mabe

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