print friendly version

How to...

Blackberry devices at Sussex


Connect to wifi with a Blackberry

Before you start, find your Blackberry's MAC address. Click on the Menu key and then choose Options and Status. The MAC address (MAC stands for Media Access Controller) is a twelve character reference unique to your Blackberry - on the status screen, it's called the WLAN MAC and will look a bit like this:

12:D0:34:5A:9B:7C

Make a note of this reference and then register your Blackberry device. You can do this by connecting to the wifi setup network (sussex-wifi-setup) on your Blackberry but you may find it easier to complete this first part of the process using another computer that's already connected to the internet (such as a PC in one of the computer rooms on campus):

  • go to https://www.sussex.ac.uk/roaming
  • choose Member of the University (if asked)
  • login with your Sussex username and password
  • click to register a computer
  • enter a name to describe your device (e.g. Blackberry)
  • set the equipment type to Phone and operating system to Blackberry OS
  • click on Register
  • click on Register again to record the MAC address
  • enter the twelve character MAC you noted earlier (but without the colons, eg: 12D0345A9B7C) and click Register again to finish

Now, on your Blackberry:

  • click the Menu key and choose Manage Connections
  • choose Set up Wifi and then Next
  • click Scan for networks and choose eduroam
  • set the Security type to PEAP
  • enter your IT username, followed by @sussex.ac.uk (e.g. if your username is ano23, you would enter ano23@sussex.ac.uk)
  • put in your normal password (as you would use for Sussex Direct or webmail)
  • in CA Certificate, choose AddTrust External CA Root
  • set the Inner security to MS-CHAP v2 or EAP-MS-CHAP v2

Your Blackberry should now connect to the internet - you can tell if you're connected because the WiFi symbol will not be greyed out and the word eduroam is sometimes shown at the top of the screen.

The next time you connect
If, when your Blackberry tries to connect, it advises you the Sussex security certificate is untrusted, click on Trust. You may then be prompted to enter your security password for the Blackberry device (or set one if this is the first time you've needed to save the security details for a network).

Reading your Sussex email

You can read your Sussex email on your Blackberry device. The process varies a little on different models but this procedure has been tested on a Blackberry Curve 8520 and should be a useful guide.

  • Click on Menu and then choose Settings
  • Go to Email settings
  • Enter your normal Sussex email address and password and click on Next
  • This will result in an error message but click on OK anyway
  • Now choose I will provide the settings
  • Choose POP/IMAP
  • The email server you enter is different depending on which of the email systems at Sussex you are using:


    staff and postgraduate researchers - enter imap.exchange.sussex.ac.uk
    students, taught postgraduates and associates - enter outlook.office365.com

  • Enter your username and click Next

created on 2011-09-21 by David Guest
last updated on 2015-09-10 by David Guest