Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Verizon 8330 Blackberry Bluetooth Tethering Working

After last night's firmware upgrade on my Verizon Blackberry 8330, tethering on my Mac wasn't working via either USB or Bluetooth.  This morning I got into the office and googled for the instructions on how to setup Bluetooth tethering (which isn't officially supported by VZW, but works anyway).

This post by "sirforce" on Crackberry Forums describes how to configure Mac OS X.5 to get onto VZW's EVDO network using a Blackberry 8330 and Bluetooth.  I am reproducing it here in the interest of spreading the knowledge, and in case the forum should disappear.

1. Added tethering your Verizon service plan for an additional $15/month.

2. Pair your phone with your Mac/MacBook via BlueTooth This worked on my MacBook Pro and Mac Pro workstation.

3. Add a new dial up modem in the networking preferences panel-
Configuration: Default
Telephone Number: #777
Account name: 3015551212@vzw3.com (change the number to your verizon mobile #)
Password: vzw

3a. Under advanced options:
Vendor: Other
Model: Verizon Support (PC 5220)
Check Enable error correction and compression in modem

Dial Mode: Wait for dial tone before dialing
Dial: Tone
Sound: On
The remaining tabs: DNS, WINS, Proxy, etc are all set to default settings no changes are necessary

4. Turn off your AirPort or disconnect your ethernet then press connect to dial up and enjoy near broad band surfing via Verizon -

If you're not on the EVDO network then your speeds will be more "dial up" classic like.

Once connected, your phone should have a notice at the top of the screen "Modem Mode Enabled"


On a side note:
I setup a friends modem without tethering on his plan and once the internet was connected and then attempted to load google.com. The web page that appeared was a verizon page that would allow the addition of tethering to the users account for $15 just by clicking the yes I agree, pretty cool!

8 comments:

Jarrett and Marijane said...

8I'm trying to tether a 8330 curve to an ibookg4. I'm having problems applying the settings to mine. Any help. Thanks Jarrett

Dave Markowitz said...

I need more info. What OS are you running? Are you getting any error messages?

Anonymous said...

Awesome! It worked for me!

Anonymous said...

This worked GREAT. Thank you so much for the post. I am so happy that I don't need to use that USB cord.

Anonymous said...

I have a blackberry 8830 world edition and I'm working on a 4 year old compaq running windows XP, will this still work? Also, does using the bb as a modem dial-up style eat voice minutes?

Dave Markowitz said...

It should work on your XP machine if your plan allows tethering. But I don't guarantee it. If not, get the Verizon Connection Manager software and use USB.

If you have a VZW BB with tethering, doing so does not use up voice minutes.

King Solomon said...

This works as long as you have the right modem script. I couldn't get it to happen until I tried several different scripts. I actually found them at

http://www.taniwha.org.uk/

I downloaded the scripts file for Blackberry,
took the modem scripts out of their folder and placed all of them (3) in the modem script file on my hard drive and WALAA!

Total wrestling time: 5.5 hours......: )

I actually went to Verizon (physical location) and called their tech support, needless to say that was pointless. Thanks for posting, this was a critical piece to the puzzle.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the informative post. Not enough of these out there, that's for sure.

Anyone have any news on Snow Leopard and this particular issue? As soon as I upgraded, my setup no longer worked, and there are several options in the setup that are not there after one upgrades to SN. Thanks in advance.
Bentley