[guiyoforward]

Dear All,

Just moved from my trusty but ageing 10 year old Palm setup to a BB 8900. I miss the touchscreen but it's nice to use a XXIst century OS for a change.
One of the reasons for making the move was WiFi, so I was dismayed to find out that I cannot use the Gmail and Facebook standalone apps over WiFi. I do not have an unlimited data plan, and in any case WiFi is much faster (and free when I'm abroad, I don't want to pay data roaming charges).
I tried to bypass google's blackberry-specific gmail app, and installed the generic version. It's uglier but it works... over GPRS/EDGE! For some reason, WiFi only connectivity does not reveal itself to the Java virtual machine as an available data connection (unlike the BB version, the generic java app should in theory not care about GPRS or WiFi, it only needs to connect).
I searched and searched and I could not find a hack to do it, which strikes me as odd. I think (but I'm not capable of doing it) that it would be relatively simple to program a hack that fools programs looking for GPRS connections to go through WiFi. Perhaps a service books trick?
I think I and lots of people would be willing to pay for such a program. Should I start a software bounty? Comments welcome!

Thanks everyone

g.

PS sorry for cross posting on different BB sites!

[tsac]

After reading on the RIM support site it looks like there may be some changes to the firewall preventing the access to the WIFI ports. I have attached one of the documents for you to read . Maybe you can see if it will help you to configure your BB.
The port numbers shown on the document are not the ones being used by Gmail or Facebook to force the cell data use vs. the WIFI so be careful. The implication is that blocks are placed by some applications to limit WIFI access. Now if anyone can answer why, that would be a good reply. I would suspect the carriers are trying to force data use and rack up more charges on people who have limited plans.

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/searc...1569&stateId=0 0 282035971

Also , Welcome to the Forums

[guiyoforward]

Thanks for the welcome. Service books and firewall settings and the way the low level BB OS handles data connections are the key, but they're well above my skill grade.
Meanwhile, Aerize WiFiX is a great little app that does what I requested. Although it does not work with the Gmail app, I found a workaround. Please check this thread:
forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?p=4636000#post4636000