BlackBerry offering one year of forwarding services for BlackBerry.net email accounts

By Bla1ze on 10 Feb 2013 01:19 am

With the BlackBerry Z10 now hitting the market, many folks picking the device up have been wondering why they can no longer use their BlackBerry provided BlackBerry.net email addresses. Instead, the setup process of those emails on BlackBerry 10 simply states the email accounts no longer supported through the device.

If you're not familiar with these email accounts, they were once offered by BlackBerry to those making use of a BlackBerry smartphone. Normally, they would carry some carrier association with them. (e.g.: user@rogers.blackberry.net.) For some, it has been the only email address they've known despite the multitude of email providers available out there. So, what's BlackBerry doing with those accounts? We now know the answer, thanks to b320!

Recognizing this would be an issue for some, BlackBerry has posted a knowledge base article on the matter that outlines the details on what exactly they're doing to help make the transition all a bit easier for customers. In short, a process has been set up that will allow for all emails you have directed to that account to be forwarded to a new designated email that you've created. So for example a new GMail, Yahoo or Outlook account you've established. For now, the options are available to carriers in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa with more planned as the device launches occur. In order to get that sorted, you can follow the directions below:

Overview: BlackBerry email addresses are usually in the format user@<serviceprovider>.blackberry.com/net. When a BlackBerry email address is moved to a BlackBerry 10 smartphone, email messages from the BlackBerry email address can be forwarded to the new email address for one year.

NOTE: The one year of email forwarding cannot be extended.

When using a BlackBerry email address as the BlackBerry ID username, it is strongly recommended to login and change the BlackBerry ID username to the email address that messages are being forwarded to. Follow the steps below to configure forwarding and to change the BlackBerry ID username.

Navigate to the Forwarding web page
In the Email Address field, type your BlackBerry email address
In the Password field type your BlackBerry email address password
In the Forwarding Email Address field, type the email address to which email messages sent to your BlackBerry email address will be forwarded to
In the Confirm Forwarding Email Address field, retype the forwarding email address
Click Next
Close the browser

Note: Once the forwarding rule is created, it can take between 5 and 15 minutes before it becomes active and email starts to forward to your new email address. In a future release of software after attempting to setup the BlackBerry email address from Settings - Accounts there will be an automatic redirect to the forwarding web page

Follow these steps to change your BlackBerry ID username via the BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Swipe down from the homescreen and select Settings
Scroll down and tap BlackBerry ID
Tap Edit
Tap within the BlackBerry ID Username field and remove the current email address
Type the new email address and press and hold the space bar to hide the keyboard
Tap Submit and Continue when prompted
Enter your current BlackBerry ID password and tap OK to complete the change
Tap OK to return to BlackBerry ID settings

Alternatively your BlackBerry ID username can be changed via the BlackBerry ID website

Visit www.blackberry.com/blackberryid from a PC or the BlackBerry® Browser
Click Log in
Enter the BlackBerry ID Username (email address) and password, then click Sign In
Click Account Details
Next to Details, click Edit
Remove the current Username (email address) that is displayed and replace it with the Username you want to use, then click Save
Click Done to exit from the BlackBerry ID account information screen

NOTE: Moving forward please use the new email address when signing into BlackBerry ID.

Discuss more in the CrackBerry Forums

Topics: BIS Email BlackBerry 10 BlackBerry.net Email Forwarding News & Rumors

Bla1ze 2966 (articles) 6510 (forum posts)

42 comments

coolhorn Feb 10, 2013 at 1:25 am

Good to know...thanks!

axllebeer Feb 10, 2013 at 1:32 am

* BlackBerry by choice *
I had been wondering about this. Thanks for the info.

martinjdub Feb 10, 2013 at 1:33 am

Turned on my Z10....load up my BB email and.....d@mn

world traveler and former ceo Feb 10, 2013 at 1:36 am

Oh! .. so for existing bb users, we don't continue using our existing bb email ( xxxx@rogers.blackberry.net) with the bb z10?

blue_k Feb 10, 2013 at 1:50 am

No, @carrier.blackberry.net emails are no longer supported for BB10.

