Help and Support

How can I use a BlackBerry wireless device with BT Business Email plus products and what features are available?

BT has introduced an enhanced interface into the Business Email platform to support BT Mobile BlackBerry wireless devices. This interface can be accessed by users with Business Email plus Organise or plus Organise and Share. There is no additional charge to access this interface.

Support for BT Mobile BlackBerry devices is provided on 0870 609 9797.

This enhanced interface uses Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP4) between BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) Version 2 and the Business Email platform. This provides the capability to retrieve all inbox emails for up to 10 different email accounts. The BlackBerry device can also be configured to access both BIS and Business Enterprise Server enabled email platforms.

The BIS polls the various email accounts every 15 minutes. If a new email is detected it is ‘pushed’ to the BlackBerry device. The account is then polled 3 minutes later. If no emails are detected the polling process reduces to every 15 minutes.

The platform also supports POP3 access for Business Email Lite users. This is BlackBerry-enabled but has a reduced capability. The matrix below compares the IMAP4 interface features with the POP3 interface features.

Activity on BlackBerry device	IMAP4 with BIS V2.0* feature?	POP3 with BIS V2.0 feature?
Check inbox for email and ‘push’ emails every 15 minutes (or every three minutes if previously detected an email)
Get message headers
Show new messages
Open attachment in emails
Change of status on BlackBerry from Unread to Read
Change of status on BlackBerry from Read to Unread	**
Emails sent from BlackBerry appear in desktop Sent Items
Emails forwarded from BlackBerry appear in desktop Sent Items
Emails replied to from BlackBerry appear in desktop Sent Items
Emails marked as ‘Deleted on BlackBerry and Mailbox’ moves email to desktop Deleted folder
View messages in folders

*The Business Email IMAP interface will be further enhanced in the future.
** Changing the state on the BlackBerry Handheld is reflected only on the BlackBerry, not on the desktop.

The new BIS interface does not support Outlook calendar, address book or folder synchronisation. Users can synchronise their calendar and address book using BlackBerry desktop software and a USB cable.

Please note: Outlook Web Access from BlackBerry devices is not supported.

You may also wish to view the following article:
How do I configure a BlackBerry wireless device for use with BT Business Email plus products?

Useful websites:
BlackBerry Internet Solution info page
BlackBerry Internet Service info page