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Home»BlackBerry Software»News & Rumors, BlackBerry Apps, Enterprise

New App Allows BES Activation with BIS Data Plan

by Isaac Kendall on 24 Mar 2011 01:35 PM
35
 

Enterprise Activation

It looks as though RIM has removed a huge barrier to entry to deploying the BES Express in organizations.  Up to now in order to take full advantage of the BES experience you needed to pay your carrier an additional $10-15 per month for a BES Data Plan.  The "BES Tax" gave you a service book on your device which allows for over the air activation. BES Express has been very popular with the corporate world because of this $0 price tag.  However activating devices on a carrier BIS plan can be a headache.

If you're unfamiliar with this process, to activate a new BlackBerry on the company BES you would just need to ask your BES Admin for an activation password.  Once he assigned you the password, go to your BlackBerry under Advanced Options there would be an option called "Enterprise Activation", type in your email address and the assigned password and click Activate.  After a short period of time your device is fully provisioned on the BES all without connecting to any desktop software.

BUT if you were not paying your carrier's BES Tax this Enterprise Activation option was never pushed down to your device via Service Books so Desktop Manager was your only option for activating your new BlackBerry.

Today thanks to RIM BES Express users now live BES Tax-free.  They've put a new App in BlackBerry App World which gives you an Enterprise Activation option on your BlackBerry with a BIS data plan.

 

According to RIM's technical document pre-requites are:

  • Verify that your organization uses the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express 5.0 SP1 or later
  • Verify that the BlackBerry device is running BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 or later
  • Verify that the BlackBerry device user has a personal Internet-enabled BlackBerry plan

Supported BlackBerry models:

  • BlackBerry 8330
  • BlackBerry 8520
  • BlackBerry 8530
  • BlackBerry 8900
  • BlackBerry 9000
  • BlackBerry 9300
  • BlackBerry 9500
  • BlackBerry 9520
  • BlackBerry 9530
  • BlackBerry 9550
  • BlackBerry 9630
  • BlackBerry 9650
  • BlackBerry 9700
  • BlackBerry 9800

No real suprises with supported device list (except 9780 noticeably missing) your device must be running BB OS 5.0+.  So if you're still rock'n a BlackBerry 8700 with the side scroll wheel you'll need to continue activating via Desktop Manager.

More information from RIM Help Center
Get the Enterprise Activation app from BlackBerry App World

Filed Under: News & Rumors, BlackBerry Apps, Enterprise; Tags: App World, BES, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, Enterprise
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35 Comments

Posted by crackhead007 Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Might have to try this one out!

 
 
Posted by netposer Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Does this only work for BES Express users or any BES user?

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

No. BES5 doesn't support BIS-only users. This just gets around the BIS-only limitation that has required wired activation with BESX.

 
 
Posted by jabbs1 Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

So when this is activated, the only thing your IT department can view/control is the company email on the device, unlike full BES where they have control of everything on the phone?

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

While BESX has fewer IT policies than full BES, it still has quite a few.

Also, all this app is for is to bypass the current limitation of BESX that required wired activation. If your company is running full BES, you don't need this and it doesn't help you.

 
 
Posted by netposer Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

We have a full-on BES so I didn't know you have to activate BB's via USB on a BESX. That must suck.

 
 
Posted by pineypl Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

All my users were wirelessly activated on BESX many months ago without this app.

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

If your users have a BES-enabled data plan, they can activate wirelessly with BESX. If they have BIS-only, they cannot and have to use Web Desktop Manager to do so. If they have an e-mail-only plan, they can't use BESX at all.

 
 
Posted by Ry_Ry Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

My company is running a Full BES but I am currently attempting this connection via Citrix Receiver and will be their test dummy for the masses. If this works, that will save many employees $15 a month.

 
 
Posted by swamp_water Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Ok great! Here's the million dollar question for you. When you activated your phone on the FULL BES with this app, did it erase your BIS info? i.e. I want to merge my Company BES BB which is locked down and sucks to my newer BIS 9700 phone so I can have 1 phone. Let me know.

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Your company needs to shift to BESX for this to work. Non-Express BES requires a BES-enabled data plan. BESX does not, but can't do wireless activation without a BES plan. This app circumvents that single limitation, which is hugely useful, but only for that purpose.

 
 
Posted by brain615 Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

FWIW: I have a hosted Exchange account through godaddy. I recently switched plans on VZW to just the personal email plan, and so was unable to use BES to get that email anymore. I downloaded this app and tried to make it work, but no luck. Never got a connection to the server. Oh well

 
 
Posted by Ry_Ry Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Your comment has calmed my excitement until I receive authorization for activation on our BES.

 
 
Posted by pittster Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

I have been waiting on this to happen. Thanks Team RIM!