Abrante Feb 10, 2013 at 1:53 am

The answer that you are looking for is outlined exactly within the question that you asked. But let me take a stab at answering it for you.. we don't continue using our existing bb email ( xxxx@rogers.blackberry.net) with the bb z10

world traveler and former ceo Feb 10, 2013 at 2:00 am

thanks .. that's what i thought .. so do we create a new email id . or should we use our gmail account xxx@gmail.com?...

scrapmetal58 Feb 10, 2013 at 4:16 am

It's all outlined in the article. You can do either.

WillieLee Feb 10, 2013 at 9:45 am

Best course of action before you upgrade is to create a BlackBerry ID using an email address other than a blackberry.net. That way your contacts will be carried over when you switch devices too.

Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes Feb 10, 2013 at 3:52 am

You are going to need a different email address

world traveler and former ceo Feb 10, 2013 at 3:56 am

i see .. thanks

CRJDRIVER Feb 10, 2013 at 4:38 am

They tell us HOW to forward to the new email, but they still haven't answered the nagging question. WHY?! Of all the things! Blackberry is ASKING me to give up my Blackberry Email and to SWITCH to a competitors Email?! (Gmail). And I still have not seen a Z10 yet!
As typed from my loyal and faithful (as of this moment) BB9800.

Mamaluka Feb 10, 2013 at 8:26 am

They aint asking...they're TELLING you. Its gone.

eve6er69 Feb 10, 2013 at 8:56 am

That email address is only available through the noc. You cannot sign into it on a comp and check your emails from it.
Bb10 phones don't need to use the noc so when they're not on the noc the email isn't pushed to their phones therefore no need to have one. Hence why they are having them forwarded to gmail and other email accts.

harpmoon Feb 10, 2013 at 10:13 am

The reason they are getting rid of the email is this: The original purpose of this email was for users, back in the day, who didn't have a computer to access email as many didn't, as well it was a time when not all email was free to sign up for. This isn't the case anymore. The BlackBerry hosted email address instead now is mostly used for vanity purposes and really this is a company that, although it can be argued that it's great marketing, doesn't want to be in the mail service provider game and needn't be for what it is now, filled with great, free email service options. With the advent of BlackBerry ID, using your hosted email complicated things greatly as any reset password email isn't, for security reasons, delivered to the device. It became tricky for users who didn't realize they shouldn't use their hosted for their BBID. Hope this helps.

br14 Feb 10, 2013 at 10:50 am

Sorry but that's not true.

The email is part of BIS. It is BIS that is going. As well as losing your email you also lose data compression.

This means BlackBerry users will no longer have an advantage over non BlackBerry users when it comes to the price of data.

BES users will continue to have data compression.

I imagine it's the price of receiving carrier support for the Z10. I hope it's worth it, because I for one am pretty pissed.

Playbook007 Feb 10, 2013 at 4:11 pm

I still have BIS because I requested to stay BIS.

birdman_38 Feb 11, 2013 at 10:47 am

What?

Dave79 Feb 10, 2013 at 10:56 am

The original purpose was to have push mail simple as that. You could mask your non push email to with the the blackberry.com/net account.

Then gmail, yahoo and hotmail got push mail working with bb and it was no longer needed..

curvezzz Feb 10, 2013 at 6:22 am

This sucks! I thought I would have this addy for LIFE!

blackberry artichoke Feb 12, 2013 at 2:06 am

It really does, I might not buy a new BlackBerry because of it.

SuperionMaximus Feb 10, 2013 at 7:57 am

Hopefully in a year from now they will have come up with a replacement. I mean WTF BlackBerry? Do you not get that it's app PLUS services that make an ecosystem? People stick with iPhones partly because of iCloud (before that MobileMe) and the free email they get with that service.

But BlackBerry, the company that practically invented mobile push email, now offers nothing?

Seriously, ditching BIS was a mistake. They should have negotiated a 50% reduction, hell a 95% reduction in service fees and ate the rest of the cost themselves for providing BIS.

BlackBerry obviously can't sell the hardware division because they don't get that what makes Microsoft and Google the powerhouses they are is the SERVICES they provide. Microsoft paid a fortune for SKYPE and BlackBerry is trying to convince us services don't matter.

Google offers more free services then anyone can possibly remember exist lol but it's the few popular ones like Gmail, Drive, Wallet, and Maps, that keep people buying android phones.

