Have any of your 'dopers out there set up a BlackBerry Pearl to sync email and contact information with your local Exchange server? I have one of my clients that just got a bunch of these puppies in and I’ve never used one before…I have a Trio myself and simply set it up to sync via SMTP which works well enough. However, the customer wants the ability to have both their email, contacts and schedules sync with their BlackBerry phones without having to use the provided USB cable…i.e. they want them to do it automatically using the Verizon’s wireless network.
Anyone ever done this? Can it even be done that way? I note in the documentation they talk about an Enterprise Server Option, but this sounds like they are going to host your email system for you…and then allow you to sync your phone to that.
Any helpage would be greatly appreciated. If no one here knows then I guess I’ll have to actually break down and call their tech support line…ugh.
-XT
I don’t think it’s possible to sync a blackberry to contacts & calendar over the air unless the employer has Enterprise Server software on their Exchange server. You have to use the desktop manager to sync. Without Enterprise, the email syncs over the air via the Outlook Web Access service but that won’t sync calendar and contacts.
That’s what i was afraid of. Does the Enterprise software cost anything? How does it install exactly?
-XT
Yes, Enterprise software costs. I think the lowest package is about $1,500 for four users. Something like that. It has to be installed on an Exchange server and maintained by an administrator. It’s not something a random person can do on his own.
Blackberries will read and send mail from an Exchange server; your account at Blackberry can be configured for this. I don’t think it handles contacts and other information.
The solution is to get something with Windows Mobile. That synchs with Exchange automatically – including contacts and calendar. It only takes a minute to set up. My Palm Treo does a nice job of this.