The Definitive AT&T / Cingular Blackberry & TomTom Plus services Thread

[lordhamster]

I have a Blackberry 8800. I also have an unlimited Blackberry data plan. For months now, I've been trying to get my TomTom One to be able to use plus services (for traffic etc) through the Blackberry. Until yesterday I had no luck.

All previous threads have always focused on settings.

1st you need to have a version 4.2 operating system on your Blackberry. If you don't have it, download the latest from RIM for your phone.

For example, they specify setting TomTom to:

wap.cingular
username: (e-mail address removed)
password: CINGULAR1
Number Dialed: *99#
Initialization String: +cgdcont=1,"IP","WAP.CINGULAR"

And also setting the phone's APN settings to

APN: wap.cingular
username: (e-mail address removed)
password: CINGULAR1



Anyway, so I would go about the process, I hit connect to phone. Then I would pair the two phones. I would select "other" or "blackberry 8100" as the phone brand. Then I selected "united states" and then "cingular wireless (media net) as the option for data.

Usually I would get to 65% and the connection process would die. I'd try the manual setting etc all to no avail.

Then I would read posts on blackberryforums.com and tomtomforums.com about people sucessfully connecting with the exact same setup and nearly the same settings.

Finally after some intense research of the issue I realized what the problem was. Thanks to Stinsonddog of blackberryforums.com and his fantastic set of info on http://home.comcast.net/~tamsterra/index.html

The problem, in a nutshell, is that if you are a cingular Unlimited Blackberry user, you do not have access to wap.cingular or any of the other apn gateways by default. All of your web traffic goes through a special blackberry.net apn.

What this means is that many 3rd party applications (and also TomTomPlus) can't get to the server they need to use the web.

According to Stinsonddog, this issue can be solved in two ways:

1. Get a MediaMax dataplan (or add the pay as you go option)
or
2. Use a full BES server or BES hosting company. (allegedly this will route all traffic through BES somehow)

This also explains why some people seem to have no problems connecting with their blackberry while others do. I'd be willing to bet that those who's connections have worked are BES users, while the others are BIS users.

So, to test the theory that the unlimited plan does not give access to wap.cingular, I went to the cingular/att website and added the MediaMax 200 feature to my account. As soon as I did that, I tried to use TomTom Plus data again and BAM, this time it worked!! (Please note, you may need to resend service books).


I don't have time to set up or migrate to a BES server at the moment, but eventually I'll do that because it seems that with the BES server you can get the benefit of using the apn without having a mediamax plan.

Thanks to Stinsonddog and all others who have posted on this topic in the past.

 

[digital-flex]

Wow, thanks for sharing the hard work.

Im sure a lot of people will find this useful.

 

[lordhamster]

No problem, i hope people do find it useful. I think this applies to all cingular blackberries on the new 4.2OS.


I was going nuts because some people said it works no problem, and I could never get mine to work... I know some guys on this board were in the same boat.

 

[juancruz1974]

I tried your experiment (change to MediaMax plan) but now have "DATA CONNECTION REFUSED" in my blackberry. I have tried to resend the service books with no success... since there are so many of them I might have simply chosen the incorrect one. Which one worked for you?

 

[lordhamster]

I tried your experiment (change to MediaMax plan) but now have "DATA CONNECTION REFUSED" in my blackberry. I have tried to resend the service books with no success... since there are so many of them I might have simply chosen the incorrect one. Which one worked for you?

You log into the BIS server, then select Servicebooks -> Send Service books. this is done on a computer w/ a web-browser.... not your blackberry

The URL for the cingular site is https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=mycingular

you should have an account on there already for your BIS email

BTW.. you don't want to Change to media Max... try to ADD media max via the website in addition to your blackberry plan.


Chances are someone at cingular who you talked to on the phone replaced your blackberry plan with the media max. Thats why you get Data connection refused.

 

[ghoticov]

Well, I am on BES and I still can't connect. I guess I could add MediaMax to see if that works though but I don't want to pay any more money that I am now just to get traffic (especially knowing that eventually tomtom will charge for traffic also).

And how would I go about running everything through the BES server like you stated? I assume my IT department would have to do something?

What's weird is that my IT guy was able to set up my laptop to use my BB as a modem, which is the same basic principle as far as I know.

 

[lordhamster]

Well, I am on BES and I still can't connect. I guess I could add MediaMax to see if that works though but I don't want to pay any more money that I am now just to get traffic (especially knowing that eventually tomtom will charge for traffic also).

And how would I go about running everything through the BES server like you stated? I assume my IT department would have to do something?

What's weird is that my IT guy was able to set up my laptop to use my BB as a modem, which is the same basic principle as far as I know.

Which blackberry are you using? Which settings have you tried? Does your "Media net" (the cingular browser) on the phone work?

