How does pinging work on a blackberry ?

First and foremost, i will define what a BlackBerry Messenger is because a PIN cannot go without it, BlackBerry Messenger is an instant messenger program for BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry communication utilizing your PIN code, for a more detailed explanation click here. BlackBerry Messenger is built into some of the newer devices. If your device does not come preloaded with BlackBerry Messenger, you can download it here

Now that brings us to what a PIN is,  a PIN is an eight digit alpha-numeric sequence that is assigned to every BlackBerry device. You can find your PIN code by going to

Options>Status>PIN   your PIN will appear in the status screen.

You can also find your PIN code by typing " mypin " into an email (without the quotes), the BlackBerry will automatically insert your PIN code.

When you ping, here is what is happening; your message goes from your device through your network carrier, then it passes through a relay to the receiver's carrier network and finally into the recipient black berry phone/device.

Here are some points to note about a ping:

• PIN messaging does not go through your corporate environment, so you are able to PIN to PIN when your BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) or Mail Server is down.

• PIN to PIN messaging is NOT 3DES or AES encrypted. It is only encrypted using a hash. SMS is plain text, so PIN is more secure but a hash is a low level of encryption. It is remotely possible for anyone to intercept it, you should keep it in mind and not send sensitive information in a PIN to PIN message.
  

• PIN to PIN messages, SMS message and phone call logs are now able to be logged and audited in  BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) 4.1. The logging is off by default but you can assign an IT policy to any user to start logging their PIN, SMS and call logs.

• If you are on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), you should assume none of your data is private as it all goes through the BES. On the other hand, if you are on a BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), conversations are not stored on the device, so they should be relatively private. 

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