Since last year, i was wondering about the email i received from my boss. It contains the ubiquitous line “Sent from my Blackberry..”
I am so poor I can only afford a Nokia 3200 for a phone. Andso not wanting to feel envy to Blackberry users, I never actually bothered myself to read articles about the product.
When i transferred to another company, our GMs were using Blackberry devices. And i thought, well, tha thing is for executives only. My boss was gushing about how great Blackberry is, but since it is synonymous to “expensive”, he can’t really convince me to buy a Blackberry. The Blackberry Bold is US 550-600. He tried to offer me his newest Blackberry Storm- 6 months to pay, but still, no go for me, especially that the Storm has no wi-fi.
Until my officemate from Indonesia offered a deal, three of us will order Blackberry Curve 8900 from Jakarta at 480USD. I thought that one is OK.
And so, a week after, my BB Curve arrived.
I was worried about how to have it activated undr my MTN Sim card. The thought of endless documetary requirements made me delay the registration. So for a week, i was using the wi-fi of my BB to connect to internet. Until my colleaue howed me how to activate the MTN Blackberry service by just sending a text message to MTN Blackberry Information Sserver (BIS). Wow, in just 30 minutes and 5,000 naira load, my BB service magically started. The word “EDGE” replaced the “GSM”. And i am guaranteed 24×7 connection. But wait, there’s more — i am using a PRE-PAID SIM card.!
I can’t believe activating BB service in Nigeria was that EASY!
Very unlike Philippine providers like Smart and Globe — too much of control freaks. You can’t get Blackberry if you do not sign-in as Post-paid customer, and the bandwidth usage is limited.
I check their respective websites to learn about their Blackberry services and i am convinced that when I go for vacation, I will not subscribe to BB service to these two providers.
And there i was,whole Sunday tinkering my BB. So what if there is no internet in the house or office. My BB ofers me push email, Yahoo messenger and Facebook.
I have 3 email accounts ‘pushed’ into my BB. An MTN BB email (default), a Gmail (free POP), a Yahoomail (i paid 20USD to activate POP Mailplus), and a YMail account (free POP).
I downloaded YM, GoogleTalk and FB. That is aside from BB’s own IM.
The advantage of havin BB in Nigeria is i can hold it and use it anywhere, anytime without fear of “holdap” or “snatching”…
Ah, talk about connectivity and mobility.
My only problem with BB Curve is that it does not play Flash movies. And so i cannot check my Farm Town.
Tsk tsk tsk.
August 14, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Hi there,
I just got the Blackberry Storm and have an MTN prepaid sim. How do I activate my bb? What number do I need to text to? And do I need to load N5000 onto my phone first? Thanks in advance
August 14, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Yes, you need to have more than 5,000 naira load. I loaded 6,000 naira.
I suggest you connect on a Sunday.
1. Send text message to 21600 with the word “BIS”.
2. Wait for reply from MTN to send you instructions.
3. Turn Off your BB, remove the battery for 5 mins.
4. Out back your battery and ON the BB. May take 5 minutes for it to load the system.
5. You will know when yo have connected to MTN’s Blackberry Information Server (BIS) if the signal sign on upper-right corner of screen says “EDGE” or “GPRS”. Must be in capital letters. If this is not the case, remove the battery again.
6. Go to Options, Advance Options, Host Routing Table. You should be able to see “Register”. Click on it and follow instruction.
7. First thing BIS will ask you is to make a BIS account under MTN. Make sure you write down the username/emailname and password you provided. This wil be helpful later on in entering the MTN BB website.
8. Next, it will ask you to enroll an email. If you have GMAIL or YMail, set it up. You cannot setup Yahoo mail unless you havae subscribe to Yahoo MailPlus. Gmail is faster to implement.
9. Once you finished setting up Gmail, click OK and Done.
10. Put off power and remove battery for 3 minutes. Then insert again. It will take a while to update the BB system. When it comes back to life, you should be seeing “EDGE” in the signal icon on uper-right corner of screen.
11. For YM, Facebook, and Googletalk applications, go to Downloads folder in Main Menu. Click download icon. Check under “Personalize”, select IM & Social Networking.
12. Choose your IM and download. Follow instructions.
Good luck.
This works only for prepaid SIM. For postpaid SIM, they need to go to MTN office to activate their BB.
September 11, 2009 at 6:25 am
Thank you so much for your help. I actually got it working before I found your reply. I just recieved a text from MTN to tell me another N5000 will be deducted in the next few days. The shop who sold me the phone said the BIS fee of N5000 was a once off fee not a monthly payment? Obviously he was wrong? It’s quite expensive compared to other countries?
September 21, 2009 at 12:56 pm
hello don,
Got me a blackberry storm too,and yes,m’loving it! Only problem is,for some reason,i cant check my account balance or load credit either(i use MTN too)…..a friend got it fixed for me once(he pressed a few things on the phone,and abrakadabra,i could check),but its back to its former state and unfortunately,i havent been able to conyact my friend. Can you help?
PS: Is there a cheaper plan than N5000 for activating(glo mobile allows a N400 daily and N1500 weekly also)
September 22, 2009 at 2:48 am
my friend has the same problem.
he can receive email, IMs and SMS but cannot send out or reply. can’t even make a call.
he went to MTN but they couldn’t repair it.
cost-wise, i think MTN is still cheaper…
November 18, 2009 at 9:55 pm
hi, i have the same problem, cannot check balance, is there anypossibility of you remembering what was done to fix the problem the first time
cheers
November 20, 2009 at 10:35 pm
hi found solution to not been able to load credit or check balance, i think whats going on is mtn cannot carry 3g properly on the storm and wont admit it.
go to manage connections , mobile network options and change network mode to 2g, u should be able to check ur balance and all after that.
September 25, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Hello Don,
I recently got a second hand blackberry, loaded it with N5,000 and also sent an sms (BIS) to 21600.
Several times later I still keep getting the response that I am not a valid prepaid customer.
I have a new prepaid sim in the BB.
Any suggestions?
Thanks and God bless.
Ized
September 26, 2009 at 9:55 am
that i do not know. you have to visit an MTN office and make inquiry.
November 9, 2009 at 11:06 pm
please I can’t check my balance on my bb tour and its frustrating and also please if I have a contract line from mtn do I need to pay the 5k and can I pay with the preloaded money on my fone which I can’t check by the way
November 11, 2009 at 10:17 pm
1. on balance checking, can you check before you subscribe to BB?
2. i think you can pay using your preloaded money. everytime you rload your fone to more than 5k, BB will automatically allocate/deduct the 5k from your balance. the remainder will for voice and text.