Tethering allows you to share the data connection from your smartphone with your BlackBerry® PlayBook™. The PlayBook can tether via any smartphone that supports Bluetooth® tethering; it does not have to be a BlackBerry smartphone and most non-BlackBerry phones can share an Internet connection via Bluetooth as well.
Once tethered, the PlayBook can run applications that require data, including the web browser. In order to use core BlackBerry features, such as mail, calendars and contacts, you must establish a BlackBerry Bridge with a BlackBerry smartphone running on BlackBerry OS 5 or higher.
To tether a BlackBerry PlayBook to a smartphone:
- From the status bar on the tablet home screen, select the Settings icon.
- Select Internet Tethering.
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- Select the smartphone that you want to connect to.
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- In the drop-down list, select Bell Mobility if you are connecting to an HSPA smartphone or Bell Mobility CDMA if you are connecting to a CDMA (EVDO) smartphone.
Use our network lookup tool if you're not sure which network your smartphone uses.
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- Select Connect.
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- Select Continue.
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Important notes:
When you tether your PlayBook to a smartphone, you are consuming data from your smartphone's data plan. It is recommended that you connect via Wi-Fi to avoid additional data charges. When in a known Wi-Fi area, the PlayBook will automatically connect to Wi-Fi and return to tethering when leaving the Wi-Fi area.
Tethering is available on select Voice and Data plans. If you exceed the data included in your plan, the excess data use will be charged at $0.05/MB.
Learn more about tethering your PlayBook to your smartphone.
For live help, please contact BlackBerry by phone at 1 877 644-8405.
Last Updated:02/08/2011