[rcarmo]

The older Blackberries relied on a centralized server for configuration and setup of both public and corporate settings.

The devices _should_ be able to make calls and text (baseline SMS), but they might error out in various things (browser dead, contacts gone, even some menus dead or stalling) and if they are reset you might not be able to get texting back (since it _might_ not rely on the SIM card to set the SMS message center, etc.)

There were so many changes over the years that I’m not sure how much will still actually work, but I think it’s a given that calls will work — just try to get them to backup their contacts somehow, since I think that is the most basic info that was read off the SIM card on initial setup but not written back.

(I was a PM for BlackBerry services at Vodafone in the early 2000s)

[amaccuish]

To further this, BlackBerries relied on a special GPRS APN to get access to the internet. BlackBerry had VPNs and leased lines with major carriers and Blackberries would communicate via the APN to proxies located in BlackBerry data centers. All the network config was stored on the phone in "Service Books" and could be pushed out via carriers or BES Admins.

[rcarmo]

Yes. The Service Book carried a lot of information that these days people take for granted on most devices. And with the APN down and nothing handshaking and serving a default service book (which, incidentally, was served over a proprietary TCP connection IIRC), the phone just won't get the right configurations.

That is why I said it _should_ still work for base calls (and likely SMS), but nothing else, really.

[visiblink]

I edited an old service book to gain MMS functionality on my Bold 9900. My carrier (Koodo Prepaid, Canada) doesn't have BIS and never did. If I lose any other functions, I'll probably have a look at the other service books to find out what's in there.

[thedrbrian]

> The older Blackberries relied on a centralized server for configuration and setup of both public and corporate settings. The devices _should_ be able to make calls and text (baseline SMS), but they might error out in various things (browser dead, contacts gone, even some menus dead or stalling) and if they are reset you might not be able to get texting back (since it _might_ not rely on the SIM card to set the SMS message center, etc.)

I’m not a programmer , I deal with oily things, but why the hell would you rely on a central server for basics like SMS? Surely it should have some basic SMS ability if only to background text the network for the proper SMS setup.

It feels like baked in obsolescence or supreme confidence that you’ll be around forever to send out the settings.

[zinekeller]

> It feels like baked in obsolescence or supreme confidence that you’ll be around forever to send out the settings.

Please pass that message to RIM/BlackBerry. And yes, they did feel like that, until Apple have attacked.

As an aside, Most Android phones below ICS are now also "dead" (https://support.google.com/android/answer/10313246?hl=en, note that Honeycomb do not have phone services baked in) and cannot be provisioned even for very basic service (except for emergency calls).

[rcarmo]

In a normal phone, you don't need to text anything to get the SMS setup - your SIM card should come with the SMS Center MSISDN baked in.

But Blackberries just don't operate like that. They never did while I was using them (until 2015, IIRC, and I had family using theirs for a few more years, so I know the setup process remained the same).