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Blackberry Devices at MHC - Important Notes
Securing your device
It is recommended that you have your Blackberry lock itself to prevent unauthorized access to your email account and personal data. To enable this feature:
- Go to options (May be in a Settings folder)
- Scroll down and select Security Options, then General Settings
- Password will be the top option. Click the menu button to enable. Scroll through and review the remaining settings changing any to your preference
- Click the menu button and save. You will need to enter your new password twice.
MHC Password Changes
As you know, MHC users need to change their password every 180 days. You will need to update your password on your device as well:
- Change your MHC password through Webshell/Password Profile Page
- Allow enough time to pass and test signing into email on your computer.
Once you can log in with your new password, then you can proceed to updating the Blackberry
- Find and select your icon for "email setup". Sometimes this is within a settings folder
- Within the browser session that launches, select the link to validate/edit your MHC email account.
- Provide your new password on the next screen that appears and be sure to click save
You may call or stop by the Helpdesk for assistance
Email Accounts
Once our calendar sync software is installed do not add additional email accounts to your Blackberry. The sync software only works with one calendar, and only one calendar may exist. The newest Blackberry operating systems that run on your handheld create multiple calendars - one for each email address. There is a chance that meetingmaker can be synced to a new, blank calendar resulting in all your appointments being deleted with little chance of recovery. If you wish to add more email addresses to your handheld then please call the Helpdesk to schedule an appointment with us first, and then we can assure that your device has only one calendar.
Blackberries can only access the mail server’s inbox, and not the trash or sent mail folders. If you would like to have a record of the emails that are sent then you will need to enable an auto bcc to yourself:
- Go to email account setup, highlight your MHC account and then select edit
- You will see a field for auto bcc. Enter in your own mhc email address there and then select the link to save
From this point on you will receive copies of what you send to your own inbox. You can filter or manually move these emails when your return back to your computer
You can not have your Blackberry access email directly if you use Outlook, Mac Mail, or Pine as your mail client at your computer. These applications do not work with other programs or devices accessing the inbox at the same time here at MHC, such as your Blackberry checking every 5 minutes. (Thunderbird and Webmail/Horde are fine to use.) If you insist on using one of these programs, a solution to the problem is to turn on email forwarding to a secondary email account given to you through your service provider. The downsides to this are that messages do not get marked as read or deleted through your device because you are only changing copies of the emails. You would not setup your Blackberry to directly access MHC.
International Travel
It can be very costly if you travel out of the country and your Blackberry connects automatically every 5 minutes for email and appointments, even if you never place calls. Therefore, you should either switch your phone to voice only or speak to your provider first to get the details of your plan.
- Make sure you call your carrier before you leave for your trip outside of the U.S and take advantage of International Roaming.
- Once International Roaming has been added to your account make sure you power cycle the blackberry for the new settings to take place.
- Also turn the Blackberry off once you board your Aircraft and turn it back on when you land. If you don't turn it off there is a chance your device will not communicate with the closest tower.
Regardless of your plan, you have the ability to turn off or at least limit the amount of data:
To turn off Data
Find and select the icon to Manage Connections that usually is shown as a radio antenna. This may be in your Applications menu if not on your main screen. Choose Mobile Network Options and change Data Services to Off. You will no longer receive emails, have appointments sync, nor be able to browse the web. Phone calls will still be possible.
To turn off syncing of appointments
To still be able to receive emails and not have the device check to sync appointments every 5 minutes go to the Application folder and select the round, red icon for Notifylink. Click the menu button, select Preferences and select Push Settings. Scroll down to Weekday and change the setting to Off. Do the same for Weekend. Click the menu button and select Save. You will need to reverse this process when you return.
Note: You can charge your Blackberry with the USB cord that come with it and your laptop, as opposed to carrying multiple international travel adapters.
General Travel
Sometimes when traveling voice communications function while data does not. It is a good idea to reset your Blackberry whenever you land at your destination airport even if you are just one state away. To reset press ALT+RIGHT SHIFT(CAP)+DELETE. (Or just take out the battery for a moment. It will take several minutes to start itself back up. Powering off and on doesn’t really reset things, it merely pauses the OS.
Alternative Sync Software
You can only have ONE sync program be installed while using Notifylink – our software that we use for syncing with MeetingMaker. If you wish to install any applications that have multiple features such as accessing and sharing your contacts and calendar, be sure not to enable the calendar portion of that software. If you do, it may result in your meetingmaker appointments being either duplicated or worse – erased. One such program is Facebook mobile. The program itself is fine to install and use, however during the install process it will ask if you wish to enable the calendar syncing/sharing; do not check this feature. Another program not to install is Google Sync. We have seen Notifylink stop functioning when Google Sync or Facebook’s calendar functions are enabled, and to complicate things the problem remains even after you uninstall either program. The only fix is to re-install the device’s operating system -- not worth it, really.
Battery life
If you do not use applications that use GPS, turn it off
- Highlight and select Options on the main menu and then select Advanced Options
- Select GPS, press the Menu key and select Disable GPS
- If the BlackBerry asks you to confirm, select Yes
- If Disable GPS is not an option but Activate GPS is, then your GPS is already turned off
Enable auto power-on and off :
Go to Options, select Auto on/off and set the times that you’d prefer
Upgrading your Device OS
If you ever receive an email that provides on “over-the-air” link to upgrade your device’s operating system, do not do so without first scheduling an appointment with the helpdesk. Also do not update your device’s operating system through your computer’s blackberry desktop manager program either, without speaking to us first. Once the operating system is updated, Notifylink will not function properly until that program too is updated, and it also puts your calendar data at risk of being deleted.
We will schedule an appointment to work on your Blackberry, turn off the syncing on the server for a brief fime, and then before the meeting you can attempt upgrading the OS. If you make an appointment with your service provider at their store to accomplish this, ask them to not backup and/or transfer applications. Although it may be more work for you to not have to re-install or download programs again, it has been found that notifylink doesn't always work if trasferred over to a new OS or even a new device. The recommended procedure is to perform a complete back up to a data file on the computer, through Blackberry desktop manager, and then only a partial/selecting restore through the advanced settings so as not to transfer the Notifylink application. |
