08 for emergency

August 13 2007

So in getting back into things, I was forced to change the password on my Blackberry Pearl today.  As if trying to clean the little trackball just before leaving for vacation wasn't hard enough (I don't think I really got the ball back in there right, and I cracked the silver ring around it), now I seem to have stumbled across a weird feature in my new password.  

IBM's 'berry policy requires the usual mix of letters and numbers.  I chose to make "08" part of the password.  Well, after I type 0-8 when entering the password, I get

"Press SEND to start Emergency call"

How odd!  I can type right through that and, with one additional keystroke, finish entering the password, but I was really confused by this prompt.

A little googling around and I found that "08" is an emergency number in New Zealand and Saudi Arabia.  But I'm in the US.  So what gives?

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Blackberry Pearl  Add/View Comments [8]

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  1. 1  Rod Westwood  | 8/13/2007 3:40:55 PM

    Maybe because you have international coverage on your phone it knows these things?

  1. 2  Bryan Ackermann  | 8/13/2007 4:17:34 PM

    Ed - this is a known bug with the Cingular Pearl, discussed quite a bit on the internal IBM Blackberry forums - no real option but to not use a '0'in your password. You are correct - the bug is w/the BB OS and it is around the recognition of an emergency number, which overrides all passwords on the device.

  1. 3  Michael Weitzel http://www.weitzel.co.uk/ | 8/13/2007 11:28:19 PM

    Hey Ed,

    Another option might be to upgrade the OS. Certainly if it is a known issue with that particular version of the OS I would expect that Cingular have certified a newer version by now.

    Mike.

  1. 4  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 8/14/2007 6:42:21 AM

    @2 Thanks... searched the internal forums, saw similar kinds of problems. No fixes. I guess I'll check AT&T/Cingular/AT&T to see if they've got anything to say...

  1. 5  David Schaffer http://bloginprogress.us | 8/14/2007 7:41:27 AM

    It's not just the Pearl -- I get the emergency call prompt if I type 08 at the password prompt on my 8700c (also on AT&T Cingular).

  1. 6  alex  | 8/14/2007 7:57:12 AM

    @2 I have a number of BBs to deal with, here is the link I use to check for the latest firmware for the device.

    { Link }

  1. 7  Vincent  | 11/7/2007 6:56:52 PM

    I have the same thing come up if I ever use the "we" combination.