I need to communicate with a BlackBerry cell phone, so that I can query the current signal strength using Hayes AT commands, and store is into a file, along with my current GPS position.

I already got it to work perfectly using HyperTerminal:
- I installed BlackBerry Desktop Manager and I leave it running on the PC (otherwise it does not work!)
- I connect my BlackBerry Bold cell phone to the PC using a USB cable.
-The cell phone appears on the PC as a Virtual Com port, in my case it shows up as "COM13".
- I open HyperTerminal and connect to COM13 at 115200 bauds, 8 bits, 1 stop bit, hardware flow control
- If I type "AT" + ENTER, the phone answers "OK"
- If I type "ATI1" + ENTER, the phone answers with its model number "Platform: X.X.X.X, App version: X.X.X.X, PIN: XXXXXXXX"
- If I type "AT+CSQ" + ENTER, the phone answers with the current signal quality value "+CSQ: 21,99".

In theory it should be a piece of cake to query my phone using a serial port routine in VB.NET. The problem I have is that VB.NET allows me to read data from a REAL COM PORT, but refuses to read anything from a VIRTUAL COM PORT. When opening "COM13", I get "The given port name does not start with COM/com or does not resolve to a valid serial port. Parameter name: portName".

I did a lot a searching on Virtual Com Port on the WEB, but everything I see allows me to create a virtual com port. I only want to read an existing VIRTUAL COM PORT, not create a new one.

Anyone with a BlackBerry should be able to try it without any problems, simply follow my steps to try it first using HyperTerminal, then try to do the same using a VB.NET program.

So, I do I actually open a VIRTUAL SERIAL PORT, so that I can send the "AT+CSQ" command and receive my cell phone signal strength value using VB.NET?