Courses Academic Links Functional Stuff and Widgets Cool Stuff

Blackberry Storm Configuration for PSU Email

I was recently presented with a small problem - how to configure a Blackberry Storm to be used with Penn State's POP3 email service. I found the configuration utility for the email fairly obtuse as it makes a lot of assumptions that I wouldn't make as the user. Thanks to the IT folks at Yale for pointing me the right direction.

Configuration Instructions

  1. Select the setup folder.
  2. Select E-mail Settings, this will take you to the Verizon BlackBerry Internet Server (BIS)
  3. Select Add
  4. Select other.
  5. You will be asked to enter your email address and password. Enter your complete email address (example: xyz123@psu.edu) into the Email Address field.
  6. Enter the password for your email account into the Password field.
     (Note, the password at this stage doesn't matter, as this part of the configuration will fail anyway)
  7. Select Next.
  8. NOTE: This *WILL FAIL* and the BlackBerry will inform you that it cannot automatically configure the account. Take the following steps:
  9. Select "I will provide the settings to add this email account".
  10. Select "Next".
  11. Select "I will provide the settings to add this email account".
  12. Select "Provide the settings".
  13. You will be asked to enter your account settings information.
  14. The Email address box will be automatically populated. Please ensure this is correct.
  15. Enter your UserID (xyz123) in the Username box
  16. In the Password box enter the password for your email account.
     (Note, this must be the *correct* password, as the configuration will not complete without successfully retrieving email from the server.)
  17. In the Email server field enter: email server name "email.psu.edu".
  18. Choose "Next".

Please use your Penn State UserID in place of xyz123 referenced above.

Q & A

Q: Where do you put in the SMTP (outgoing server) settings?
A: You don't. All email uses the service provider's outoing server (RIM/Blackberry/Verizon), so there is no place in the configuration utility to enter the SMTP server.

Q: How do I force the blackberry to check my mail *now*? How often does the blackberry check my mail? How do I configure how often the blackbeery checks my mail?
A: You can't configure this setting. The blackberry checks about once every 15 minutes.

Q: How do I configure the blackberry to "Leave messages on the server"?
A: It's set that way by default and cannot be changed.

Q: What happens if the blackberry checks my email during the 2-minute waiting period?
A: There is no notification to the user that this has happened. The Blackberry appears to recover from this error on the next 15-minute check without intervention.