I retired from personal blogging in July 2008 but you can find me over at blog.xero.com

Blackberry PIN Messaging
Posted by rod@drury.net.nz in Old-blog-archives at 2:27 pm on Tuesday, 28 February 2006

I just discovered the Blackberry has a feature called PIN Messaging. 

Essentially it’s like SMS for Blackberry’s, where the traffic stays inside
the Blackberry network and doesn’t cross to email.  So you can Message
directly between devices.  It is quite nice as it is richer than SMS and
has a graphical delivery receipt, so you know when the user has received your
message.  Nice.

To use PIN Messaging you need to swap PIN’s with other users.  Much the
same as a phone number.

What is interesting is that PIN Messaging is not charged a Telco
transaction fee (like an SMS Message of 20 cents), it is just data.  So the
true cost of the message is charged.  Each PIN Message might be a few
bytes, so the incremental cost to the users is minimal.

Some quick calculations showed that SMS messages are charged at over
$600 per MB.  As SMS has no real cost to the carrier,
CARRIERS  SMS.

So the Blackberry is giving us much cheaper SMS to frequent contacts (on
Blackberry’s).

Blackberry also has software you can download called Blackberry Messenger.  This
uses PIN Messaging to provide a conversational Messenger experience.

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Comments(10)

    Comment by dissgj at 3:13 pm on 26 September 2007

    >>What is interesting is that PIN Messaging is not charged a Telco
    transaction fee (like an SMS Message of 20 cents), it is just data. So the
    true cost of the message is charged. Each PIN Message might be a few
    bytes, so the incremental cost to the users is minimal.




    Comment by dissgj at 3:14 pm on 26 September 2007

    hi! im a blackberry user from the philippines.. i just have a question about pin-to-pin messages..

    i have a limited bb plan from my service provider.. although i was introduced to bb about a year or two ago, i have only recently learned (1-2 days ago) about pin-to-pin messages..

    i’ve read through some forums, and i found out that pin-to-pin is considered as data (not sms), but it does not go through the service providers network (rather it uses the RIM network directly)..

    QUESTION 1: Is above statement true?

    furthermore, my service provider charges, in excess of the limited bb plan, are the following:
    a) excess sms charge: 20 cents (they say ~160 characters per sms)
    b) excess data charge (i.e. using email, browsing): 3 cents per kb (they say ~1000 characters per kb)

    newei, right now, what im doing to cut on costs is to send email (data charge) rather than sms, since its definitely cheaper..
    when i learned about pin-to-pin messages, the service provider’s representative let slip that if we use pin-to-pin messages, we won’t be charged since it doesn’t go through their network (it rather goes through the RIM network), but he wasn’t too sure that time.. that is why i browsed through the forums..

    QUESTION 2: Since pin-to-pin messages do not go through the service provider’s network, is it free of charge? (even if it’s said to be considered as data?)

    im asking this because if it is free, then i would use pin-to-pin messages! otherwise, it would lead me to another question –

    QUESTION 3: If charges are the same, what’s the difference between pin-to-pin messages and e-mail messages then?

    Lastly, i have a question about bbmessenger.. right now, im adding contacts to my bbmessenger through their email address (i.e. juan@phils.blackberry.com) and not through their PIN.. this is because, i haven’t learned about the use of PINs until now.. newei, next questions are –

    QUESTION 4: Is adding contacts in bbmessenger through their email address the same as adding them through PIN?

    QUESTION 5: Or should i remove them from my contacts in bbmessenger, and invite them again, this time using their PIN?

    If you have the answers to these questions, kindly email me at dissgj@hotmail.com. Thank you very much!!!




    Comment by Jason at 10:10 pm on 2 November 2007

    Yes, pin messages are data and not sms but before they reach the RIM network they pass through your local service provider’s network.

    Since pin messages passes through your wireless carrier it is more likely that they will charge for that in terms of kilobytes.

    Im not sure if pin messages are charged similar to your email but since both are data it is more likely that they both get charged in terms of kilobytes.

    Emails are securely exchanged compared to pin messages which are sent in plaintext. Pin messages are faster compared to email and sms and u get a thousand characters per kilobyte compared to sms.




    Comment by joseph at 4:03 pm on 7 January 2008

    I need some help.
    here goes,
    I have found that my wife is cheating on me, i stumbled onto an sms message on her blackberry…she found out i found it…now she is communicating with him via pin to pin…can i find a way to track these, or if i get a hold of her blackbery, can i uncover the messages?
    im simply trying to find out the truth..and need the info.
    thanks




    Comment by Rj at 2:21 pm on 1 February 2008

    Joseph,

    From someone who’s been through the lovely cheating experience (unfortunate receivee), I’ve learned the best way to WIN is to completely get out of the stupid mess and get my own shit straight.

    I’d suggest just dropping the investigation all together and work on yourself so you become the prize and she crawls back to you begging.

    Women cheat because of a lack of something… That’s it. They need a void filled that you can’t, won’t or don’t fill. I was the problem, and more than likely… you WERE too. (Tough Love)

    I say “WERE” cuz all this can change… to YOUR advantage.

    recommendations from a brother :

    this will start you off in the right direction…

    Read - “The Game” by Neil Strauss (Available at your local bookstore)
    Watch - The movie CLOSER
    Watch - The movie The Sercet

    Best wishes bro…

    Rj




    Comment by BigAaron at 8:04 am on 9 February 2008

    Hey I just got an Pearl 8130 with a diff carrier and had a heck of a time figuring out how to copy over my contacts from my old 7520 from another carrier. My new carrier doesnt use SIM cards. So anyway, after installing the software on my desktop, i figured out (after trial and error) how to import over JUST the contacts. During the process I had to wipe the blackberry at least twice. Everything loaded back to to manufactures spec, EXCEPT now when using blackberry chat, it asks for a PIN instead of the email address. I searched through the options and cannot find how to toggle the PIN/email option. Do i need to request a service or what? Your help and suggestions are appreciated!

    Aaron




    Comment by tom at 4:49 am on 18 February 2008

    Hi my wife lives in flordia and I live in Ireland for the moment.. She has a blackberry and some one told me if I got one pin to pin is free is this true..I spend so much money on cell bills its killing.. Please make answer as simple as u can as I aint up on technology talk thnk you




    Comment by Rod at 7:18 am on 18 February 2008

    http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/35-what_is_blackberry_pin_messaging_answered.html




    Comment by O'Neill at 5:27 pm on 21 May 2008

    Tom, doubt your going to read this, it being months and all, but if you can manage talking just once a day (don’t worry tommy boy, you can talk for as long as you want to) then just use SKYPE on your computers. This is my method for contacting Ireland, assumable, of course, it would work for any country. If you are looking for that constant conversation connection then yes PIN would be the cheapest option for you.




    Comment by honey at 1:31 pm on 25 January 2009

    Hi! I’m using a blackberry in the philippines and I’m wondering why i can’t receive pin to pin messages but I can send them and they receive it. Another question I have is that are we limited to sending pin messages only to people within the same country?