How to use Blackberry Bold to access Internet on your laptop?

To setup a Blackberry device to access the Internet is very easy these days; thanks to the latest desktop software from RIM. In my setup I used Blackberry Bold activated on Rogers network.

In the past, you would have to buy some third party software to access the Internet. Some of these could set you back $50-$100. This is not longer the case.

So, how to setup your laptop/desktop computer to use Blackberry devices to access the Internet?

You'll need a standard USB to mini USB cable and the latest version of RIM's desktop software.

Blackberry released version 5.0.1 of their desktop software with support for IP modem which is great news for all of the Blackberry users.

The setup was very easy. First, you have to hookup your Backberry device to your laptop using the USB to mini-USB cable. Then you need to download and install the desktop software.

When you startup the desktop application, you'll see an "IP Modem" icon. Click on it and then click on "Configure" to setup a new connection. The application should detect your provider and select the corresponding profile. In my case, Rogers network was detected and the connection was setup automatically.

One nice thing about RIM's software is that it provides you with a real-time counter of all bytes sent and received so you'll know exactly how much of your data plan you have used.