Posted on 02/11/2008 2:26:05 PM PST by BenLurkin
NEW YORK (AP) -- An outage has disconnected BlackBerry smart phones across North America. AT&T Inc. says the disruption Monday is affecting all wireless carriers. AT&T first learned about the problem at about 3:30 p.m. EST.
There's no word on the cause or when the problem might be fixed.
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion did not immediately return a phone call.
All those folks with the Crack-berries must have been going into withdrawal.
Oy! I wish him luck!
Tell him there’s an old pickup truck leaving seemingly every five minutes.
LOL! That might be his backup plan.
I see his airplane crossed the border (the internet is a beautiful thing) so I feel better now.
Good!
Well, if you don’t rely on someone else’s servers/push agents, then there’s no problem ;). Any phone with a broadband data connect should just use POP or IMAP to get their mail, and forgo pushes. Set it up to ping your server as often as you need, but push service through a single central server is about as dangerous as you can get!
Of course, news of this story does explain the “deer-in-the-headlights” look of many folks here at a large, un-named software company in Redmond, WA... Crackberry’s are quiet now!
my husband has the same phone that you do, and never has a problem. i too i like to make fun of the crackberry addicts : )
I can do without my Blackberry any time I want...
[twitch twitch]
But really... The PHONE service on bberries still works, it’s the messaging (email) that messed up. Mine’s been intermittent all afternoon. Werks for a bit, stops, works for a bit, stops...
Ohhhh, maybe it will be back before too long. His seemed okay. I talked him all the way from southern Missouri back down to NE AR this afternoon.
But now, we broke up several times, but always got back with each other right away.
But we always break up when he’s in that area anyway.
Where are you? ;-)
looks like it’s still out
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080211/blackberry_outage.html?.v=8
BlackBerry Service Out in N. America
Monday February 11, 8:05 pm ET
By Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer
BlackBerry Service Out Intermittently Across N. America; AT&T Says All Carriers Affected
-snip-
But Garth Turner, a member of the Canadian Parliament, said during a caucus meeting that the incident’s impact couldn’t be overestimated.
“Everyone’s in crisis because they’re all picking away at their BlackBerrys and nothing’s happening,” Turner said. “It’s almost like cutting the phone cables or a total collapse in telegraph lines a century ago. It just isolates people in a way that’s quite phenomenal.”
Bell Canada spokesman Jason Laszlo said the majority of their BlackBerry customers are affected.
“There’s really no estimated time of repair,” Laszlo said.
The BlackBerry service, which lets users check e-mail and access other data services on their handheld devices, has become a lifeline for many business executives and is increasingly popular among consumers with models like the BlackBerry Pearl.
In a statement, RIM said a “data service interruption” was resulting in “intermittent service delays for BlackBerry subscribers in North America.” The company said voice and text messaging services were not affected.
A technical support recording for Canadian wireless provider Rogers Communications Inc. said subscribers could have difficulties sending and receiving messages, activating accounts and using other services like Internet browsing.
The company is “working with our vendor to resolve this issue,” the recording said.
There was no word what caused the outage or when service would be restored.
-snip-
Ping.
Huh?
Us Redmond folks use Smartphones with Microsoft software (the kind that outsell iPhones by a wide margin). Such phones are not dependent on a single email relay source and can access their Exchange servers over the Internet.
Crackberry failures reenforce Microsoft’s SmartPhone/Exchange Server model.
All you IT managers reading this, FReepmail me for more info!
Hmmmmmm...first the cables, now this.
I’m on Verizon with an 8830. I’ve been at my desk all day, so I’m getting e-mail on Outlook and my BB simultaneously - it hasn’t missed a beat.
twitch, twitch, ;o)
Hah! I didn’t see your post this evening, before I made a similar comment! GMTA!
I'm looking forward to finding out if UM can disable my desk phone if one of my Exchange servers is down.
Sorry pal...
MS already takes plenty of our money. For upgrades to products that don’t change but still cost several hundred a seat.
Don’t push yer luck.
Info like when will MSFT enable GAL access for R6?
Or maybe when why does a data plan from most carriers cost more for MSFT devices than for RIMM devices?
Or how about, when will the R6 upgrade be available for the Treo 700WX?
Every manufacturer and OS has it's own adherents and in some cases religious zealots. All factors have to be taken into consideration before you commit your company, or a large portion of it's higher profile users, to any technology.
My wakeup call this morning was from a Rogers Wireless user in Quebec. The outage seems to have started there and moved south but then maybe people here just didn't notice for a while. I didn't get my first US call until about 9:30 AM PDT. I'll be happy when someone invents a really good OS th at will fit on a handheld device. But it ain't here yet.
I tried using a beta code of this for Mobile 2005 but it didn't work very well.
Or maybe when why does a data plan from most carriers cost more for MSFT devices than for RIMM devices?
I would suppose it's because there's a greater degree of functionality and more data is passed through the network. I'm a Sprint user and think I get a good deal. Plus I don't get nickel and dimed like the Verizon users.
Or how about, when will the R6 upgrade be available for the Treo 700WX?
Yeah, I've been waiting in vein as well. And I have connections!
They just upgraded the ROM on the Sprint Mogul so it will do EVDO Rev A. I'm on a two year cycle with my phones and often feel like I'm behind my peers!
Looks like my 700WX will be retired shortly.
Every manufacturer and OS has it's own adherents
In this case it's not just an OS issue but a network architecture. Using a Microsoft Smartphone/Exchange combo gives you the resiliency of the Internet. RIM forces a single point of failure. Why everyone keeps suggesting that Microsoft is going to buy RIM I'll never know.
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