Do what Apple and Google do and sell ads or something, but give back the services or you won't keep existing BlackBerry customers. The Z10 is slick, but it's bare bones, expensive, and offers little to nothing currently over the competition.

Mark my words, I like my Z10 and I'm going to keep supporting BlackBerry until they are gone. I hope they don't disappear, but if they don't replace BIS with a new set of services, they WILL disappear.

I think Stephen Elop is a little snake oil peddling troll, but one thing he got right is that he said it is not a battle of phones any longer but a war of ecosystems and without BIS BlackBerry doesn't Currently have one for consumers which make up 90% of the market. Great business services don't sell phones to anyone but IT departments. The rest is consumer services and that's what will make people want to BYOB their BlackBerry 10 device to work. Consumers influence business purchases, not the other way around. BlackBerry is doing it backwards.

I really hope BlackBerry is working on the consumer replacement for BIS as I type this. I have been using BlackBerry devices since before they had phones in them. It was the SERVICES that I relied on not the pretty UI.

serversurfer Feb 10, 2013 at 10:08 am

1+! I agree completely. If BlackBerry thinks a "hub" and a girly Global Creative Director will save the sinking ship they will be disappointed in the future! WTF should be the reason to purchase a BlackBerry without unique selling point? BBM? It needs to be TWO to use BBM! Balance? I'm a f*cking prosumer and doesnt need this feature! Now I have to live with the limits of third-party-email-accounds To purchase a BlackBerry was always a statement against mainstream and google-fascism.... Thank you BlackBerry- that was a RIM-job for google and all the other third-party-apps... In combination with the unacceptable delay of Telekom Germany and betrayal of BIS I will have a look to Ubuntu and Samsung Galaxy S4 (March 2013) Very disappointing, Herr Heins!

wcars0hq Feb 10, 2013 at 10:40 am

I loved BB email...faster than SMS.

BTW: nothing is free at Google (Android). You are paying for what Google "gives" you, you maybe don't realize how you are paying :-). Google (android) will never get on any of my electronic devices because it is a price I am not willing to pay.

drumzalicious Feb 10, 2013 at 8:07 am

I agree with what another poster already said. It seems like BlackBerry spent so much time focusing on the hardware and UI that they forgot about the things that set them a part. Email was one of them. Every mobile OS has a free email option why not BlackBerry?

Mamaluka Feb 10, 2013 at 8:17 am

I never liked using that bb email. No PC access unless you forward to another email like yahoo or gmail. If you switch carriers --- its gone. And of course, if you are like some who jump back and forth from bb to droid every few months --- again, forwarding is the only way. When I switched back to vzw after an 18 month stint at att, I didn't even bother to set it up.
If BB would offer it direct, then maybe I'd use it. However, I think BB had better stick to focusing on staying around a bit longer rather than offering something nobody really needs.

Hmm, that reminds me. I have an @crackberry.com fwding address that I never utilize as well. Wonder if cb still offers that?

sklotz2000 Feb 10, 2013 at 9:49 am

This is HORRIBLE news!!
I use my BB address for my company to send pages to my phone (rather than carry another device). And YES, they STILL use pagers.
They will NOT send pages to a public email system such as GMail, Yahoo, etc. I have a company Outlook acct, but don't want pages filling up my Inbox. So what are my choices now??

WillieLee Feb 10, 2013 at 10:03 am

You have a company account. Set up a filter.

sklotz2000 Feb 10, 2013 at 2:37 pm

True, but they do not use BES. And forwarding is blocked.

ots1960 Feb 10, 2013 at 10:26 am

I have been wondering about this since talk of not having BIS on BB10, I have a bb.net email address from my provider but it is only used as a backup email account. I learned years ago not to depend on this type of email because when and if you change providers then any services using that account would also need to be changed. But I am a little concerned about losing BIS because my business emails are currently pushed using BIS so I am guessing blackberry may be completely removing the service eventually? Also the bridge app to our playbook uses BIS connection service. Seems like we are stuck hanging out here in the cold wondering what is going on, to be safe I am going to make preparation for the worst. I am on the road most of the day and have to be in constant touch with my emails and I'm sure there are many others out like myself.

br14 Feb 10, 2013 at 10:56 am

BIS provided compression for data.

