Update: Some have asked about a tethering solution that works when the Blackberry is plugged into the computer with a USB cable. A product called iMobiMac allows you to do this. It is quite cumbersome though, requiring the user to set up proxies on the Mac and run a program on the Blackberry which acts as a proxy. For this reason, I would recomment sticking to Bluetooth, but the USB option is there.
I have a Blackberry 8830 through Alltel, and wanted to be able to use it to access the internet with my MacBook Pro over Bluetooth. After trolling the internet for hours, I was unable to find any instructions on how to do this with a CDMA service provider, such as Verizon, Sprint or Alltel. The instructions that follow probably will not work for GSM providers such as AT&T/Cingular or T-Mobile. There are plenty of articles on the internet about tethering a Mac with GSM providers.
- Pair your phone to your Mac using Bluetooth (instructions that follow are specific to a Blackberry 8830)
- Turn on Bluetooth on your phone: On the Blackberry 8830, click Menu (has a Blackberry icon on it), then click "Manage Connections." If the Bluetooth box isn't checked, select it to turn on Bluetooth.
- Turn on Bluetooth on your Mac: Open System Preferences (Finder->Applications->System Preferences). Click the Bluetooth icon, then make sure the "Bluetooth Power" checkbox is checked. If not, check it to turn on Bluetooth.
- In the same pane where you enabled the Bluetooth power on your Mac, find and click a button labeled "Set Up New Device." The Bluetooth Setup Assistant should open. Click Continue.
- Select "Mobile phone" as your device type. Click Continue.
- Your Mac should find your phone (Blackberry 8830). Select it and press Continue.
- Your Mac will gather information about your phone. When it is complete, press Continue.
- Your Mac gives you a passkey (a set of numbers) which your Blackberry should now be asking you to enter. Type the numbers into your phone.
- The Mac now asks you to select the services you want to use with your mobile phone. Make sure "Access the Internet with your phone's data connection" is checked and click "Continue"
- Bluetooth pairing is complete.
- The Bluetooth Mobile Phone Set Up dialog box is now displayed by Mac OS X. For the "Phone Vendor" select Sprint. For "Phone Model" select "PCS Vision". Find your username and password from the table below. The phone number is always "#777". Make sure the checkboxes at the bottom are checked, particularly the box labeled "Show Modem status in the menu bar" Click Continue.
- Select Quit to quit.
- On the Blackberry, press Menu, then "Set up Bluetooth"
- Highlight the Mac computer you just paired, then press Menu, then "Device Properties"
- Change the Trusted field from "Ask" to "Yes." Press Menu then Save.
- Back to the Mac. On the menu bar (at the top of your screen which displays the time), at the right your should see the Modem status icon
. Click this icon, then click "Connect Bluetooth" to initiate a connection. Note: this may fail if you are connected to any other network, so if you are testing at home, disconnect from any wired ethernet or wireless WiFi networks before attempting to connect to the CDMA phone network.
Problems? Read my article on how to debug this type of connection. You need to be pretty resourceful to resolve connection issues though.Common Usernames/Passwords for CDMA Providers Provider Username Password Alltel 2125551212@alltel.net alltel Verizon 2125551212@vzw3g.com vzw Sprint your vision username your vision password
Note: Replace 2125551212 with your cell number
For more info on CDMA and DUN, read
Everything about CDMA-like Providers and DUN - Turn on Bluetooth on your phone: On the Blackberry 8830, click Menu (has a Blackberry icon on it), then click "Manage Connections." If the Bluetooth box isn't checked, select it to turn on Bluetooth.
1 comments:
I have successfully gotten a USB tether between my macbook and my bb 8830.. since i kinda figured it out on my own, and i remember finding no help on the interwebs, i figured i'd post it here since this is a top result from google on the subject.
i am on verizon and this uses verizon software, so im not sure if it will help other users... although it uses the os x network preferences, so i would try changing those settings to see if it will work with other access.
first, I downloaded VZAccess Manager and even though it claims not to support my bb on the mac, i got it to work.
i have a backup of the installer at http://www.projectbutter.com/bb/vzam please don't download it if you are not an authorized user of the software. that being said, when i looked in the contents of the installer package, inside contents/ i found archive.pax.gz, which installer uses as a model for the files to copy.
inside the folder structure, i found the files that get copied to /system/library/extensions and, lo and behold, the was a kernel extension called blackberryUSB.kext and (and blackberryUSBdev.kext) im not sure if a normal install would have placed those files where they belong or not, because by that time i had already manually moved them into the indicated folder. i was hoping this would allow me to use mac os x's built in menu extra as i do with bluetooth, but it still requires the vz access manager to connect (i noticed a "initializing device" status message, and feel that's the missing link.) a small prive to pay for USB speed broadband access for my mac via my blackberry.
I hope this comment finds other bb/mac users who have all but given up their quest to get online at full speed. please post your results with changing the dial-up number, user and pass to conform to other access providers if you get it to work, i have no idea how that will go, but it looks slightly promising. plus.. if anyone figures out how to get internet connect / the modem menu extra to skip the need for vzaccess manager, please kindly let me know how at butter(a)mac*com also, if this post helps you i'd love to know it was worth writing it up, so please drom me a mail and let me know.
best of luck, and happy roadwarrioring,
Butter.
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