Tether A Verizon BlackBerry As A Modem To A Mac Via Bluetooth: An Illustrated Step-By-Step Guide

I love working anywhere that I can besides an office and as I have become more and more locked to my laptop I have had to struggle with finding different places that offer Wi-Fi so that I can plug in to get some stuff done. I first struggle with finding places that offer free Wi-Fi and secondly I struggle finding places that have WI-FI and that I don't mind hanging out at for a few hours. I guess that I should also throw it out there that I get bored really quickly with hanging out at certain places, so I like to mix up where I claim my space quite a bit and this makes finding new options a little difficult not to mention that many places such as Starbucks(who also charges for Wi-Fi) are usually packed with a ton of people and sometimes aren't necessarily the best places to sit for an extended period of time when working.

So, instead of letting the Wi-Fi rule my life, I decided to check out some other options when it came to connecting to the web while I was out and about. One way that I had heard about was by 'tethering' to your mobile phone and using it like a high-speed modem on your laptop. This option sounded pretty cool, so I decided to research it and see what I could come up with. I mean, I figured that I never go anywhere without my phone, so this could be a pretty solid option if I could figure it out - which I actually did and now I'm actually writing this now while connected to my BlackBerry! If you'd like to find out how I did it, just keep on reading below.

As with any technical How-Tos, it needs to be stated upfront what different types of equipment, services and resources that I am working with so that you know that this is the information that you are looking for.

For this How-To, I am using:

• A MacBook that is running Mac OSX 10.5.2
• A BlackBerry 8300 that has a data plan
• Verizon Wireless as my mobile carrier

I will be giving you some links and information on other carriers, etc. but this is the setup that I am using for this particular example. Feel free to comment on this below with any other carrier specific questions that you may have and hopefully I can point you in the right direction.

Also, you should also know that connecting through your Verizon BlackBerry will cost you an additional $15 per month(much cheaper than a Verizon Card), with a 5 gigbyte throughput limit(which is a lot). After I connected I was taken to a Verizon Wireless website that allowed me to accept the extra $15 per month charge and then I was off surfing - it's honestly as easy as that!

On Wikipedia tethering is described as 'the connection of a non-mobile device (e.g. desktop computer, notebook computer, laptop computer), to a mobile device (e.g. cell phone, PDA) for the purpose of wireless Internet access by the non-mobile "tethered" device.' Tethering has become a fairly popular way to get access to the Internet from laptops, computers and other devices by piggy-backing on the Internet connection of some type of mobile device.

I considered this option because tethering is not only a simple way to grab a quick Internet connection, but it's also pretty handy considering that I am never without my cell phone. Not to mention that it's pretty cheap, too when compared to other ways to connect such as purchasing WI-FI cards or monthly subscription services.

Since I am going to tell you how to tether your BlackBerry to your Mac through a Bluetooth connection the first thing that you need to do first is pair up your two devices. Here is how you set up each of the devices so that they can find and connect to each other:

Turning on Bluetooth for your Mac:

1. Go to the System Preferences application
2. Under the Internet & Network section, click on Network
3. Click on the Bluetooth option in the left sidebar
4. Click the Set Up Bluetooth Device... button in the options on the right side of the menu
5. Click on the + button on the bottom left side of the Bluetooth device list menu, this will take you to the Bluetooth Setup Assistant - click Continue to move to the next menu screen
   
6. Select the Mobile phone option from the list of possible Bluetooth devices
   
7. At this point your Mac will attempt to locate your BlackBerry, so you will need to make to turn your BlackBerry's Bluetooth On and make it 'findable' so that it can be paired to your Mac. You will first need to go to your Manage Connections option on your BlackBerry. On mine, it is a white antenna in the middle of a red circle.
8. This will bring up some connection settings that are available on your BlackBerry. Check the blue box next to Bluetooth to turn on your Bluetooth connection.
9. Now that your Bluetooth is on, you now need to make it findable by your Mac. You can do this by clicking on Set Up Bluetooth option in the menu options. This will bring up the Add Device menu on your BlackBerry.
   
10. Select the Allow another device to find me option so that your Mac can locate and pair up with your Blackberry.
11. Once this is selected, your Mac will now be able to find your BlackBerry and will connect to it. You should see your Blackberry model appear in the list once it is found by your Mac. Click Continue to move to the next step.
    
12. The nest step is where your Mac will gather up information about your BlackBerry. Click Continue to move to the next step.
13. In the next step you are asked whether or not you would like to Access the Internet with your phone's data connection. You definitely would like to do this, so be sure to check this box and click Continue to move to the next step.
14. Next you will need to enter in the specific login information for for your carrier so that your Mac can have the proper permission to use the connection. I had no idea that you had to do this step when I was researching, but I found this awesome BlackBerry forum that gave me the correct into. For a Verizon BlackBerry like I have the info is Username: yourphonenumber@vzw3.com (if you have 3G on your phone, the email might be yourphonenumber@vzw3g.com) Password: vzw Phone Number: #777. Enter in this information along with your Phone Vendor and Phone Model(I selected 'other' and it filled in my phone model with 'Verizon Support (PC 5220)' which worked for me). Click Continue to move to the final step where you're congratulated on your new connection.
15. After this is all set up, you then need to go back to your the Network menu and turn off your AirPort before you can connect via Bluetooth.
16. Finally, once the AirPort is turned off, you can then click on the Bluetooth option in the Network menu and click the Connect button to officially tether to your BlackBerry. Once you're connected you'll see two status bars that say Sent and Received, along with a Status of Connected and a length of time that you've been connected.
17. Congratulations! You're now officially tethered to your BlackBerry and can now surf the Internet from anywhere you want!