BlackBerry® Storm™

[Frankenstien]

Would it be possible to attach a USB wireless NIC to my BB via the Micro-USB 'B' port?

If a suitable adapter / cable could be located (so far I haven't found such an item) and then the wireless NIC attached to the BB, would the BB's O/S recognize and install the NIC?
If it would install, would it work properly for 802.11b / g / Draft n WiFi?

References from my other threads / posts:

-per Krypto, 04-25-2009 01:09 AM (Message 6 of 7, http://supportforums.blackberry.com/rim/board/message?board.id=9500&message.id=28458#M28458)

Re: wireless, the 9530 Storm doesn't come with WiFi because it's a world phone (CDMA and GSM) - there simply wasn't room to fit in a WiFi module (or so I've read).

-per myself, 04-25-2009 09:05 AM (Message 7 of 7, http://supportforums.blackberry.com/rim/board/message?board.id=9500&message.id=28458#M28458)

Thanks for the info on Wi-Fi (however, as there is a micro-USB 'B' port, I guess one of the smallest NICs available these days would suffice [I'll have to look around to see what's available form-factor-wise] - but, would it be recognized by BB Desktop s/w, install and be functional?  Can't see why not ... unless Telus has had RIM write in a f/w block).

[bbhorrigan]

I've read somewhere about someone thinking the exact same thing, and I believe there is some hardware problem with getting it worked, either being blocked by RIM or something, I tried to find the link but couldn't find it.

[Frankenstien]

Thanks for the insight bbhorigan ...

Anybody else come across any info along these lines?

[Krypto]

I'm with bbhorigan on this one... I don't see how.  You used to be able to do this via a SD adapter with Windows Mobile devices, but none that I've discovered with BlackBerry devices.

I should also add, it turns out that while the Storm does not have wifi abilities, my original reason is not true.  The processor used does have wifi capabilities, but it's been disabled and there is no way to activate it.

Message Edited by Krypto on 08-19-2009 09:46 PM

[Frankenstien]

Krypto ... how's it goin' eh?

Interesting about WiFi being disabled ... in f/w or h/w I wonder?

Or can you provide your info source?

FFF

[Krypto]

I was originally actually told by someone with experience with the specific Qualcomm processor used in the Storm while I was at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium.  Sure enough, after looking into the specs for this processor, it does appear that the processor is wifi capable.  In fact, one of the first reports of the Storm (from a blogger site, and before the specifications were released) suggested that the Storm would have wifi (probably also by looking at the specs for the processor used).  Unfortunately, that never panned out as we all now know.  Everyone always seemed to put the blame on there simply not being enough space in the phone, and while I used to believe that too, it seems that might not be the case afterall.  And the recent news that Verizon is finally going to start supplying wifi-capable phones (including BlackBerry smartphone devices) also seems to lend credence to this.  The space issue may have been a legitimate reason for older generation phones, but as with all things in technology, as technology progresses...

There is still no way for us to enable it as it's blocked using low level programming, possibly at the level of the hardware (I don't know where exactly, this is just my hypothesis).  No software upgrade will re-enable it.  And if the lock is at applied right to the processor, that would make sense.

I'd give you the direct link, but it's been a while since I last looked extensively into it and it took me a long time to find it originally.  I did access the info via a properly worded search in Google though.

P.S. I love the eh?  So Canadian of you!

Message Edited by Krypto on 08-20-2009 11:36 PM