Tethering to BlackBerry from Nexus 7 failure

[Anonymous]

A few weeks ago I used some really useful information here on the Community regarding Tethering my Nexus 7 (WiFi only model) to my BlackBerry Curve 8900

Once I'd put all the settings in as recommended here it worked like a charm.  The BlackBerry was Bluetooth Paired with tne Nexus and I used Blue VPN app on the Nexus and it dialled via the BlackBerry and connected.  All was working well.  I have a pay monthly contract with o2 business and I'm allowed 1GB free per month.  I used it on holiday where there was a full O2 signal in Cornwall.

Now comes the bad bit.  I left it alone for 2 weeks and tried to connect with it today.

Nothing will work.  VPN tries to negotiate with the BB modem and never connects.

I've got all the settings exactly as they were when it worked.  Nothing has changed.

Dial string is *99***1#

E0V1&C1&D2

AP is wap.o2.co.uk

User is o2.wap

Password is Password

BB Compatible set to OK

The Blackberry is and was set to APN Enabled

APN Authentication enabled

APN User name left blank

APN Password left blank

So why should it work in the first few days of July yet back home it fails to connect?

I might add here that the connection was not much good when I did connect.  Pages stalled, emails failed to sign off yet they had sent - they just remained in my Outbox and when I got home I found out the emails had sent.

What I've decided now is that BlueTooth is useless for the job.

VPN connection via tethering is also a poor sister of normal 3G connection over WiFi

So as I have just ended an O2 Mobile Broadband deal used for 2 years because it was too slow and had very varied results depending on what 3G geographical location I was picking up the signal, I have decided to go about this a different way.  I'm going to get a 3G Mobile Wireless Access Point and connect the Nexus to that via what it does best, namely WiFi.

I still would like to know if anyone can tell me why the Blue VPN no longer connects when none of the settings have altered.   Maybe the network has moved the goalposts and now it needs other settings.   Getting a Gb per month free is worth using but also with this amount of frustration it's also worth paying for something better.  My new Dongle will be PAYG and costs £10 per month.  I dare not say who I have set up the contract with as it's not going to be O2 !

Hope someone knows what's going wrong

I'll leave this with you.

[Anonymous]

The ability to tether is controlled by the Service Books, so you might want to renew them and see if it makes a difference?

You could also try looking at an App for the phone which might help, such as Tetherberry

Otherwise I am not 100% sure why it would suddenly stop working? The speeds will never be great tethering over Bluetooth to be honest. One of the newer BB devices allow you to create a Wireless Hotspot so this might be an alternative when you come to upgrade.

Hope this helps

[Anonymous]

Kind of you to give those ideas.  I'm not sure what you mean by Service Books or renewing the same. I've never fetched a service book for the BB but I have a User Guide (Manual) but I think I need some clarification on that.

The idea of a BB app to assist tethering is interesting but the way I feel with frustration over the wretched thing wrong-footing me to the point where I felt like chucking both devices out of the window, leaves me with very little enthusiasm to keep on trying when it just isn't going to work.  Maybe  my setting it up originally was a fluke?

I agree with you on BlueTooth speed being lousy.   So is using 3G via BlueTooth Tethering - in fact it's pretty awful.

I haven't been at all impressed with the last 2 years using O2 Mobile Broadband for when I'm out and about.  Sometimes in other areas than at home district, the mobile networks were too crowded to do any serious browsing or email.   So I have to admit to a spot of treachery - I still have my O2 Business Plus pay monthly account but I've started up a Mobile MiFi dongle Pay as you go agreement with a rival and on the Nexus 7 it works like a charm.  Really fast for 3G and fetches web pages well and does video on news pages.  It also manages Google Earth and Street Level so I'm well impressed and it costs me no more than I was paying out on O2 for the mobile dongle.   I reckon it's best to drop the Tethering idea and uninstall BlueVPN it's a dead loss.

Thanks for your help.  You don't have to answer about Service Books as I don't want to waste your time but I am just puzzled to know what it means.  Cheers

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Well I didn't go down the route of the Service Books - even though it did sound to me like a good suggestion.  I did the Zen thing and put the problem on 'hold' for a couple of weeks.

Then I returned to the BlueVPN program on the Nexus 7 and looked long and hard at the Settings.  It occurred to me that a recent downloaded automatic update to the BlueVPN app may possibly have altered one of the settings to switch ON when it should be OFF. 

I'm talking about the setting "AT Commands - Use single line AT commands" setting that I am pretty sure previously was set to OFF and yet there was a Tick in the box.  This was the only setting I hadn't tried to change when trial-and-error messing about with settings to try to make it run properly.   So I unticked the setting and tried again and the darened thing connected.   I tested a quick webpage and the fetching and sending of one email.

All working properly.

I do concede that it might have been an error on my part but perhaps something did change that setting between my last using BlueVPN successfully and my more recent attempt when it kept failing.

Certainly I find myself wishing that settings in such programs were all automatic instead of us going back to the dark ages of early 1990s when we had to try out all manner of different AT commands to make 56K Modems with V90 connect to a simple dial-up phone number and connect us to the ISP that we were paying huge monthly sums to.   The cost to the end-user was horrendous in full price phone calls to the Tech Support in those days.

Shame it can't be idiot proof even today with something as straight forward as Mobile Broadband and MiFi and such.

Anyhow thanks for your own input on this.  Maybe what I've written here might help someone else who's mad enough to try BlueTooth Tethering!

Cheers

Gallant

[Anonymous]

Oops, sorry Gallant, you posted your last reply the day before I flew to Ireland so hadn't had much time to check the community otherwise I would have guided you through resending the Service Books for the BlackBerry!

But hey, looks like it would have been a waste of time anyway as you now have it working! Woooohoo...go you! 

Glad you got it all sorted!

[Anonymous]

No worries I didn't think you'd ignored me. I did look into the Service Books thing and found it on my BB Curve 8900 buried in the menus.  I nearly decided to update them but then chickened out because there was a danger that I might lose a load of data or reset the phone to a factory condition and although I've backed it all up in BlackBerry Desktop manager - knowing my luck I'd never get it all back and would end up jumping up and down in a Simpson's rage!

Well it's all fixed now with just one wretched setting.  But I have been made aware on this forum of how BlueTooth tethering is not a very bright way of doing mobile internet connection.  It's a bit pedestrian but at least I have that method for those occasions when the MiFi dongle can't get a signal on three.co.uk and I can revert to the Tethering connection using my O2 business account.   So all is well.

Thanks again for your kind attention to this.

Regards

Gallant