[Techgrrl]

Hey there! I'm looking forward to cruising and posting on this message board just as soon as I get my 7100T up and running.

I bought the phone unlocked off of E-Bay. It is a refurbished 7100 from T-Mobile (US). I had no probs getting the SIM card and data package working on my Rogers account (Canada).... that is until I went to set up the Blackberry email account. The PIN and IMEI have already been allocated and Rogers can't help me out until the PIN and IMEI have been released from T-Mobile. I phoned T-Mobile and they told me that the PIN and IMEI have already been released from their end.

Any thoughts on what to do??

I can access the various webmail accounts I already have through the web browser - but it's such a drag and I had hoped to be able to merge them all through the blackberry email account.

Thanks in advance!

[nb_mitch]

I have heard it can take a few days for it to fall out of their system. You might be able to contact RIM too, I think there are a few threads here about it.

[dwella]

I also bought a refurb 7100t from ebay. The one I bought is suppose to be unlocked was yours? I should receive mine tomorrow or Friday and am looking forward to it.

d

[Techgrrl]

Yup it was unlocked - in the sense that when I put my SIM card in the cell phone it worked (i.e. I'm able to send and receive calls) and my mobile carrier was able to set me up with a data plan so I can now surf the web without any problems. The only snag in the whole process is with the PIN & IMEI number already being assigned within the Blackberry Email system. As far as RIM is concerned, the phone already has a blackberry email account assigned to it and neither the outgoing carrier (T-Mobile) or my new carrier (Rogers) can do anything about it. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a blackberry. I could've just continued accessing my email via WiFi on my PDA.

[dwella]

Hmmm your right. I will be going with Cingular I don't know if I will have that issue or not. Did you happen to get it from theasspoudedr? He stated it's unlocked and a factory refurb and also told me I should not have any issues with going with Cingular.....

d

[Techgrrl]

Nope didn't get it from that seller. Honestly, I have no doubt your phone will be unlocked. This really isn't an issue with the phone but with RIM IMO... Their email service doesn't recognize the new owner/carrier.

The tech support person at TMobile did suggest that perhaps the phone was refurbished from a corporate account and the PIN might need to be released from that corporation's Enterprise Server. If this is the case I have no idea what I'm going to do because the EBay seller is really the intermediary in this case - a distributor of refurbished phones. He's not going to know who the original owner was.

Message to mods: sorry I probably should have posted my original question in the Tech forum. My bad

-------------------------------
Life in the Digital Hood
www.digitalword.ca/wordup

[dwella]

Wow that sounds like a situation that could get ugly especially if no one knows who the corp is??? I have a pretty good IT/Blackberry guy comming into my office tomorrow and will run your issue by him and see if he knows of anything you can do.

d

[Techgrrl]

That'd be great! I'll keep googling to see if I can find some more info... And will post here if/when I find something. Stay tuned!

[Techgrrl]

It was definitely in the hands of the service providers. I've written all about it on my blog so that others can benefit from this knowledge:

http://www.digitalword.ca/wordup/arc...buyi.html#more

Now... to finding out all the fun stuff I can do with my new Blackberry.

[zigzag]

I hate to say this, but i had same problem. my IEMI started with 00 this code does not exist anywhere i could find. never could find orginal provider. I ended up giving it back and bought a new one.

[Evangelist]

Greetings, Kristina!

Excellent blog! Graphic detailed description of your entire ordeal in purchasing and activating your BlackBerry. Very entertaining as well. Good job, Grrl!

I did notice what I think is a typo in your blog:

Problem #3 solved! I downloaded PocketMac from their web site, installed it and was happily synching all of my contacts and calendars lickety slit.




God Bless!

Rick

[Techgrrl]

Thanks for the heads up on the typo. DH pointed it out to me too ...and then explained the connotation of what I had written.

I think I got caught up in the fervour of the moment and ignored my spell check warnings. lol

If I can just help one person with what I learned about buying second-hand Blackberries then the embarrassment of my typo makes it all worthwhile

[Evangelist]

Good Grrl! I debated on posting your "typo", praying it was indeed a typo, that is not intentional! Excellent reply in a rather sticky situation!


God Bless!

Rick

[dwella]

Glad you got it techgrrl and great write up. I did talk to the IT/BB guy in my office and he immeadiatly said it was a provider issue and by the time I jumped on the board you already had it.....Thanks for the write up....

d