 
 
Posted by xlover Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

so if you are running BES paying the tax on a BES and you switch to the lower plan the email will stop coming?

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Yes. BES requires phones connected to it have a BES-enabled data plan.

BES Express (BESX) has a feature that allows it to work with phones that only have BIS service from their carriers. Phones with a BIS-only data plan can't do wireless activation... they are forced to connect a USB cable and use Web Desktop Manager to activate. Once activated, communications behave exactly like any other BES type connection. This application lets BIS phones activate wirelessly to BESX (which supports that kind of plan once you're activated).

 
 
Posted by gdimarco Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Not True

 
 
Posted by simon Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Any the reason they haven't included the BB9780 in for this app is?

 
 
Posted by miketko Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

ya why no 9780
??????

 
 
Posted by MrEarl Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

My company has BES, will this let me hook my BIS BB up to get BES emails/calendars/etc. ? or am I understanding this completely wrong?

 
 
Posted by KahneFan Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

I too would like to know this. I have a personal BIS. But, my company does allow BES (if I paid for it). Does this now allow me to (basically) have BES service through my job's exchange account, but not have to pay? And, in regards to a comment above, would my job then be able to see ALL emails on my phone, or just work related?

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

If your company has BES, not BESX, this is of no use to you. If your company has BESX, they would not require you to pay for a license as BESX licenses are free.

Regardless, as far as I know a BES-enabled phone with additional (BIS) e-mail accounts doesn't permit the server administrator to read those e-mail accounts. BIS by definition is an encrypted channel between your phone and RIM's server farm. BES is a second encrypted channel between your employer's server(s) and your phone.

 
 
Posted by gdimarco Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

False, Read the Title "BES Activation with BIS Data Plan"

You can do a wireless activation using a BIS plan to a BESX with the default Enterprise Activation. Not sure why people keep saying that this is not possible.

 
 
Posted by pineypl Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

No, this is a BESX tool. Your office's BES requires a license per BB connected, and they can be expensive...

 
 
Posted by pineypl Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

If you go into Options | Advanced Options | Host Routing Table and click in, you will see a bunch of stuff. Then hit menu and select Register Now. On most devices this will push the "Enterprise Activation" down to the phone regardless of not paying the BES tax.

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Sure. It just doesn't do anything.

This tool permits folks with cheaper BIS data plans to activate their phones WIRELESSLY to a BESX server. That's it.

 
 
Posted by Mr. Black Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Meh!

As is often the case this app seems to be US + a handful of countries only. I try to download and I'm told its not available in my country :(

 
 
Posted by Anguish Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

Interesting... where are you?

Albania
Algeria
Anguilla
Argentina
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas, The
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Côte d'Ivoire
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Estonia
Fiji Islands
Finland
France
French Guiana
Gabon
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong SAR
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Monaco
Mongolia
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Rwanda
Réunion
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadine
Samoa
Senegal
Seychelles
Singapore
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turks and Caicos Islands
Uganda
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia

 
 
Posted by Mr. Black Friday, Mar 25, 2011 427 days ago

Interesting indeed. Hong Kong is on the list but the BB app store tells me the app isn't available to my carrier or device (9700 BBOS6).

I have since tried installing directly via the App Store app on the device as opposed to with a cable through the BB web store and it downloaded just fine :)

 
 
Posted by gdimarco Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 427 days ago

I have been using BESX for a couple of years with 5 clients. In all the cases the users only had BIS service and i was able to activate everybody wirelessly (Around 10 users per client)

Not sure why people are not able to do it. Not sure why they need this application

TMobile, ATT and Verizon works great.

I thought that this application was for BIS users to be able to connect to a BES Server and save the extra $15

Correct me if I am wrong

 
 
Posted by Mr. Black Friday, Mar 25, 2011 427 days ago

yeah that wasn't supposed to work. BESX should only activate OTA if the user's SIM is BES provisioned.

BESX users who are BIS provisioned had to activate via web interface and cable.

 
 
Posted by gdimarco Friday, Mar 25, 2011 426 days ago

Are you sure? One time may be luck but 50 times and with multiple carrier?

Have you try it?

If I dont get the Enterprise Activation option. I just delete all the Email accounts service books and then restart the BB.

Then the Enterprise Activation option will Show up.

 
 
Posted by crackhead007 Friday, Mar 25, 2011 426 days ago

Wait it looks as though this is for BES EXPRESS and not full on BES. I don't think this will help me at all.

 
 
Posted by santi29402 Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 424 days ago

I was already paying for BES activation on my phone. Should I just cancel this with my carrier? And do I still have to download the app/

 
 
Posted by hadikhan Tuesday, Oct 04, 2011 234 days ago

Can any one tell me how can i get the enterprise activation app without App World as App World is not available in Pakistan. Any suggestion.

Thanks,
Hadi