Successfully tethering my AT&T Blackberry Bold for modem use

Every time I’d rebuild my laptop I’d forget how to do this, and every time I’d finally figure it out again I’d promptly forget to save the instructions.  No longer!

  1. Firstly, download and install the Blackberry Desktop Software – it’s an unfortunate requirement.
  2. Plug in the Blackberry and let it communicate with the desktop software. Enter in password if necessary.
  3. Verify the modem is functioning:
    1. Go to Control Panel -> Phone & Modem Options.
    2. In the Modems tab, you should see a new Standard Modem on a new port. Click Properties -> Diagnostics -> Query Modem. It should spit back some affirmative verbiage.
  4. Click Properties -> Advanced and add the following Extra initialization commands: AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”wap.cingular”
  5. Now you need to create a new internet connection thusly:
    • XP: Click Start -> Connect To -> Show all connections -> Create a new connection.
    • Windows 7 (and maybe Vista?): Click Start -> Internet Options -> Connections Tab -> Add -> Dial-Up.
  6. Enter *99# for the phone number.  Leave username and password blank.  This connection won’t work yet (Windows 7 will unavoidably try to test it in order to allow you to save it.  It’ll fail – save it anyway).
  7. Now the networking has to be configured:
    1. Click Start ->Network Connections ->”BlackBerry Modem” (or whatever it is named).  In 7, click Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change Adapter Settings -> right-click the appropriate adapter.  Apparently one of the improvements in 7 (and Vista) is the further burying of settings.  Awesome.
    2. Click Properties.
    3. Click the Networking Tab.
    4. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
    5. Click Properties.
    6. Click Advanced.
    7. Disable Use IP Header Compression.
    8. Click OK.
    9. If you see Enable Hardware Flow Control, uncheck it.
  8. That should be it – give it a go!

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