 

[ghoticov]

Which blackberry are you using? Which settings have you tried? Does your "Media net" (the cingular browser) on the phone work?

I have using the 8700c and I am using the same settings below.

wap.cingular
username: (e-mail address removed)
password: CINGULAR1
Number Dialed: *99#
Initialization String: +cgdcont=1,"IP","WAP.CINGULAR"

Phone settings:

APN: wap.cingular
username: (e-mail address removed)
password: CINGULAR1

Yes, my Cingular Browser works. It says MEDIA NET. Is there maybe a setting there that I should change?

 

[aztecvspec002]

First off..Hi! im Chad and a tomtom one new version noob. im having the same problem with my Blackberry 8100. but after looking into it, i dont want to pay 25 extra dollars a month in addition to my blackberry unltd plan.. heres whats odd. my wifes motorola L7 slvr is doing the same thing, after we had initially had it connected to the tomtom. any ideas? i called tomtom support and they said that maybe the cingular/at&t changeover might have something to do with it. im honestly not sure what to think about that. any help with this would be killer!
thanks,
CT

 

[VDK]

Same boat as some. I have a 8700c, using BIS, and still no luck with multiple settings even after getting media max. Frustrating, this is. It would be easy to accept if so many weren't having success. So it's clearly possible to get it working. Anyone else using BIS have luck by adding media max? If so, clear instructions would be of great value to me. Thanks.

 

[VDK]

Same boat as some. I have a 8700c, using BIS, and still no luck with multiple settings even after getting media max. Frustrating, this is. It would be easy to accept if so many weren't having success. So it's clearly possible to get it working. Anyone else using BIS have luck by adding media max? If so, clear instructions would be of great value to me. Thanks.

Ok good news. Discovered I need to have the right OS. I downloaded and installed Blackberry OS A4.2.1.66 for 8700. After the install, it worked without any tweaking. Hope this helps others. Really enjoying my 910. Now to download a good video player. Thanks.

 

[digital-flex]

Glad you got it sorted it out.

 

[lev]

tomtom and BB Pearl

Well, I am on BES and I still can't connect. I guess I could add MediaMax to see if that works though but I don't want to pay any more money that I am now just to get traffic (especially knowing that eventually tomtom will charge for traffic also).

And how would I go about running everything through the BES server like you stated? I assume my IT department would have to do something?

I am trying to do this as well. Checked Stinsondog's site and can't seem to find the reference to this. Does anyone know how this is accomplished?
Thanks.

 

[delphiman]

Ok good news. Discovered I need to have the right OS. I downloaded and installed Blackberry OS A4.2.1.66 for 8700. After the install, it worked without any tweaking. Hope this helps others. Really enjoying my 910. Now to download a good video player. Thanks.

Could you please share how you set it up?

I have a Blackberry 8700c, BIS, Unlimited Dataplan from Cingular wireless and a Tomtom One Version 3. My BB OS is 4.2.1.96

 

[billclark]

I've stated this in a few threads already, but to save you all some trouble, please note that 4.2.1.66 is the ONLY known version of the BlackBerry firmware that allows the use of TomTom PLUS Services (or bluetooth access to the dial up networking function of the Blackberry). If you're not running 4.2.1.66, you're just going to pull your hair out trying to get it to work.

I personally "downgraded" to 4.2.1.66 because I decided I could live with the few bugs that exist in .66 that have been fixed in the latest version (for the pearl) .107.

 

[juancruz1974]

4.2.1.66

Thanks, can you pls point me to where I can find such 4.2.1.66 OS version for download? I have looked everywhere with no luck.

 

[billclark]

Do a search on this site for "4.2.1.66", I created a thread a while back with all of that information.

 

[trafficinfo]

for whatever cellphone/pda you have and whatever cell provider and technolgy you use MAKE SURE YOU CALL your cell provider AND ASK THEM TO UNBLOCK/UNLOCK/GIVE FULL INTERNET ACCESS. my cell phone was surfing the internet but i could not use it as a modem until a Rogers CSR told me he would give me full access at their end and then it all works now. without any issues!!!. i did not even have to change any settings.

 

[dber]

BlackBerry 8820 AT&T Tomtom 920

What's the latest thinking on getting a BB8820 to synch with a TT920 (or with any other TT for that matter) for TomTom Plus services? I've got the Tomtom to synch and load my phonebook but I crap out at 65% when I try to connect for TomTom Plus services. I'm an AT&T user.

 

[nikkicola11]

Help!

I have a blackberry 8310 and the GO 510. I have an unlimited Data plan but I am on BES and I have been unsuccessful. I tried to find somewhere to downgrade my OS to 4.2.1.66 but I couldn't find that anywhere either. I have a traffic subscription that is going to waste