This means BlackBerry users use less data, and therefore pay less data charges to the carriers. Perhaps the carriers decided they would only support the Z10 if compression was removed.

No doubt when bandwidth becomes tight they'll tell BlackBerry to switch it back on.

As it happens, services like Gmail etc are refreshed within minutes. Perhaps not quite as quick as with BIS but I haven't noticed an issue.

serversurfer Feb 11, 2013 at 2:32 am

I have never give a look to this, but it makes sence (Data compression removing): the carrier dont love the mankind an do nothing cause of charity. They want to earn money! Some of the springs run dry (SMS, fixed network). Apple with its iPhone was at that time the best example for a new cow to milk: rampant data consumption. In the meantime most carrier-contracts are senseless without purchasing the so called data-plan or data-flat. This part of contract is the most expensive. To optimize the carrier-profit the data-plan should be more expensive or (more occult) mixed with hidden limits... I have bought a unlimited dataplan years ago and I have added a so called speed-option (normaly the max. Up/download-speed reaches up to 1 GB and gets slow down after consumption of 1GB. My speed option allows to surf wirth max speed up to 6 GB and costs 9,95 euro/Telekom Germany) Now this speed option is removed and will replaced by a new LTE-Speed-option. Means: unlimited speed until 1 GB and every extra GB costs 4,95 Euro... Instead of 5 GB extra for around 10 bugs you get only two GB... I think BlackBerry has to jump into this train of rip-off the prosumer.... :-(

ots1960 Feb 10, 2013 at 11:34 am

I have unlimited data on my plan but my carrier started charging an extra $10 for new blackberry customers last year. I wonder if this charge will go away if we lose BIS, I have been meaning to find out what it was for because I too acquired it when I upgraded from a 9650 to the 9930 and nothing changed but the extra charge.

susu222 Feb 10, 2013 at 12:10 pm

We wonder why it took so long for BB10 to get up and going and for BBRY to get their BBM to play nice with the new OS. I guess thats the price we pay moving onto this new OS to compete and stay relevant..

ilikebacon Feb 10, 2013 at 2:37 pm

I also will dislike seeing my BB email go the way of the dodo. I think Kevin should do an editorial on this subject.

R1cowl Feb 10, 2013 at 4:29 pm

This is sad news. I use the BB.net account for family calendar Dr appt. that we don't want on Gmail Calendar.

jason18 Feb 10, 2013 at 6:14 pm

Is it disappearing completely, or only if you upgrade to bb10? And not just the z10, the q10 as well I assume, right?

I absolutely love my 9930, maybe ill buy a few backups online and stick with it forever (or until BIS-ish services return).

I have 2 other emails on top of my bb one, and they will only forward for a year so I would have to figure out everyone that has that address so i can update them with a new one. I just don't get it. Gmail would never tell me that I won't be able to use my email address again, and I set that up on an Android phone! Take tsk..

Might have stay bb7 for a while.. *disappointed*

BerryRipe Feb 10, 2013 at 11:34 pm

+1000

CrackBerry Is My Choice Of Drug

njbourne23 Feb 11, 2013 at 12:51 am

I would say allow those that have the email to continue to use it while not allow new users to sign up. Sucks because i use that email address a lot and now when the Z10 comes out in the US we will most likely have less time to switch. Plus i have to remember every site i used it at.

So far from what I hear the Z10 is good in many things and falls flat with others.

JTWJ Feb 11, 2013 at 4:29 pm

This REALLY sucks. I have my Blackberry Travel app tied to my Blackberry email account so my travel arrangements route directly to my phone amongst other things.
In the immortal words of Lando Calrissian "This deal is getting worse all the time!"

blackberry artichoke Feb 12, 2013 at 2:01 am

Shame on you BlackBerry! This is what we get for being loyal customers? I love the push email on my 9810 this is horrible news. Really thinking about making the switch. Many of us have been with BlackBerry for many years! So sad!

Mark Wilson2 1 week ago

I just switched from a blackberry to a samsung galaxy 3. I hate leaving my blackberry email. I am worried I have missed someone on my contacts list and they will continue to send emails to the blackberry email. Is there any way I can forward those emails to my new email address (my blackberry has been deactivated already)? thanks

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