Verizon BlackBerry 8830 as a USB Modem for OS X?

PixelChatter · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 2

I recently jumped ship from a standard cellphone into the BlackBerry crowd. I ended up getting the newer Verizon BB 8830 World Edition.

When I had my regular cell phone, the Samsung A930, I used it with VZAccess Manager as a USB EVDO modem with my MacBook Pro and everything was peachy.

However, with my new BlackBerry, I've only been able to use it as a modem over Bluetooth and I have noticed a significant speed drop, to a point where I can no longer rely on it as a great high speed connection, whereas I could with my old phone.

So since I'm on the same network, same computer, etc..., the only conclusion is that Bluetooth is my bottleneck and I would again experience the speeds I had been if I were able to use my 8830 as a USB modem instead of a Bluetooth modem. I thought that this would be trivial but I can't seem to find any information on it.

I even tried using VZAccess manager, which it did recognize the phone but then I realized that even it was connecting to the phone over Bluetooth.

So the question remains, is it possible to use the BB 8830 as a USB modem or is it only possible with Bluetooth? If someone has succeeded in this, could they please post instructions, link to drivers, etc...?

Cheers

Alex · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:41 pm Post subject:

you may want to read this:
http://www.evdoforums.com/thread3364.html

as far as i can tell, there is still no solution to USB tether a blackberry.

PixelChatter · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 2

That's a bummer, I've been doing even more research and it seems as if there just aren't any BB 8830 drivers out for OS X yet.

However, I was able to get it working as a USB modem for Windows in parallels and then just share Parallels connection to OS X so that seems to be some kind of a solution, but it's a bit annoying to fire up parallels just for using the internet.

drumcell · EVDO Newbie Joined: 01 Jul 2007 Posts: 1

mr.e-man · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:56 pm Post subject:

PixelChatter,

I'm interested to know how you went about setting up your 8830 as a Bluetooth modem for OS X. I have a MacBook Pro and just recently switched to an 8830. Previously I was using my XV6700 PocketPC as a Bluetooth modem without any trouble. I spent a few minutes trying to get my 8830 setup the same, but was running in to some mental blocks. I know this isn't "officially supported" by Verizon, but that's OK - I just need a quick and easy backup solution for a broadband (we can debate the speeds later) connection.

Thanks!
_________________
Blackberry 8830

tgaume

[quote="drumcell"]

mr.e-man · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:25 pm Post subject:

Thanks for jump-starting my brain, I think I got this figured out. I was thinking way too hard when my Mac wanted to do all of the hard work for me. ;^)

Cheers!
_________________
Blackberry 8830

Alex · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:18 pm Post subject:

pixelchatter/tgaume:

when tethered, what kind of speeds are you getting on macs?

please post some graphics from speedtest.net or dslreports.com?

thanks!

tgaume · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:25 pm Post subject:

mr.e-man · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 12:59 pm Post subject:

Maybe I spoke too soon. Is there some other "hack" I have to do in order to get the data connection to authenticate? I tried the connection via Bluetooth on my Verizon Blackberry 8830.

I'm using the Verizon Support (PC 5220) modem script
<mobile number>@vzw3g.com as username
vzw as password
dialing #777 for access

I get an "Authentication falied" message after it tries to connect. Any ideas? Thanks.
_________________
Blackberry 8830

tgaume · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 1:23 pm Post subject:

mr.e-man · Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:28 pm Post subject:

Yes, <mobile number> is my 10-digit mobile number. Is there any way that I can test that my credentials are authenticating? Anywhere I can use my @vzw3g.com login other than when trying to establish this connection? As I mentioned perviously, I did this with my previous PocketPC XV6700. I don't see why anything would have changed since then.

Since I'm getting an "Authentication failed" message then I'm assuming that the connection and modem script are correct. Odd. I'll keep hacking on it and see what I can get. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
_________________
Blackberry 8830

UncleRobin · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 14

For about a week I switched from a 6700 to the 8830. After the switch I ran into the same problem of Authentication failed. The fix was a call to Verizon to add a data package (sorry I can't recall the name - $10.00/mo?) to the BlackBerry data plan to allow tethering. Apparently the BlackBerry data plan by itself does not allow the 8830 to be tethered.

UR

mr.e-man · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:11 am Post subject:

Thanks UncleRobin for jump starting my brain. I called Verizon and sure enough I had no "tethering" plan on my account. I added that ($15/mo) and was then able to successfully tether my Blackberry 8830 to my MacBook Pro using Bluetooth. Here are the results of a few speed tests that I performed at dslreports.com using the Linkline server ...

Verizon 1X service using au cdmaOne Bluetooth Adapter modem script
82 down / 47 up

Verizon EVDO service using au cdmaOne Bluetooth Adapter modem script
116 down / 69 up

Verizon EVDO service using Verizon Support (PC 5220) modem script
250 down / 101 up

_________________
Blackberry 8830

mr.e-man · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:21 am Post subject:

Just test on Speedtest.net as well. I'm not getting the same results as previous posts. Any suggestions? I'm connecting via Bluetooth. Thanks.

Verizon EVDO service using Verizon Support (PC 5220) modem script
97 up / 65 down

_________________
Blackberry 8830